What year did Arcades "officially" die?

[Anthony1]

Ok, technically, Arcades aren't totally dead right now. There are Arcades out there that exist, at minature golf courses, at bowling alleys, at movie theaters, in hotels, etc,etc. Arcades still exist, but let's get real. At some point, Arcades took a tremendous fall. I was never a really big Arcade guy. I preferred to play home systems. I mean, don't get it twisted, I've played my share of Crystal Castles and Galaxian and Ms. Pacman, but for the most part, I'm primarily a home console gamer. So I really didn't pay all that much attention to what was going on at Arcades. Other than what I saw reported in the magazines, and the rare occurances that I was in a position where I could kill some time at an Arcade.


The last thing I remember about Arcade games was all the fighting games that was coming out around 94,95,96. I really don't know too much about what was going on at Arcades during 97,98,99 and 2000.



So, when do you think Arcades basically died? In terms of them being a very huge part of the gaming industry, to becoming more of an afterthought. I'm thinking they died somewhere between the release of the N64 and the release of the Dreamcast. It was at this same time that computers also started to become very powerfull. It would be interesting to see what the gross Arcade revenues in the United States was during 97,98,99 and 2000. I'm guessing that one of those years the decline really started to happen, and then it just tailed off after that. To where we are today, where Arcades are located in specific places were traffic already exists, tourist type places and attractions, but no longer having the Arcades of yore, when people would actually travel to go specifically to an arcade.

[keiblerfan69]

I would say about a year into the Dreamcast's life. The DC had so many great Arcade ports so no one left the house anymore. Its a shame, I love it if arcade were more then just Initial D and DDR anymore.

[XianXi]

I'm just pissed that my local arcade that hosts street fighter and other fighting game tournaments doesnt have KOF XI.


If I had the funds I would make my own. Hmmm, I wonder if Dave and Busters has it?

[LinkOracle]

At least in my area, during the Playstation 1's heyday. The only reason my friends went to the arcade was for Tekken 3, and once that got to the PS, we just didn't have a use for it

[Sothy]

Earlier..Say 1992

[Skyway_Recreation]

OMG so it's not just here that's like that? all we have is initailD and DDR, thank god we got some HotD 4, or i wouldn't go there at all, used to play Intitial D, then got it for ps2, so i never went back to the arcade for that. they need some damn marvel VS street fighter, and some neogeo , AND some shooters like samurai aces!

[XianXi]

Earlier..Say 1992

1992 was pretty busy the games that were out in 92 were like:

5-6 Versions of SFII
Mortal Kombat
Art of fighting
Baseball Stars 2
Mad Dog II (Cool at the time)

I think these are correct. Correct me if I am wrong.

[swlovinist]

I agree wit the Dreamcast launch with the end of arcades thriving. I saw our local arcade go out of business when the Dreamcast launch(first year or so).
Why go to the arcades and play a Midway game when you can go home and play a better version? I miss arcades, but with home consoles now(espically Xbox) you can have both!.

[XianXi]

I miss arcades, but with home consoles now(espically Xbox) you can have both!.

Not the same. People dont see you and say, that guys good. They only know you by your SN but not your face which is good for some reasons but not the same feeling as the arcade.

It's like you will never see "Ogre vs Van Damme in Karate Champ" anywhere else.

[Leo_A]

They never officially died. Do you expect an act of Congress to make it official, or what's your criteria?

Most of us still have an arcade fairly close by in fact. I only have to drive for a half hour to get to one and I'm in the middle of no where. They're not as common as they once were, but they're not extinct.

For me I stopped enjoying them around 1990-1991 or so. The ones around here back then like Aladdins Castle were still full of early 80's arcade titles, but things changed drastically in the early 90's. I didn't care for all the dull 2d fighters and other boring genres that became popular then.

Last few times I've been in one, I walked around and didn't see any games I wanted to try and thought about how empty it was compared to 15 years ago. Lots of gimmicks like DDR taking up the space that several upright cabs could be taking, which everything spread too far apart. And 1/3 of them usually have non videogames these days making it even worse.

[Queen Of The Felines]

The only "pure" arcade around here finally closed down a few months ago. Strangely enough, it was also the place where that kid dropped dead from playing Berzerk way back in 1982.

There's another one called Wright's Barnyard that's been updated to a "family fun center" but it still has a bunch of older games including Tetris, Simpsons, Lethal Enforcers, Centipede, and some others.

Kristine

[Tron 2.0]

Arcades died for me afther the Saturn,PSX and N64 came out.

Also add to fact i was getting sick&tried... about reading arcade games in mags that i wouldn't see around here :P

PS:I hated how my arcades dissed the, NeoGeo afther 94 :angry:

[KingCobra]

78-88 was the peak IMO, and a good decade it was, 89-95 the smaller mom&pop fade'd hard and the Fighter and car games ruled, 95-00 The bigger stand alone and Mall arcades started to slip away with only Sega ruling in what was left, by 01 it's been just about dust outside of some major cities.

I would say 2000 was the end for the large arcades overall, home consoles have it crushed now.

