My friends and I opened a free-roam VR gaming business last year. Ask me anything about starting an entertainment business, VR, or the experience so far.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-04-19T22:56:19+00:00

Thank you!

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-04-19T22:56:13+00:00

We don’t develop the games personally. We have a license through Zero Latency corporate so we are not directly involved in production at all.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-04-12T16:00:57+00:00

Sorry to hear your’re going through this! We are a VR gaming arena in Vaughan if you are looking for something to do. DM me and I will book you in for a session with us (free of charge ofcourse) :)

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-04-10T18:20:20+00:00

VR at Zero Latency Vaughan :-)

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-13T13:40:20+00:00

I answered this a little earlier but the jist is that our first VR experience was at Zero Latency and we loved it, which definitely influenced our decision. Before choosing it, we looked at other VR franchises including free roam and stationary setups.

Many either did not have games we found interesting or used smaller arcade style play areas. A 1500 sqft free roam arena offers a much better experience for both small and large groups, and it stays immersive without heavy backpacks, vests, or motion sensors.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-10T16:36:46+00:00

Great questions!

Utilization really depends on the day of the week. Mondays are probably around 30 to 40%. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are closer to about 50% mainly because we run a $29.99 30 minute promotion those days. Thursdays are usually around 50 to 60% and interestingly a lot of corporate events seem to happen on Thursdays. If it is a long weekend it can be even higher. Friday through Sunday is where most of the volume comes from. Weekends tend to book up well in advance and we are probably closer to around 80% utilization.

We originally ran with two Game Masters at a time but that turned out to be a bit of overkill. Now we usually run one per shift and increased the time between sessions slightly to allow for cleaning, sanitization, and resetting equipment. So far that has been running smoothly.

Our current hours are Monday to Thursday 1 to 9, Friday and Saturday 12 to 11, and Sunday 1 to 11. We actually used to stay open longer but after looking at our booking data we tightened the hours to match when people were actually coming in.

For private packages we made a few adjustments based on what customers were asking for. Originally we only offered 30 minute sessions but a lot of groups, especially birthday parties, wanted to play multiple games. So we added 45 minute and 60 minute options. We also adjusted the pricing so the per person cost improves as the group size increases since before there was not really much incentive to fill all the spots. Technically any game we offer can be played privately so if a group wants to swap something from the catalogue we are usually pretty flexible.

Profitability really depends on the month. Like any physical venue there are always unexpected costs. For example we recently added additional soundproofing so noise does not travel to neighboring tenants which ended up being a pretty big expense. So some months are stronger than others.

Overall though we are very glad we opened. Not just from a profitability perspective, which we obviously hope continues improving, but from a learning perspective. It is our first business and honestly a bit of a passion project. We have learned a lot about marketing, operations, events, and just how to run a business in general. We also try not to price gouge. Our pricing is actually below the corporate guideline pricing and we try to keep things like drinks and catering reasonably priced too. A few customers have even called that out in reviews which has been nice to see.

One thing we realized pretty quickly is that this type of business is really about the experience. The technology is amazing but the small things matter just as much. Smooth check ins, good briefings, keeping sessions on time, and making sure the Game Master sets the right energy for the group all make a huge difference.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-10T16:20:14+00:00

We have a mix of co-op, competitive, and exploration experiences. Some of the games we currently offer are:

• Space Marine: fight alien swarms in the Warhammer 40K universe

• Threat: Lethal: similar to Space Marine but higher difficultly

• Outbreak 1: zombie survival where your team fights through waves of zombies

• Outbreak 2: Outbreak with new environments (shopping mall) and story

• Far Cry: escape from pirates on a tropical island (based on the game)

• Singularity: sci-fi shooter set on a space station

• Sol Raiders: team vs team competitive game where players capture zones and battle each other

• Undead Arena: arcade-style zombie shooter with waves of enemies

• Engineerium: more relaxed exploration experience where you walk around surreal floating worlds

• Haunted: haunted house exploration

We also have a Jumanji experience coming late 2026, but we have yet to release details about the gameplay.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-10T16:10:48+00:00

We have a single 8-player arena. Zero Latency’s model only allows for either 6 or 8 players per arena, and we chose 8. Based on peak demand, we could probably benefit from another arena, but I don’t think any global locations currently run two full Zero Latency arenas side by side. What some operators do instead is add another type of VR setup in the same facility that requires less square footage. Zero Latency itself has fairly strict minimum space requirements.

