Ron Bension is a self-proclaimed “doofus.” The president and chief executive of Sega GameWorks readily admits he’s inept at playing video games. So when Bension joined the company last fall, he began looking at ways to include games that were more user-friendly for those like himself. “From an overall product point of view, we’ve tried to change the focus from video-game interaction to (games that allowed more) social interaction, particularly games that are easy to understand and learn,” said Bension from the company’s new headquarters in Glendale. It was high time for a change. Sega GameWorks a joint venture between DreamWorks SKG, Universal Studios Inc. and Tokyo-based Sega Enterprises Ltd. was born at a time, 1997, when entertainment venues in malls were exploding, and a number of big studios were creating “location-based entertainment” sites intended as sort of mini-theme parks within the community. Unfortunately, the concept largely flopped. Themed restaurants like Planet Hollywood ultimately lost their sizzle, and most have now been shuttered. Walt Disney Co.’s Club Disney outlets were an experiment that never paid off. And Sega GameWorks, after opening 12 outlets around the United States in places like the Las Vegas Strip and the Ontario Mills outlet mall, was bleeding money. Who needs an arcade? For GameWorks, the main problem had to do with technology. The outlets feature such attractions as simulated racing games and go-karts, shoot-em-up video games, virtual roller-coaster rides and a proprietary game called Vertical Reality, where players ride mechanical seats as they do battle with characters on a video screen. When GameWorks began to roll out the concept in 1997, the company targeted a young male audience with technically complex games that required a certain level of expertise to play. But many of the serious “gamers” who were the company’s target preferred to stay home with their video-game consoles or computers, and folks who just wanted a night out had a hard time figuring out how the games were played. “It was a highly intellectual gamer software, and you had to figure it out,” Bension said. “When people want to go out, they just want to have fun, so we created software that was much more user-friendly.” Take GameWorks’ Vertical Reality game, for instance. Players showing up at the original GameWorks’ venues would have to maneuver the mechanical chair to keep it aloft while waging a battle on the video screen. Many people weren’t proficient enough, and ended up unable to get their chair into the air at all. With the user-friendly changes instituted under Bension, the chair moves along with the game, freeing players to concentrate on shooting their opponents on the screen. In addition, GameWorks added some different rides that don’t require aiming and firing at all. One new attraction, for example, pits two people against each other to see which can best copy dance steps that are shown on a video screen. In addition to the game changes, GameWorks also revamped the menus at its outlets, adding salads, pastas and other lighter dishes instead of the squat-and-gobble fried foods and burgers popular with young men. And perhaps most important, it began targeting business users. Many corporate trainers have discovered that GameWorks outlets make ideal places for company outings and team-building exercises; most of the games can be played in teams, and companies can customize programs to best suit their needs. Traditional favorites like golf outings only allow employees to interact in foursomes. Paintball, a kind of war game without the bullets, is considered by many to be too violent for a company-sponsored event. And other sports require a certain level of expertise on the part of players. But getting down and dirty at a GameWorks site doesn’t take much more than a willingness to play, and it builds the trust levels and sense of familiarity with co-workers that companies strive for in these types of outings. “(The event) got everybody laughing, and that enabled the door to open,” said Mary Smith, global advance systems group manager for Dell Computer Corp., who has used GameWorks for a training and team-building session with about 75 of the company’s employees and vendors. “People became familiar with their counterparts and it helped build trust.” Geri Illy, an executive assistant at Feed Flavors Inc., a company that makes sweeteners for animal feed, chose GameWorks for the leisure activity portion of a company sales meeting because the venues the company usually selected dinner cruises and golf outings were booked up. But the participants were pleasantly surprised by their experience. “Initially it was not something everyone wanted to do,” said Illy. “But it turned out to be a lot of fun, and it was very competitive.” Everybody can play Most team-building events focus on competitive exercises because they pump up team spirit and help players to bond with each other. But many traditional activities, such as sports events, are often dominated by the company jocks, intimidating many men and omitting many women. GameWorks provides a more level playing field, the participants say. To avoid alienating female employees, one financial services company often chose events like an evening of theater, a movie or dancing for its twice-yearly team building events. But the men hated the dancing and the theater events and everyone hated the movie. “How can you pick a movie for all of us?” said a company staffer who didn’t want his name used. “With this, everyone can participate. You come there thinking you’re hot, and then some woman is beating you.” Corporate executives who have held sessions at GameWorks also believe that the atmosphere of friendly competition can have a lasting effect when employees return to the office. Following the Dell event, salespeople were more likely to contact the vendors that participated when they had a problem, and they were more likely to trust the solutions offered by their counterparts, Smith said. “I get picky about making sure team events get me some sort of business result,” said Smith. “I don’t take my guys golfing.” GameWorks officials declined to release specific revenue figures, except to say that the revamped formula has helped turn the company around. “Where we once had declining same-store sales, we’ve had increasing same-store sales,” Bension said. The new formula has helped GameWorks attract more women, couples on dates and companies that have to please a wide variety of people. “Where we used to do maybe one to two (corporate events) every two weeks, we now average one or two a week,” said Laurel Clark, director of sales at GameWorks Schaumberg, near Chicago.
