6654 Arcades Closed in Japan from 2008 to 2014

[Nz17]

8449

Why have almost 7000 arcades closed in the last 6 years? Cell phone games. Yes, most Japanese people are abandoning console games and arcade games for phone games. To put that into perspective, 31% of all Japanese arcades have closed in the last six years because people want to play Puzzle & Dragons, Angry Birds, and match-3 puzzle games.

And what happens in Japan affects us in North America and Europe. The less arcades there are, the less arcade games there are, the less arcade game ports there are, and the less arcade game ports we get in the West. And I really, really like arcade games, dammit!

[Flojomojo]

I like arcade games too, but I like smartphones more. Please don't hate me.

[celerystalker]

I like smart phones, but not for playing games. Arcade games are something that are difficult to build successful businesses around at all, as customers are so fickle when it comes to retaining their attention when there are so many different outlets for electronic entertainment these days.

It seems to me that there's actually been growth in the US for arcades, but they're adapting to different consumer habits than just trying to get quarters put into machines. First, there are the flat rate arcades, where people pay a set amount up front to play everything on free play. These seem to do pretty well, as they catch the hummingbird-like attention spans by letting people mindlessly float from game to game. I personally dislike this, as it disarms the primary challenge of classic games, which was all about staying alive on as few credits as possible, and people don't appreciate the challenge or design of many of the games as they just feed credits to see the ending or get bored and fumble over to the next cabinet. Still, at least they get people playing...

The other big one is the barcade model, where the games are a device to keep people in house so they keep buying drinks and food, and actual game revenue is secondary or nonexistent. The games provide a combination of nostalgia and atmosphere that's more an alternative theme than the primary revenue stream. I don't drink, but I like these better, as they tend to be ranby enthusiasts, and I'd rather play with quarters than push a credit button, as it preserves the experience, and I'll get more bang for my buck that way.

Japanese arcades have long been driven by loading cards a la Dave and Busters, and don't offer a secondary benefit or experience to keep peoples' attention and money, focusing more on the increasingly niche competitive scene. It seems like a failure to adapt and keep the perpetually bored people publicly social like a karaoke bar would, and instead focus on ranked play or gambling, ignoring casual consumers.

I dunno. As the world keeps changing, I keep trying to buy more cabinets and pcbs to put in my basement. A little understanding can get you really far on $100....

[Niku-Sama]

Japans economy has tanked ever since the tsunami and the fukushima problems and I think that is going to have a larger affect on that sort of thing. not so good economy, not so many people spending money, people start losing jobs, places start closing.
they are even going as far as to propose negative interest rates
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-bank-of-japan-and-negative-interest-rates-2016-01-29