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Namco Blames Wii for Arcade Closures
milsoRgen noted a story about Namco Bandai is shuttering between 50 and 60 arcades in Japan and blaming the success of the Wii for the closures. "A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home," said company spokesman Yuji Machida. To be fair they also blame the high cost of gasoline as well.
They all closed here years ago. I think Playstation was blamed at the time, though many probably closed earlier and blamed the Genesis.
"A week in the lab saves an hour in the library"
Arcades can evolve too. The market is there for people who want to rent out movie-theatre sized screens to play multiplayer games. How about an arcade that contains actual consoles where you just bring your memory cards or wiimotes (w/character data on) and just pay a cover charge and for drinks, or for a private room with friends (like billiards) all so you can play with a crowd on a giant screen? I'm sure parents would appreciate the break, and kids can be as loud as they want or game with their friends all night.
There is a giant rift between arcade games and their console counterparts because we cannot exchange character data between them or game on a console vs an arcade cabinet. If we allow this, then the popularity of the living room will also be interchangable with that of the public gaming outlets, and both can coexist and benefit from each other. Perhaps if you visit the arcades you can get the newest demos first, or the arcades can download them for you and burn them on disc and charge a token fee. Wii demos for full games could be distributed exclusively at arcades. There are many opportunities to increase the popularity of both at the same time.
Twinstiq, game news
And considering the high density population their urban centers are known for, one would think a nearby arcade wouldn't be to far away. I'm thinking the Wii might be playing a part in this, but if it is it's merely a blip in the grand scheme of things. As nothing really compares to a well designed arcade machine, no matter how much fun flailing your arms about is in the privacy in your own home.
I just wonder if it's become cost prohibitive to truly innovate (or differentiate yourself) in an arcade machine. Graphics are pretty good these days, I can't see any company willing to invest the money to make an arcade machine truly stand out compared to a GeForce 8xxx or PS3/Xbox. And if you can't win on the graphics front, you have to start doing novelty things like incorporating movement or force feedback, again increasing costs.
It's hard to say, as Japan is such a different beast than the U.S.
But I can say personally I quit going to the arcade when games were no longer 25 or even, 50 cents. I really don't care about paying for the newest hardware, as the newest hardware/graphics doesn't equal the greatest game play. I still play A.P.B. (that top down 2d cop game, where you pull people over and go through the donut shops), and that 2d sidescrollin' X-Men beat-em-up, when I can find them.... Simply because they are the most fun... IMHO
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask where they're goin' and hook up with 'em later.
Namco Arcades in America were always a joke.. In fact they almost single-handedly killed off most of the mall arcades by buying out many of the existing chains (Aladdin's Castle, Pocket Change, Time-Out, Monte Carlo, etc..). This wouldn't have been such a problem, but Namco does not like to purchase new equipment for their stores as a cost-saving measure, where most of the chains they bought out did. This turned their arcades from a destination to just the place you might go to kill a little bit of time before heading to the theater. Maybe this was their business model, but why go to an arcade when you know you're not going to see anything new? Only the few hardcore DDR and Tekken 5 players ever made the trek away from their Xbox360's to reallifeland after that.
Look at their stores now and nearly half of the games in them are 10-year old gun games and a few driving games.. They also got in trouble by upgrading their DDR machines with PS2's instead of dedicated arcade hardware, as a cost saving measure.
Namco killed their own business (and the Texas-based Tilt chain did as well by making some poor purchasing decisions).. around my area, local companies are starting up new mall arcades that seem to be doing fairly well.
The real money the past couple years was in machines like Derby Owners Club, which cost $128,000 to buy but will pay for itself within 9 mos in a high-traffic location.. That game single-handedly kept Dave & Busters in business.