How did the arcade in North America 'die'?

[Flojomojo]

By the time everything became a side-scroller (around the late 1980's), the NES was on the scene and was just as good as anything in the arcade. I didn't really miss its passing ... but the lack of innovation really stung.

 

For some reason I had a big block stopping me from dropping $2.00 into a machine to play House of the Dead for a few minutes, but no problem at all dropping $50+ to play it at home as much as I wanted.

 

XBOX Live is a fair substitute for the arcade if you have a fast enough connection.

[doctorclu]

Why did the arcades die in America?

 

From my perspective the arcades were going great until the laser disc games like Dragon's Lair and other came out. That is when I remember things dropping off drastically the first time. Up till then it was a scence of awe. When Dragon's Lair came out, it was simply awesome and unbelievable. I remember seeing it for the first time, and I didn't believe my eyes.

 

Time rolled on, creative games were replaced with fighting games and games where people walk along and beat peolple up. That I thought was a stagnant era in arcade gaming.

 

So that brings us up to the nineties, and by this point, I remember playing X-Men a lot, having a blast with it, and a few others.

 

Late nineties, the Star Wars Arcade, Area 51, and DDR. All fun.

 

Here in Dallas we have seen special arcades, to games at Putt putt places, and now those are gone. There are places like Dave & Busters, and other gaming places for adults, but by and large, video games are seen at skating rinks and laundry mats. (That is where I played a Alien vs. Predator game).

 

There are small arcades at the malls. Used to have them take up a whole wing of the mall, or a whjole floor, and now, maybe a room.

 

Video games are definately still out there though. Current assement of this situation was brought to mind by one Putt Putt arcade owner as he shut down the place. He said that people simply don't get out anymore. Period.

 

But you'll certainly find me getting out and looking.

[keilbaca]

 DDR made an impact, but many of us would never be caught dead dancing at an arcade so the audience is still limited.

 

I love getting caught dead playing DDR in the arcades ....mmmm people watching me......

556723[/snapback]

 

Ditto

 

I was home on leave and I was pounding away at the ddr machine in the food court. I thought I heard a few comments behind me, then I looked behind me after playing and seen a pretty big crowd.

 

As for arcades these days, its pretty much because of console systems. The only things you see at the arcade now is things you can't experience at home, the sit down racing games, ddr, pinball, shooting games, and the competition of fighters. Sometimes you find a few classic arcades, but for the most part, its the listed above. *sighs* and I can't find any arcades around me at all, except for the on base bowling alley. I'm sooooo wanting to kick some ass at Tekken or Street Fighter.

 

I need to go to dave and busters, I heard they have DDR there

[supercat]

As for arcades these days, its pretty much because of console systems. The only things you see at the arcade now is things you can't experience at home, the sit down racing games, ddr, pinball, shooting games, and the competition of fighters.

 

Aside from pinball, the game I've played most at the local arcade is Centipede; in the attached bar, the game I play most is Galaxian.

 

If there were a Galaga/Ms. Pacman combo game set for a quarter a play, I'd play a lot, but I'm not going to spend $0.50/play for those games.

[keilbaca]

As for arcades these days, its pretty much because of console systems. The only things you see at the arcade now is things you can't experience at home, the sit down racing games, ddr, pinball, shooting games, and the competition of fighters.

 

Aside from pinball, the game I've played most at the local arcade is Centipede; in the attached bar, the game I play most is Galaxian.

 

If there were a Galaga/Ms. Pacman combo game set for a quarter a play, I'd play a lot, but I'm not going to spend $0.50/play for those games.

901115[/snapback]

 

Then you're lucky to find those games... because I can't find anything classic around here except Ms. Pac-man at the bowling alley, and that stick is so damn worn its not even funny.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Let da Kopin lay a new angle on yall.

 

Around where I live (the Greater New Orelans Area) there used to be many arcades: Putt-Putt, the Fun Arcade chain, Fun City, the one in Clearview Mall, Celebration Station, the one out in the mall next to the Superdome...a lot of them.

