Though the social experience of the coin-op arcade is all but dead and buried in the United States, arcades are still hanging on in other countries. Africa uses old Sony PlayStations. China has 185,000 internet cafes where the over-18 crowd can get in some MMO time, while Xiahe temple monks kick back with a game of Counter-Strike. And Japan…well, Japan has the good ol’ coin-op variety, but on a grand scale guaranteed to get U.S. quarter-masters’ jaws dropping.
At least, that’s how it was — today, Reuters is reporting that Japan’s arcades are in trouble.
After Namco Bandai revealed February that it would be closing 50 to 60 of its Japanese arcades (while its rival Sega Sammy took the axe to over 100), a company spokesman disclosed to Reuters that the popularity of home consoles — particularly the Nintendo Wii — was to blame…
“A lot of the types of games that people played at an arcade can now be done at home,” company spokesman Yuji Machida said. “Many Japanese kids got a Wii last year, particularly over the holiday season, and it seems as if much of their pocket money is now being saved to buy more hardware or software for the console.”
…and in today’s follow-up, Reuters examines the societal allegations in greater detail. Speaking with analysts, the president of Square Enix and at least one young man, the article reveals that most of the arcade’s traditional draws have been supplanted by the home console experience:
The Wii, launched in late 2006, has introduced innovative games that have players jumping around as they simulate boxing, skiing and other sports.
That has robbed arcades of one important advantage they used to have over home devices — being the best place to play active games such as Konami Corp’s dancing hit Dance Dance Revolution, analysts say.
With widescreen TVs in households across Japan and games with cutting edge graphics and audio standard fare, the traditional video arcade experience can easily be replicated in the home.
There are other reasons, too — Reuters cites the popularity of portable gaming; cell phone gaming; computer gaming; and recent curfew crackdowns as factors that keep Japanese kids away — but the console are where arcade manufacturers are directing most of the worry. Now, much as cinema must stay one step ahead of the home theater experience, so too will Japanese arcades will have to innovate if they wish to remain competitive with home consoles. That’s what Namco Bandai believes:
“We need to innovate, especially in the realm of games where people move their bodies,” said Jun Higashi, president of Namco Bandai’s Namco unit at an arcade expo in Tokyo in February.
“We also need to develop games that can’t be played at home.”
And Square Enix as well:
But Square Enix President Yoichi Wada says the company must do more. Inviting non-arcade business people to open a franchised store to help bring in fresh ideas, developing games for couples or even the elderly — all options should be considered, he said. “The industry is at a crossroads. We are going to have to change anyway, so we might as well take the lead.”
With floor and cabinet space to fit the latest technology, and a stream of users willing to try a game for a fraction of its cost, arcades are a great place to explore new gaming ideas… the surprising bit is that it’s taken them this long to start thinking about the next gaming revolution. Let’s hope that arcade manufacturers didn’t wait too long before taking the plunge — and that some of the brand-new experiences they invent (games for couples?) make their way to our shores.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Street Fighter IV may spark a slight resurgence in arcade popularity, but I fear it is too little too late. Whatever “saving grace” SF4 can bring to the arcades is dependent on how long it remains exclusive to them.
I truly hope that the arcades in Japan do not go the way of American ones… reduced to little more than a collection of ticket-spewing machines.
May 21st, 2008 at 8:17 am
I don’t know about tickets, but I’d say fully one-third of the arcade units I saw in Japan were of the glorified crane game variety.