A park in Costa Rica: the budget tripled, but the location happened

About the partner

The story of the WARPOINT VR park in Costa Rica is an example of entrepreneurial nerve, persistence and finding solutions in the most unexpected circumstances.

Originally from Russia, Andrey started his career as a sales manager and then headed the distribution department of a dairy plant. Later he moved to selling medical equipment and built up a market in Costa Rica. It was the need to relocate to that country that pushed him to look for a new business.

I first met VR while playing in Yekaterinburg. After a game at WARPOINT I realised this is not only entertainment but a promising business idea. To get into the details I even took part in a tournament, studying the processes from the inside.

Andrey, partner in Costa Rica

How the launch went

Launching the park took time and considerable effort. Andrey and his partner initially planned to stay within $150,000. But because of the chosen location — a unit in a popular shopping centre with no utilities and no fit-out — the budget tripled.

We started in October and finished in April. It is hard to find contractors in the country who offer services at a reasonable price. Installing the air conditioning, for example, took two months because the necessary valves were slow to arrive.

Andrey, partner in Costa Rica

Finding qualified staff turned out to be a hard task.

Costa Rica has a completely different mentality: people are used to following instructions strictly and do not take initiative. The manager we found was a real gift: she speaks Russian and understands the local culture, which helped us build the team's work.

Andrey, partner in Costa Rica

An unexpected challenge was the mismatch in investment expectations.

We counted on $150,000, but the real cost of the project rose threefold. Because of that the payback period also became longer. In a positive scenario we would have paid back in a year. It was a lesson: you have to be ready for extra costs and think through a fallback plan in advance.

Andrey, partner in Costa Rica

Strengths and the fine points of running a park

Experience of working with foreign companies

It allowed him to adapt quickly to local business practices, use his negotiating skills and obtain favourable lease terms, and later the same in work with suppliers.

Effective management

He managed to find a Russian-speaking manager who moved to Costa Rica as a child, speaks fluent Spanish and Russian and is adapted to the region's culture. You have to negotiate, look for solutions, communicate and build agreements.

A unique offer

WARPOINT became the first VR park of this scale and variety in the region. Andrey added attractions to the EXTREME zone that bring extra traffic and therefore extra revenue. The high level of service that is normal in Russia is available only in a few places in Heredia — so the park gives the city what it lacks.

The partner's best practices

Andrey shared his experience, and we put together a list of practices that will help you grow your VR park.

• Organising the processes. Building every process on the management company's recommendations. «We built the park and there is no going back, we work flat out!» Andrey recalls. You have to negotiate and look for solutions: Andrey, for instance, arranged deferred rent payments while the works were under way. For content on Instagram* and Facebook* he hired separate contractors.
• Effective marketing. As soon as construction began, the partner started promotion: he opened a knowledge base and began filling the social media accounts. By opening day Andrey had 4,000 followers, and real customers came from them.
• Promoters working in the shopping centre. Promoters invited passers-by to a free demo game and after the session offered to continue for a fee. If someone declined, they were photographed in a VR headset, the photo went on social media with a tag — the guest reshared it and the team gave them a wristband. That is how the partner widened and engaged the audience.
• Growing recognition through events. Tournaments, birthdays, corporate parties and team-building in a tournament format. Thanks to the location inside the shopping centre, people saw the glowing sign and came to find out what it was. One case: thanks to WARPOINT ARENA a family started spending more time together, discussing game strategy and taking part in tournaments — in two weeks of training they brought in more revenue than the tournament's prize money.
• Taking the local market into account. Birthdays make up 10–15 % of all events, the rest is team-building. Andrey's clients include Amazon, HP, Intel and Microsoft: he worked actively with company unions, offering tournaments between departments.
• Flexibility in management. For the first three months Andrey worked as an operator himself to understand every detail of how the park runs. It helped optimise the processes and improve dealings with customers. Add to that constant analysis of acquisition channels — social media, the website, promoters — and quick changes to the marketing strategy.
• Free game sessions with a tour. Five to ten minutes of play, but always with a tour of the park — whatever the guest's age. It helped start word of mouth and bring customers to events and arena games.

Mistakes are inevitable, but what matters is simply moving forward. The WARPOINT Park franchise format allows a high income if you follow the management company's recommendations and are not afraid to experiment.

Andrey, partner in Costa Rica

* Instagram and Facebook are products of Meta, an organisation recognised as extremist in Russia.