Location-based VR specialist The Void is working on something big: a brand new Star Wars experience set to debut at two Disney resorts later this year.
Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will launch at Downtown Disney at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida this holiday season. ILMxLAB, the developer of Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine and the upcoming VR experience starring Darth Vader, is building the software itself. Like The Void’s other experiences, multiple users (up to four) will be able to explore the same space in VR with untethered headsets and meet iconic Star Wars characters.
While the press release doesn’t explain much about the experience itself, the sole piece of concept art included with the announcement (seen above) has plenty of easter eggs for us to decipher. For starters, it looks like your mission takes place on the lava planet seen in last year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. You can see Darth Vader’s base off in the distance. It’s thought that this planet is the same that Darth Vader was born on in the third Star Wars prequel, though that’s never expressly stated in the film. Will we get to meet the Dark Lord in VR for the first time?
Tying further into Rogue One, players seem to be accompanied by K-2SO, the sassy robot companion that assisted the cast of the film, so it’s a good guess that the events are set before it. Finally, two of the players are wearing Stormtrooper outfits, suggesting you might be undercover in the experience. One’s carrying a rifle, while the player on the left in Void gear is carrying its plastic counterpart, suggesting you’ll be able to do battle with other minions.
Note that these Downtown Disney and Disney Springs locations aren’t actually based inside their respective parks, thus fans won’t need to buy entry tickets to experience the attractions. Information for tickets for the attraction itself will be made available at a later date, though The Void advises anyone interested to sign up at its official website for more information.
The news comes just a few weeks after The Void joined Disney’s own accelerator program, gaining advice and mentorship from the company’s leadership. Access to Disney’s treasure trove of IP is obviously another added perk.
We’ve been extremely impressed with past trials of The Void’s tech, so we’re excited to see what comes of this news.
