‘Going to be a frenzy over here’: Activate Games makes leap to U.K.

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This article was published 28/05/2024 (494 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

England’s newest entertainment hub is Winnipeg-born: Activate Games has inked a 30-location deal with a prominent United Kingdom immersive leisure and hospitality firm.

“It’s just going to be a frenzy over here,” predicted Richard Beese, chief concept officer of We Do Play.

Indoor adventure parks, bars and adventure golf fall under the European corporation’s umbrella. We Do Play regularly scouts for new concepts — so when it came across Activate Games on social media, it reached out with great interest, Beese said.

“There definitely isn’t anything like it in the U.K. at the minute.”

Online videos from Activate Games have gone viral globally. One of Activate’s various activity rooms, a floor-is-lava-type space, has garnered millions of online views.

The Winnipeg team regularly updates its games, which blend technology and physical experience, and creates new rooms.

It started as a single location in the Westwood neighbourhood in 2019. Since then, it’s expanded across North America and now, internationally.

The ever-changing product is perfect for the United Kingdom because consumers are itching for the next thing, Beese said.

“We’ve just got to build and build … and start opening them up,” he said, adding he expects timeslots will be hard to book in the beginning months.

Thirty locations dotting the United Kingdom and Ireland is a minimum, Beese said. Demand could likely allow for triple the number, he added.

We Do Play expects to open its first Activate Games in 2025. The major cities in the U.K. and Ireland — London, Dublin and Manchester — will have sites.

Beese aims to open all 30 locations within 3 1/2 years — almost one every five weeks. The corporation has good relationships with landlords, meaning they can be “aggressive” in their expansion, Beese said.

We Do Play is the type of partner Activate Games seeks.

Large, established companies who can open many locations within their region are wanted, Activate Games co-founder Adam Schmidt described.

In November, the Winnipeg business announced its initial overseas deal with Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim, which owns the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort and indoor skydiving centre.

At the time, Majid Al Futtaim set a target of opening 60 to 90 locations. The first ones are set to open soon, according to Schmidt.

Activate Games is preparing to ship equipment to the Middle East.

Business partners pay a licensing fee, or a percentage of their sales that varies depending on the deal, to Activate. There’s also a cost for new rooms.

Partners come to Activate Games’ Transcona location for training. While in Winnipeg, they see the manufacturing process.

Activate Games currently has a crew at a Thailand trade show, looking to attract new business. The company postponed expansion while building up its manufacturing capacity, Schmidt said. “Now we’re ready to sign a lot more deals internationally.”

The Winnipeg headquarters has grown to some 120 staff; each Activate site likely contains another 20 employees.

Activate Games has 36 locations listed on its website: 15 in Canada, and 21 in the United States.

Schmidt’s team covers Canada and half of the U.S., while a partner business opens sites in the latter half.

The pair aspire to open 250 United States locations in total, collectively, within eight years’ time. In Canada, Schmidt hopes to add several Activates “really soon.”

Money for expansion comes from equity and store profits, Schmidt said. Activate Games is patented — there’s nothing like it, he added.

Part of the draw for Beese was Activate’s variety of customers: he saw demographics of all kinds visiting on a Friday night. He called Activate Games’ founders “on the verge of genius level.”

Some major Manitoba-based companies like Canada Life and New Flyer Industries have made the leap to the United Kingdom, noted Alberto Acosta-Velasco, Economic Development Winnipeg’s vice-president international.

It’s “great news” when a local company takes their product to other countries, he added.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com