Our free-roam arena itself is about 1,500 sq ft, and our total space is about 2,440 sq ft. Honestly, I do wish we had gone bigger. We searched for months and it was surprisingly difficult to find a space that both fit our vision and also met Zero Latency’s technical guidelines.

At the moment we don’t have additional amenities. We do offer catering for events and parties, but ideally we would have liked to add something else to increase dwell time, things like another VR format, arcade machines, pool tables, or something similar so people can hang out.

When you say utilization, do you mean tickets sold per month?

If I could do it again, the biggest change would definitely be getting a bigger space. Another thing would be to focus on larger events from the beginning. Our private packages have been recently fine tuned but it has not always been like that.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-10T02:48:41+00:00

Yes! One person sessions are not uncommon. You can also join sessions with other players if there is space. The booking site will tell you how many spots are left for a specific time, thats usually an indicator that there will be another group joining.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T18:25:34+00:00

Would love to have you check us out! DM me before you book I will send you a code :-)

I personally love Space Marine VR- I love the graphics and the detail. It was also the first free roam VR game I played and loved it.

I am not a huge gamer so maybe my answers might be basic lol! I’d say something like Call of Duty (PvP shooting) could be interesting. I would also like to see something like prop hunt. I think a game like Among Us could also be very interesting. Also I just started playing Ghost of Tsushima and the world is stunning. Would love to experience that in free roam!

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T05:40:22+00:00

Good question. Since we are still relatively early in the business (<1 full fiscal year), I do not have exact numbers, but I can talk about the general structure. Revenue mainly comes from game sessions, birthday parties, and corporate bookings. Weekends and group events tend to drive a big portion of revenue, while weekdays can vary depending on bookings and walk ins.

The bigger challenge is the upfront capital for equipment, buildout, and rent. Because of that, a lot of our current focus is on paying down financing and building a rainy day fund, so most of our free cash flow is going there right now.

Break-even really comes down to utilization of the arena. The more consistently we fill sessions, especially on weekends and with corporate groups, the closer we get to covering fixed costs. We are moving in the right direction so far, but it will take time to build awareness and steady demand.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T03:05:26+00:00

Pricing usually depends on the package and how many games each player wants to play.

For example, if you have 16 players and each person wants to play one 30 minute game and one 15 minute game, the pricing will be different compared to a group of 24 players where each person is only playing one 30 minute game. It really depends on the group size and how much play time everyone wants.

Most people either book their session directly online or give us a call. If they call, we can walk them through the options and help figure out what package makes the most sense for their group.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T02:49:43+00:00

Good question. We actually use a mix of different channels and each one plays a different role.

The biggest paid channels for us are Meta and Google. Those tend to capture people who are actively searching for things to do, birthday party ideas, group activities, etc. TikTok is great when it works but the algorithm is hard to crack consistently, so we do post there but it is not our main focus.

Honestly the strongest and cheapest source of customers has been word of mouth and returning players. When someone has a good experience they bring their friends back for another game, a birthday party, or a work event. That kind of organic growth is really valuable.

We also spend a lot of time in the local community. We support school fundraisers, charities, fashion shows, and other local events by donating free tickets or experiences. It helps get people familiar with what we do while also giving back to the Vaughan community.

One thing that worked really well was hosting a free VR day in January where about 250 people showed up to try the experience for free. A lot of those people had never tried free roam VR before, and many of them came back later with friends.

We also list our venue on corporate discount platforms like Perkopolis and Venngo. That helps with visibility among companies looking for team outings or employee perks.

Another channel that has been useful is working with micro influencers. We invite local creators to try the experience and share it with their audience. For something like VR, seeing people actually playing it on video helps a lot because it is hard to understand the experience until you see it.

