With the shift in entertainment economic dynamics from prepackaged media and toward live and on-demand modes, live special effects are taking center stage. A kind of spectacular-venue arms race is heating up demand for live SFX and, in the process, is driving up prices for the most advanced systems. Live special effects are going to become more special and lucrative as they move toward achieving a cinematic level of experience.
—Dan Daley from The Biz, PLSN September 2007