All that's left now is the Fun Arcade chain. Why? Because they're owned by New Orleans Novelty Company...the local arcade game distributor. Gee. maybe that's one gimongous hugantic coincidence...but I think not.

 

Still, another killing factor is what replaced the arcades: Fun City was replaced by a bank, then by a car dealership; Putt Putt was replaced by a branch of the local big-name hospital; and so on. not only was NONC putting the squeeze on arcades they didn't own for newer games, non-arcade businesses that had more loot to pay rent with were able to convince the landowners to send the little businesses packing.

 

What killed the arcade in New Orleans? A monopoly on game distribution combined with big business outspending the little business of the arcade. Rock and a hard place, people. Simple as it gets.

[raindog]

What kills me about finding the rare "vintage" arcade game is that the ones that are still out there are the ones I've bought a dozen different versions of at home.... Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man (or Pac-Man for that matter), Centipede, once in a great while Asteroids.... and that's about it.

 

Put a Vanguard or Bump'n'Jump or Space Duel machine in front of me unexpectedly and I'll drop whatever quarters I have into it, for sure.... they might not be my favorite games of all time but I haven't played them to death, either.

 

But arcades are in business to make money, and if some kid is willing to keep dropping quarters into a machine to get tickets he or she can redeem for shoddy to worthless prizes, the operator will make a lot more money than he will off of me playing Space Duel for 10-15 minutes on one quarter (or Galaga for a lot longer, if I'm in practice.)

[dinoboy38]

What kills me about finding the rare "vintage" arcade game is that the ones that are still out there are the ones I've bought a dozen different versions of at home.... Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man (or Pac-Man for that matter), Centipede, once in a great while Asteroids.... and that's about it.

 

Put a Vanguard or Bump'n'Jump or Space Duel machine in front of me unexpectedly and I'll drop whatever quarters I have into it, for sure.... they might not be my favorite games of all time but I haven't played them to death, either.

 

But arcades are in business to make money, and if some kid is willing to keep dropping quarters into a machine to get tickets he or she can redeem for shoddy to worthless prizes, the operator will make a lot more money than he will off of me playing Space Duel for 10-15 minutes on one quarter (or Galaga for a lot longer, if I'm in practice.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Death Of the Arcade?! Just watching the movie Tron makes me cry a river that can flood up any room. I strongly remember the arcades. The Smithaven Mall had Time Out family amusement center. They did have trouble with Loitering, gambling, fighting, etc. Although the arcade had moved to another section of the mall in the early 1990's, my gaming heart had just exploded as I came to the arcade and found it completely empty. As I starred into the empty room, I started to reminise on my early enjoyment of the arcades. Why I remember that they use to have a coupon in the newspaper for one free game token at their arcade. My sister and I would fight over it big time. They also had a summer fun club, where you would get one free game token for every day during the summer you came in. They also had a Good Grades for free games promotion. All you had to do was bring in your report card to the arcade, the change guy looked at your report card, and judging by your grades, you would get a certain amount of free tokens. I oftne got a nice hand full, since I got good grades. Other than that, the arcades were seen in the back area of an indoor flea market, or someplace. Another great arcade I've been to was Spaceplex Amusements. Now that I think about it, Photon had a video arcade as well. Photon was way cool, futurisitc and basicly it was a game of tag using laser lights as you ran around an arena in 40 lbs of equipment, and listening to the instructions and warnings of the computer voice. The place is gone now, since they feared it would become a gang hangout.

Edited October 11, 2007 by dinoboy38

[JimmydelaKopin]

But arcades are in business to make money, and if some kid is willing to keep dropping quarters into a machine to get tickets he or she can redeem for shoddy to worthless prizes, the operator will make a lot more money than he will off of me playing Space Duel for 10-15 minutes on one quarter (or Galaga for a lot longer, if I'm in practice.)

901458[/snapback]

 

Man, have I heard this argument many times.

Raindog, you're as entitled to your opinion as anyone else...but it doesn't work like that.

Yes, the arcades need to make money...but the way to do that is to put in games that are fun to play, that make people want to play them. The "marathon gamer" might seem like the person no arcade owner wants at his arcade...but the opposite is true. "Marathon gamers" show that a game is fun, and they provoke other gamers through their very longevity to try the game. And how many "marathon gamers" are there really?