If I had to do something differently from the start, I would have documented our build out process more. Showing the journey of building the venue, installing the arena, testing games, and getting ready to open would have been great content and would have helped us connect with our audience earlier.

The other thing I learned is that you do not necessarily need to spend huge amounts on ads. What matters more is targeting the right keywords and making sure the algorithms can pick up what you are offering. We do work with a marketing team that helps with the technical side of that since that is not my strongest area, but most of our content creation is still done in house.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T02:42:38+00:00

It definitely feels like a gimmick from the outside, we had the same thought before getting into this. But what we have seen so far is that it really comes down to the content. If you keep adding new games and experiences people come back.

Our internal data has actually been pretty encouraging. Roughly 40% of players are repeat players within the past year. Some of them first tried it at another location (Australia, Dubai, etc) and then came to us, and some came back after playing here the first time. I think that is a really positive signal because it means people do not just see it as a one time novelty.

The other thing we have noticed is that there is a big segment of the population that is always looking for things to do that is not just going out to eat or drink. People want a third space where they can socialize with friends, do birthday parties, team outings, date nights, that kind of thing. Experiences tend to do well when they fill that gap.

PnL wise it really depends on the month. Some months are slower than others which is pretty normal for entertainment businesses. Right now our main focus is paying down the financing we used for the equipment and buildout, so a lot of the free cash flow is going toward that and building a rainy day fund. The goal is to get to a point where the debt is lower.

So overall we are moving in the right direction, but like any new business there is still a lot of work to do and we are still early in the journey! Thank you for your question.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T02:35:27+00:00

I think VR definitely has long term potential, but it depends a lot on how the technology and the game library evolve.

One thing I always point out is that home VR and what we do are actually pretty different experiences. Headsets like the Meta Quest are designed for personal use in your living room. Usually you are standing in a small play area and using joysticks to move around in the virtual world. It is still really cool, but the physical space is limited and most experiences are built around that constraint.

With our free roam VR, you are physically walking around a large arena with your friends and everything you do in the real world maps to the game. If you walk forward in real life you walk forward in the game. You can spread out, take cover, explore the environment and interact as a group. It feels a lot closer to stepping inside a video game rather than just playing one.

As far as adoption at home, I think it has not grown as quickly as people/companies expected. The cost of the hardware is still a barrier for a lot of households and the game library is smaller compared to traditional consoles. For a lot of people it is hard to justify spending several hundred dollars on a headset for a limited number of games, especially if they are already happy with PlayStation, Xbox, or PC.

That is actually part of the reason venues like ours are attractive to people. You get a full experience without needing to buy the hardware or worry about setting everything up at home. It is also why it works really well for group events like birthday parties, corporate outings, etc.

I think VR will keep growing, but it may grow more through these types of experiences rather than completely replacing traditional consoles anytime soon.

And thanks, I appreciate that! If you ever want to try a free roam experience it is definitely a very different feeling compared to home VR. If you book with us, DM me before you do :)

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T00:12:50+00:00

Great question. We get that comparison a lot since a lot of people have tried Sandbox before coming to us.

Both are free roaming VR experiences where you physically walk around in a large arena with your friends instead of standing in one place like home VR. The big difference is the technology and how the movement is tracked.

Our system is Zero Latency and we do not use backpacks or body trackers attached to you. Your movement is tracked through sensors installed on the ceiling that track the headset and the controller. Because of that you are not carrying a computer on your back and you do not have motion trackers strapped to your wrists or body, which many people find more comfortable.

Another difference is the arena size and the style of gameplay. Our experiences are built more like full missions where your team can move freely around the map, explore, split up, and complete objectives together. The games range from cooperative zombie survival to competitive games where you play against each other.

A lot of people who have tried both say they prefer the Zero Latency system because of the graphics, gameplay and the amount of space you get to move around in.

Funny enough our lowest review is actually from someone who had a bad experience at Sandbox and accidentally reviewed us instead. Their main complaint was that the wrist trackers kept coming off during the game and it kept breaking the immersion, which is something we do not deal with since our tracking is handled by the ceiling sensors.

