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!