No, "marathon gamers" are actually walking advertisements for fun games...and the arcades that have them. The ticket machines might seem like they're making money...but if no one wants to play them, they're just taking up space.

 

In my area, the remaining arcades (as I said before, all owned by the local coin-op distributing company...what conflict of interests? )always get the latest fighting games...which are usually replaced once the next fighting game comes out.

But they also have touchscreen games that are years old, an Ultracade machine, a Ms. Pacman/Galaga machine, an Area 51 machine, etc. Why the older machines staying while the newer ones keep getting replaced? Because the older ones are fun to play and thus make more money than the newer ones do.

 

The arcade with fun games in it...that will survive. Arcade owners that don't realize that, that instead load their arcades with the latest not-fun games...well, they deserve the bankruptcy heading they way.

[Cap5750]

Cassidy

551363[/snapback]

 

I remember going on our senior trip in high school. One of the days, we went to Virginia Beach, then the Naval Base. That night, we were taken to something called "The Strip". I don't know if that's the actual name....but man, there were a ton of arcades, put-put golf, etc etc etc. Definately was a blast for a bunch of 17 and 18 year-old kids.

[Bountybob]

My favourite arcades where at the seaside on holiday.In actual fact it was a big part of the holiday.I think you could have that experience again if you made arcades a mix of different things.You could have some old classic vids along with pinball, air hockey etc. and the occasional new arcade game to boot.I guess some people have already done this with video game museums.

[Shaggy the Atarian]

But arcades are in business to make money, and if some kid is willing to keep dropping quarters into a machine to get tickets he or she can redeem for shoddy to worthless prizes, the operator will make a lot more money than he will off of me playing Space Duel for 10-15 minutes on one quarter (or Galaga for a lot longer, if I'm in practice.)

901458[/snapback]

 

Man, have I heard this argument many times.

Raindog, you're as entitled to your opinion as anyone else...but it doesn't work like that.

Yes, the arcades need to make money...but the way to do that is to put in games that are fun to play, that make people want to play them. The "marathon gamer" might seem like the person no arcade owner wants at his arcade...but the opposite is true. "Marathon gamers" show that a game is fun, and they provoke other gamers through their very longevity to try the game. And how many "marathon gamers" are there really?

No, "marathon gamers" are actually walking advertisements for fun games...and the arcades that have them. The ticket machines might seem like they're making money...but if no one wants to play them, they're just taking up space.

 

In my area, the remaining arcades (as I said before, all owned by the local coin-op distributing company...what conflict of interests? )always get the latest fighting games...which are usually replaced once the next fighting game comes out.

But they also have touchscreen games that are years old, an Ultracade machine, a Ms. Pacman/Galaga machine, an Area 51 machine, etc. Why the older machines staying while the newer ones keep getting replaced? Because the older ones are fun to play and thus make more money than the newer ones do.

 

The arcade with fun games in it...that will survive. Arcade owners that don't realize that, that instead load their arcades with the latest not-fun games...well, they deserve the bankruptcy heading they way.

902600[/snapback]

 

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly. I used to manage an arcade and for the most part the employees were the marathon gamers there, myself included. We'd compete against each other on games like Star Wars Trilogy and SF Rush 2049. I got good enough to beat SW one one credit without getting hit and I was able to memorize just about everything in that game. And I remember several times where I played through the game and there would be a group of people watching (which is something of a rarity these days) and after I beat it people would scramble to get on and play. A marathon gamer shows that it is beatable and that it's fun to play. And they'll stop by your arcade a lot more often than those who aren't marathoners.

 

And back to the arcades are dead argument. I'm going to be talking about this on my next online radio program, as it's something that interests me. Especially since I have been planning on opening an arcade for sometime now. But I think the major points behind the death of arcades in America go along these lines (in no particular order):

 

1. Arcade titles are no longer pushing the envelope of originality. 90% of the games you find are 'me too' titles and other rip offs. Games are being ported from the consoles to the arcades and there's not much incentive to go to the arcade to pay $2 for a game they already own at home. Also every title thats a big hit in the arcades is released for the home consoles. Once that happens, sales drop.