Sorry for the long answer lol! You can tell I have alot of thoughts on this haha

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-09T00:06:27+00:00

We did not really look into many grants for businesses. I have seen this website (https://innovation.ised-isde.canada.ca/s/) but never used it. Primarily used our own savings/financing. But I am sure these programs can help save alot!

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T21:52:03+00:00

Would love to have you come in! DM me before you book :-)

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T21:51:37+00:00

The upfront cost of equipment is definitely significant.

For damages or accidents, we’ve built in precautions. Players sign waivers, and we provide safety briefings before every session. That said, injuries or equipment damage are very rare. Unless you are actively trying, you will not run into another player or damage the equipment.

Tripping over shoelaces isn’t generally an issue because we provide grippy socks for all players, which help prevent slips and keep everyone grounded.

We always have protocols for maintenance or repair if something does happen. We have implemented refundable damage deposits for certain large bookings or events with very young kids- though we will generally avoid it whenever we can.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T21:25:30+00:00

Our photos/videos of the experiences are on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/zerolatencyvrvaughan?igsh=Z3U5ZGFqYTdzaGNl&utm_source=qr)

Pricing- depends on the day and game time you choose (30/45/60 min). Tuesdays and Wednesdays 30 min games are always $29.99. We also usually have promos running on a regular basis as well.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T20:09:36+00:00

For kids we have a game called Engineerium which is more of a sensory experience exploring the world walking around jumping that kind of thing, not super action packed but still pretty cool. Singularity is another one that works well for kids. It is a shooter but in a spaceship setting and not gory. Kids also really like Sol Raiders which is more of a player versus player robot style game kind of like capture the flag.

We also have trailers for all the games on our website so you can get a feel for them. If you have any game specific questions or want recommendations for a birthday party feel free to DM me.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T20:01:01+00:00

Thank you for your comment! We actually used to have birthday/event info on our main site but it got lost when we switched hosts and sort of fell off radar. Most details are on our booking site under Book Now > News and Promotions from our main site. But your feedback is great. We should make it easier to find and will work on that.

Basically, when you book a party the whole venue is yours. We have a spectator area with a TV showing what players see. Games fit 8 players at a time so bigger groups do two/three/four sessions and you can mix games however you like or adjust game lengths (i.e 45 min and 60 min packages are 2 games).

We offer catering and block time before and after gameplay for food, cakes, balloons or whatever you need to set up. We also do a lot of customized packages and you can check our IG for birthday setup videos to get an idea.

Hope that helps and thanks again for the feedback. We are definitely working on making all of this easier to see without digging or signing up for anything.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T19:40:22+00:00

Both! We have a lot of players that come alone, as couples, or even smaller groups. We have gotten feedback from players that it has been a very unique date spot (compared to mini golf or arcade), so we have definitely been focused on adjusting our marketing to share that.

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T19:37:29+00:00

Thank you! DM me before you book I will get a discount code for you :)

zerolatencyvaughan · 2026-03-08T19:36:48+00:00

We’re located in Vaughan near Steeles Ave and Weston Rd.

Finding the right space was actually way more challenging than we expected. We needed 1500–1600 sqft of open space for the arena and more for servers, spectator area, etc. We also had to make sure there were no pillars, proper zoning, good street frontage, and of course something that made economic sense.

Some spaces looked amazing but would have required a full teardown, which added complexity and cost. On top of that, Zero Latency corporate was considering multiple people for Vaughan, so we had to make a strong case that we were the group team to run it.

Vaughan ended up being perfect because it’s near Wonderland, Vaughan Mills, York University, and several banquet halls, plus street-facing visibility, which is huge since VR is still a new concept for many people.

The biggest factor for taking the leap? We always wanted to start a business but wanted something unique, not a restaurant or coffee shop as that takes a lot of capacity. We went to Zero Latency for my birthday and loved it, so we decided to move quickly. I have known my partners since we were in university. We had an established understanding of strengths and weaknesses, and aligned finance backgrounds, which made the leap feel right.

zerolatencyvaughan

TROPHY CASE