[Lothars]

I don't think they have honestly dieing since around a year ago or so but there is still a pure arcade here in town I've never been to it, but there's also places like ruckers

though it's all good.

[Push Upstairs]

I'd say the mid-90's (probably 1995) is when arcades took a big hit in quality.

I'm one to think that the the PSX did have somehelp in the decline, but i also feel that arcades relying on mostly fighting games to bring in thier $$ is what lead to thier fall from grace.

If fighting games are what brings in the $$, and you stock mostly fighting games, what is there to bring in people who *don't* want to play SF Alpha 34,37, & 38?

Even today my choice when i walk into an arcade is pretty much limited to fighters, racers, or shooting scope games. Where is the variety in that?

[Ed Oscuro]

I'd say the mid-90's (probably 1995) is when arcades took a big hit in quality.
This seems about right...

[sabre2922]

I would say it started in late '95/early '96 with the advent of PSX and (to a slightly lesser extent ) the Saturn a gamer could have near arcade perfect ports Virtua fighter remix/Tekken 1 then a short time later better than arcade perfect Tekken3/Virtua Fighter 2 and the Streetfighter games- the Saturn ports were perfect IMO.

It even began earlier than that when Capcom released the great SF2 port for the SNES was the first foot in the grave for U.S. arcades.

The deathnail for Arcades was Soul Calibur and Dreamcast=better than arcade quality graphics at home. No real need for arcades after that IMO.

I know this all seems like my whole theory is very fighter oriented but arcades only survived as long as they did because of games like Streetfighter2 , Tekken etc and once you could have near arcade perfect ports of those games at home there was little need to spend all those quarters at the arcade anymore , at least here in the U.S. anyway.

I remember the last reasons I used to go to a local arcade was for Killer Instinct and Tekken Tag and the last time me and my ex best friend even went to an arcade was when I had read that Streetfighter 3 had been released after that even the PSX had better than arcade fighters both 2-D and 3-D , Arcade Racers etc.

One of the few things I still have on my must do list before I die is to both play and own an arcade perfect port (or upgraded-Xbox360 pleeeeaase) of the original Killer Instinct arcade game after that and a few beers I can die happy :D

[VG_Maniac]

Arcades died when home consoles finally caught up to them. To me, that was when the Dreamcast was launched.

[Rejinx]

From what I read NES Killed the big arcade hayday, but they were still around and had a short rebirth in the earily 90's lead by 2d fighters and Midway(NBA JAM). The PSX and other 5th gen consoles killed it. It cost to much to make good games just for arcade, and if you can play it at home why pay 50 cents to $1 per game at an arcade. I wish they would come up with a cheaper type of gaming spot. It is hard to get 20 or 30 people to go to your house to play games, and on line isn't the same. I miss crowding around a arcade michine and talking trash.

[Slipdeath]

Well there's only a couple of local arcades left here. But there's also a Gameworks and Dave & Busters that don't seem to be going anywhere.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

It never really 'died' and its not like there is a set year. During the later part of the 90's they were on the fall, but thats about as far as you could go. With DDR and other music games, fighters, and lightgun games, as well as some other intresting innovative titles (Mokap boxing ect) there is still a big enough audience for arcades to make a buck. Example, Pinball Pete's.

[Zing]

They were dying when they became packed with nothing but fighting and racing games. They were buried when there were more of the "ticket games" than video games.

My local arcade had a pretty dedicated crowd. We went through Mortal Kombat II, Killer Instinct, Tekken, Tekken 2, Tekken 3. That is the last game that I can recall seeing two people playing together.

[Blanka789]

I distinctly remember that our Alladin's Palace closed one week after the PSone launch, and had been struggling since Donkey Kong Country and the Saturn launch...

[Anthony1]

Ok, technically, Arcades aren't totally dead right now. There are Arcades out there that exist, at minature golf courses, at bowling alleys, at movie theaters, in hotels, etc,etc. Arcades still exist, but let's get real. At some point, Arcades took a tremendous fall.



Sometimes I wonder if people bother to even read the beginning post. They just look at the title of "What year did Arcades "officially" die and then immediately start thinking, "Wait a minute, Arcades aren't dead, there is one just down the street".



The point I was trying to make is that for all intents and purposes, the age of the classic Arcade that we know and love is pretty much over. There are still places that have the Arcade thing going on, like Dave & Busters and places like that, but for the most part, Arcades are just add ons to another attraction. I'm talking about a destination location. Dave & Busters might be the only place out there in alot of places, where people drive specifically there for the "arcade" part of the experience. The number of people that spend considerable time in an Arcade has dropped dramatically since the mid 90's and there is no way to argue that. The Arcade that we know and love is pretty much dead, and there was a certain year that we could say, "That's pretty much the year when Arcades officially died".



My guess right now is that 1999 or 2000 is probably the best canidates for the year of death. I think the absolute earliest year that one could say the Arcades died would be 1996. Because I know that there was some Arcade action still going on out there back in 1995. I'm pretty sure that it was still going on in 1996 and 1997, but I think 1997 was the beginning of a huge slide, that probably got really bad by 1999 and 2000.