 

2. Arcade game manufacturers are few and they charge too much for their games, which hurts the arcade operator. They also are responsible for point number 1.

 

3. Video game journalism pretty much ignores the existence of new arcade titles these days, and thus people who may be inclined to play certain games never hear about them. Even finding information about brand new arcades which are in development on the internet is difficult these days. (I'd love to find a site that talks about in-development arcade titles). I only happened to find out about games like Raiden 3 and Mario Kart GP by chance on Atari forums.

 

4. The government for some reason feels the need to tax arcade operators to death in certain states. The higher the taxes, the less incentive there is to open up an arcade featuring already expensive arcade titles. They are trying to label PC game centers as arcades in certain states like New York so they can tax those centers to death as well.

 

5. Gamers themselves are too lazy to get off the couch and go somewhere like an arcade to play a game. I know that can be disputed, and I'm talking about the majority, but I know that not all gamers are like that.

 

That's my opinion of course, but from working in the industry, that's what I see going on. And I'll get into more detail about that on my show probably next week.

[raindog]

I really think the "oh, arcades would be profitable if they only put in games we enthusiasts like" argument misses the point. Arcades *are* profitable, or they wouldn't stay open. They just aren't filled with videogames anymore, they're filled with ticket games. Before video games they were filled with pins and the odd novelty game, and even then there were some ticket games. Maybe something new will come along that will replace ticket games, but no one needs to go to an arcade anymore to play a decent game. I'd rather play Nanostray on my DS than anything in any arcade I've visited in this millennium.

 

I will say, though, that a couple months ago Just Fun in my nearby mall put in a DDR machine (finally) and it attracts crowds like I haven't seen since SF2 first came out.

 

Speaking of "death of the arcade", it looks like I'm gonna be visiting Walt Disney World near the end of the year. I know when I went to Disneyland 25 years ago they had arcades with then-modern games (I was in heaven) and also arcades with vintage shooting gallery type games from the 50's and 60's as well as pins (I also enjoyed those.) Does WDW have any "retro arcades" with stuff old people like us would like from the 70's and 80's? Does it have any arcades at all? I'd like to make the most of my visit, since I've never been there and don't want to spend all my time standing in line for 3-minute-long rides. I might just start a new thread about it, but as long as we're talking about arcades dying I thought I'd ask.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Raindog, pal o'mine, I think you're missing the point. The "arcade" as is considered in this discussion is a place filled with coin-op amusement devices that do not offer prizes (excepting the ego boost that comes from defeating a game, getting a high score, and so on). If you want to include prize and ticket machines as arcade fare, then why not go all the way and include 'video poker' and slot machines and call casinos 'arcades for adults'?

Of, for that matter, include the photo-sticker booths in Japan and call print shops over there "arcades for the trendy"?

 

I've seen some quasi-arcades that are filled with nothing but ticket or prize machines. A local Super-WalMart has one, a local movie theater has another. But I wouldn't call those "arcades" in the classic gaming sense of the word...no more than I would call those faddish Coca-cola vending machines with mini-videogames on them "arcade games".

No, the former is an amusement center for kids, and the latter is a vending machine. As I've said to many in the past on many a subject, calling a cat "Fido" won't make it bark.

 

There are amusement centers, and there are arcades. And there are still real arcades around; they're just a bit rarer than they used to be. All we're talking about is why they've become so rare. Please, let's not get this thread derailed into a discussion of semantics.

[raindog]

Raindog, pal o'mine, I think you're missing the point. The "arcade" as is considered in this discussion is a place filled with coin-op amusement devices that do not offer prizes (excepting the ego boost that comes from defeating a game, getting a high score, and so on). If you want to include prize and ticket machines  as arcade fare, then why not go all the way and include 'video poker' and slot machines and call casinos 'arcades for adults'?

