Like everyone else, we are closed for business. I held out hope that there might be a window to reopen in April, but yesterday the governor asked all businesses to close until May 4. Our experience is 100% about being in a real world place with other people, touching the same objects as others…not a good thing in the time of Covid19. So we have done the prudent thing and closed all operations for the foreseeable future.
Our lease was set to end April 30 and in order to vacate the space, we needed to break down and disassemble the Zone in the second week of April. We had been planning to do the first ever James Bond Night in partnership with Cask & Vine on April 8 as a last hurrah. Obviously, this is not going to happen.
Over the next few months, Americans will be forced to further physically isolate from each other. At some point this will end and we will move forward, having been changed fundamentally. I will be curious to see what emerges. After being cooped up for many months, will we continue to embrace console gaming, VR, Netflix and screens? Or will there be a yearning for the ‘real’? Will events like Spartan Races, marathons, 5Ks and adventure sports make a roaring comeback? Will Pelotons and Mirrors really replace gyms?
I am betting that people will want something REAL. Unfortunately, we will most likely not be in operation unless I can find an investor willing to make the same bet as me. It just won’t happen for TheMissionZone.
But that doesn’t mean that we aren’t right. Two years ago we filed a patent for ‘Manipulated Reality’ and we are going to continue that process. I am hopeful that in recognizing the uniqueness of this experience, investors will come to realize the truth: Real is better than virtual. In the mean time, I will do everything possible to get us ready to open the faucet and finish our journey when the time and finances are right.
More to come. While we might be pausing operations, the dream is not dead and we will still work to bring it to fruition. In the enduring words of Don Rumsfeld…
Things will not be necessarily continuous. The fact that they are something other than perfectly continuous ought not to be characterized as a pause. There will be some things that people will see. There will be some things that people won't see. And life goes on.