Sega’s VR Agent Now In Production

While Sega has often experimented with new technologies in the arcade, Virtual Reality has not really been one of them. They did test out a VR concept in the 90s called TecWar/NetMerc, but the wider release of that outside flagship Sega locations was shelved, due in part to production issues with the Model 1 board at the time. This past IAAPA however, Sega Amusements finally took the plunge with their first VR arcade piece, VR Agent. As of now, the game is officially in production, meaning that ordered units will soon be in arcade locations interested in adding one to their location.

If this is the first time you’ve heard about the game, let’s provide some background. VR Agent has been principally created by 3MindWave, a studio out of Hong Kong who previously developed the software of ATV Slam for Sega. Here they have made both the game and the cabinet itself, although Sega Amusements have still contributed to this one too by providing some resources in development support (e.g. QA testing, location testing) along the way.

As you can see above, it comes with two player stations, and operators can link two twin units together for 4-person play. There have also been single units that have popped up, although these don’t appear to be available for now. The game itself is a first-person shooter, where the player uses a unique hybrid light-gun/VR headset. This was designed to work without an attendant, with the gun lowering into position after a credit has been inserted. Here’s an earlier build of the game as seen at IAAPA 2021:

In the email sent out today, it also revealed a couple of other details. 1st, it has a family-friendly mode that changes the enemies to robots instead of people (in the biz, they used to call this Red Label and Yellow Label modes, referring to the arcade rating system on violence). It mildly surprised me to see blood splatter in a modern arcade game, since that sort of thing is uncommon these days. They also said in the email that it uses vertical 50″ displays for those watching to see what is going on. Here’s an image from the email showing the game on the production line:

I had seen a price for this a couple of months back where it was around $35k, but that might have changed, and there are always variances between distributors. Still, for VR arcade games, that’s pretty competitive given where other games cost right now. As for where you’ll find it, that’s always hard to say but it is a piece made for FECs that can afford such things, so we’ll have to see if the likes of Dave & Busters and Round1USA add this to their selections.

What do you think about VR Agent? Would you like to see it at a location near you?