Because if I walked into a casino 25 years ago, I wouldn't have seen a row of Pac-Man machines flanked by Asteroids and Battlezone. The kind of place that's filled with ticket games now is the kind of place that was filled with Pac-Man in 1980.

 

This isn't semantics, it's the evolution of an industry from one you and I like to one we dislike.

[dr. kwack]

Not sure if anyone posted this already, but there IS a site out there where you can find and report the classics...

 

Classic Arcade Game Locations

 

I check this site out every time I'm going out of town!

 

I have to sadly agree it is a damn shame the old days are gone. Being from a small town we had few arcade options in the early/mid 80's- one of the best was our local county fair which only came 'round once a year. MY GOD! Huge tent filled with the best stuff of the day- at least 25-30 games.

 

Other than that, it was roller rinks (our local one was usually well stocked but in the late 90's the owner sold all machines for ticket based games ), conveinience stores, the local theater, and the crappy mall arcade just choked with scrolling fight games. Honestly, how many ways did Data East package Commando (Ikari Warriors, Gunsmoke, Heavy Barrel, etc.) and Vigilante-like games?

 

I've often wondered if a retro-arcade would be able to survive today...

[mos6507]

Another problem is the fact that arcade games had a preset skill level but modern online games don't so you can be playing someone who is light years ahead of you and the competition is not fair. I know that I would sometimes get this with Counter Strike where some players were just so good that I felt that I never had a chance at all. 

555737[/snapback]

 

Not all games did. Atari games like Tempest or Star Wars let you start at higher levels.

 

It's too bad this didn't catch on.

[mos6507]

What kills me about finding the rare "vintage" arcade game is that the ones that are still out there are the ones I've bought a dozen different versions of at home.... Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man (or Pac-Man for that matter), Centipede, once in a great while Asteroids.... and that's about it.

 

Put a Vanguard or Bump'n'Jump or Space Duel machine in front of me unexpectedly and I'll drop whatever quarters I have into it, for sure.... they might not be my favorite games of all time but I haven't played them to death, either.

 

But arcades are in business to make money, and if some kid is willing to keep dropping quarters into a machine to get tickets he or she can redeem for shoddy to worthless prizes, the operator will make a lot more money than he will off of me playing Space Duel for 10-15 minutes on one quarter (or Galaga for a lot longer, if I'm in practice.)

901458[/snapback]

Death Of the Arcade?! Just watching the movie Tron makes me cry a river that can flood up any room. I strongly remember the arcades. The Smithaven Mall had Time Out family amusement center.

902511[/snapback]

 

I used to go to a place called Fun n Games in Framingham, MA on a routine basis, like every weekend, especially during the summer. Even after the crash, they were still around. The games started to diverge from what I liked, but they still had cool stuff like Space Lords, Bubble Bobble, Rastan.

 

I don't think they are still around anymore.

 

There used to be an arcade games in the two bowling alleys in my hometown but they didn't last forever. Although the total number of games at any time was small, over the eyears, some of the games in those included Rush N Attack, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Moon Patrol, Spy Hunter, and Major Havok. There used to be local ordinances limiting the number of videogames in the town which I thought was stupid.

[+cvga]

I've often wondered if a retro-arcade would be able to survive today...

 

I've wondered that for a long time also. I organized a small group of people about 10 years ago who each agreed to purchase 5 classic games and combine them in one location to form a retro arcade somewhere around Columbus, Ohio. The idea was to have 30-40 games set on free play and charge an hourly fee for people to play. Other plans included the creation of a display to go along with each game containing information about the game (number produced, high score, home versions, other related memorabilia, etc), one wall dedicated as a timeline/monthly Top 10 from the late '70s through early '80s, and an onsite high score board with a picture of the high scorer beside the machine.

 

We described the place as a poor man's Dave & Busters combined with a game museum. It was intentionally designed to be low cost/low maintenance as each person was to be responsible for an initial investment of 5 games and a commitment to spend 8 hours per week running it.

 

We had a bunch of games and were looking into locations when our core group fell apart. Two of our members found jobs in other cities and one got married to someone who wasn't as wild about our plan as he was. My wife and I also had our first child shortly afterward and the idea was put on hold indefinitely.

