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Mohsen Saraji, Creative Director and Thematic Designer
For years, many entertainment spaces in Iran have been shaped by a familiar pattern;
a collection of games, devices, and spaces for short-term excitement.
A model that focused more on “use” than “experience.”
But the new generation of audiences is no longer just looking for a few minutes of entertainment.
They want to enter a world where something can be felt, discovered, and remembered.
This same change in perspective will also transform the future of entertainment spaces in Iran.
Today, in many countries around the world, the entertainment industry has moved beyond “amusement parks” and toward “narrative worlds”; spaces where the audience is not simply a spectator or user, but becomes part of the story.
In this model, entertainment is no longer dependent on mechanical equipment or technology.
Narration, experience design, visual identity, human interaction, and world-building have become much more important.
People today remember experiences that they can immerse themselves in.
For this reason, many successful contemporary projects are more like independent worlds than traditional entertainment complexes.
Each space has its own logic, tells its own story, and immerses the audience in a multi-layered experience.
This change could also be an important opportunity for Iran.
Iran is a land rich in narrative, myth, history, ritual, architecture, and unique cultural worlds.
A potential that has not yet entered the entertainment and experience-oriented industry.
While many entertainment projects in the world are built on legends, myths, and their own cultural identity, in Iran a large part of the entertainment spaces still lack a unique narrative and personality.
The future of this industry will likely belong to projects that can create a link between entertainment and culture.
Projects that are not just a space for playing, but create a narrative experience.
Imagine the audience entering a space inspired by the mythical worlds of Iran;
or a fictional city whose architecture, music, lighting, costume design, narrative, and interactive experience are rooted in the cultural memory of this land.
In such spaces, the audience does not just spend time;
but enters a world.
One of the most important features of narrative worlds is their ability to create a deep emotional connection.
When a space can engage the audience’s imagination, its experience will be much more lasting than short-term entertainment.
On the other hand, the future of entertainment spaces in Iran is heavily dependent on the “experience economy.”
In today’s world, people value different experiences more than they spend on equipment.
For this reason, the success of future projects will likely depend less on the number of games and more on the quality of world-building.
In the meantime, the role of interdisciplinary design becomes very important.
Architecture, industrial design, narrative, performing arts, media, music, technology, and experience design must come together so that an entertainment space can become a living world.
Perhaps the most important challenge of the future is to change the way we look at the concept of entertainment.
Entertainment is no longer just “the consumption of excitement”;
but rather a cultural, social, and even emotional experience.
If this change is understood correctly, Iran could become the owner of a new generation of cultural and entertainment spaces in the coming years;
spaces that are not copies of foreign examples, but rather reflections of our own narrative world and cultural identity. Perhaps the future of the entertainment industry in Iran is not in building more amusement parks,
but in creating worlds that people can live in.