 

At least I still have my Tempest, Ms. Pacman, Food Fight, Congo Bongo, Venture, and a non-working Asteroids Deluxe cocktail

[JimmydelaKopin]

Raindog, pal o'mine, I think you're missing the point. The "arcade" as is considered in this discussion is a place filled with coin-op amusement devices that do not offer prizes (excepting the ego boost that comes from defeating a game, getting a high score, and so on). If you want to include prize and ticket machines  as arcade fare, then why not go all the way and include 'video poker' and slot machines and call casinos 'arcades for adults'?

Because if I walked into a casino 25 years ago, I wouldn't have seen a row of Pac-Man machines flanked by Asteroids and Battlezone. The kind of place that's filled with ticket games now is the kind of place that was filled with Pac-Man in 1980.

 

This isn't semantics, it's the evolution of an industry from one you and I like to one we dislike.

905987[/snapback]

 

Hey, pal, depends on the casino. I remember EF's purple-shoed Unknown Arcader checking out the scene in a Bally's Casino, and it was wall-to-wall Pac-Man machines. The article even included photos of it; it blew my mind, to say the least.

 

But seriously, my point is that "arcades", as traditionally defined by gamers, are places with amusement devices that do not offer prizes. They might include some ticket or prize machines (the local Putt-Putt had 3 Skeeball machines and one prize machine), but the place must be dominated by non-prize amusement devices.

 

Put another way, when I was a kid and I wanted to go to the arcade, my parents entertained no delusions about me going there with $10 and returning home with any sort of prize. They knew that $10 was gone forever, and, aside from the entertainment of the videogames and pinball, I would get nothing for my time and money.

Not so with ticket machines, prize machines, etc. You'll eventually get something from the machines (unless you're really unlucky). And one plays such machines not for entertainment but in the anticipation of getting something for playing it.

 

Put yet another way, before there were videogames there was pinball. And people knew the difference between a pinball machine and a slot machine--and they know which one spits out real money on occasion. (The closest pinball came to doing that is when the machine's owner would buy the credits from the player if the player racks up a number of them, so as to encourage others to play the machine. That's how my father played pinball essentially for free or even made a little money off of it.)

My point is that there are all sorts of amusement centers: arcades, prize places, casinos, even the print shops across the Pacific. Arcades are amusement centers, but not all amusement centers are arcades.

 

I do agree, though, that I do not like the trend toward prize places, if only because the majority of machines are geared toward children. Man, I loved playing skee-ball at Putt-Putt!

[dinoboy38]

I've got gaming memories and my understandings of why the arcades died. Your right about the home consoles taking the jump for bringing the classics home. So although you saved money and didn't need to go to the arcade, the earliest home versions stunk graphic wise. (Atari2600) But Colecovision ruled back then! I remember for the fact that I had been bullied a few times in the arcade, figuring I would give them my money if they threaten to hurt me. Strange as it sounds, years ago in a Port Jefferson Ny shopping center, there was a couple of arcade games in the back corner of a hardware store, the guy figured that it would improve his business. But for the fact of too many gangs hanging out, selling drugs, and the biggy, tapped out gamers who would loiter and just hang around.

I remember that there might have been a possibility that some kids would ditch school just so they could go to the arcade. So sometimes they came up with promotional things like "Good Grades Earn Free Games." Bring in your report card, show it to the change guy or gal, and your A+'s would get you mega tokiens. Back then I remember fighting with my sister whenever Time Out video arcade would place a cut out coupon in the newspaper that was good for one free game. Time Out also had the summer fun club, where everyday during the summer you would go to Timeout and get one free token, and only one, each day you came during the summer. It was good, but I didn't go the mall, unless mom was taking us clothes shopping. Those were the days, however money was really tight for me back then, so for the few times mom took me to the mall, I was sooo excited since the arcade was there, but when I got there, I then realized that I had no money, and how was I supposed to kill off 2 hours while waiting for my mom to come back.

I had often gotten caught by the change guy when I began putting my finger in the coin return slot, hoping to find a few lost game tokens for my gaming fun,

I was desperate.

Time Out did close it's doors in the Smithaven mall in the late 1990's, and I just stood there looking at the empty arcade trying to relive my lost memories.

[AtariDude]

Arcades died for several reasons. One fact was that consoles became quite powerful and was just as good as arcades. Some of the limiting factors that prevented home games from being as good as arcades were removed.

 

Second there is a lot of other things such as cable TV, DVD movies, the Internet, etc that vie for people's attention. All these things wanting attention to be paid to them did not allow for much time for other things.

 

Today, the only arcades besides Sega Gameworks is the ones next to the movie theaters. They have an interesting mix of newer and older classic arcade games so I can still play some of the classics while waiting for my movie to start.

[EricBall]

There's no one reason why far fewer arcades exist. Well, there is one reason - money - but there's a lot of reasons that arcades aren't as profitable as they once were.

 

First, on the supply side

1. It costs a lot to make a new arcade game. Higher quality graphics means higher costs for artwork. 3-D graphics means even more artwork, motion capture and higher code complexity to boot.

2. Reduced demand means lower production runs which means one time costs per machine are higher.

3. Custom hardware is stupidly expensive in development & production costs, so many games use the same hardware (Neo-Geo) or modified PC or console hardware.

4. Higher costs means companies don't want to take as many risks, thus sequels and look-alike games are "safer".

5. Realistic graphics can be restrictive because games get constrained by reality.

 

Second, on the operator side:

Higer percentage of games in unique, often oversize, cabinets. Although these games can increase traffic because they are unique, they are often higher cost and can't be converted to another game when they cease to be popular.

 

Finally, the players:

1. Arcades used to have better graphics and gameplay than computers and consoles; that's no longer the case.

2. Cost of computers & consoles has gone down, while arcade cost has gone up.

2. Fewer truely unique and interesting games. If you don't enjoy the established genres there is less reason to go to an arcade.

 

I'm sure there's other reasons.

[Retro Rogue]

Surprise no one caught this - this is a series we ran a few years ago by someone who was actually in the arcade industry from the early 80's through to a few years ago.

He explains what happened from the coin-op company and vendor side (rather than the player side that everyone else is posting here about):

 

Arcade Fantastic Part 1

 

Arcade Fantastic Part 2

 

Arcade Fantastic Part 3

[JimmydelaKopin]

Interesting idea in the articles, and one I touched on in a previous post: the arcades died because the arcade owners were seduced into getting rid of popular games for newer games that were hyped as being 'popular' but really weren't.

 

Yes, I wouldn't doubt that there were some who threw their arcade budgets completely behind newer games in hopes that they would prove to be as popular as the older games. In every business there are those who insist on putting all their eggs in one basket...and more often than not they wind up with no eggs for breakfast.

 

But there's more to it than arcade owners falling for the hype of arcade game manufacturers. As I said concerning the local market, we used to have 11 arcades in the GNO area. Now we're down to 4. Putt-Putt was replced by an Oschner Medical Center. Goofy Golf was replaced by a Home Depot. Fun-n-Games was replced by Pontchartrain Bank, which has since been replaced by a used car lot. Celebration Station and the arcade in the mall next to the Superdome sit empty; nothing replaced them yet. The arcade in the airport was replaced with an airport store, and the one in Clearview Mall was replaced with a Sears expansion.

And one was forced into the local coin-op distributor's warehouse, as its location was replaced by a convenience store.

 

A good deal of the arcade loss around here is due to the landlords finding tenants that could afford more rent than the arcade owners could pay.

 

Also, like I said, one company, New Orleans Novelty Company, became not only a coin-op distributor but also the owner of a 3-arcade chain (which it still has). They used their funds to undercut the prices of other local distributors, made other arcades dependent on them, and then raised their prices, thus putting serious hurting on the independent arcades that were left. Now there's only one non-NONC arcade left, and it's struggling.

 

Think about it. This is about more than the arcades themselves. It used to be around these parts that one could find a coin-op videogame in every grocery store and convenience store and drug store--and Lakeside Mall had a number of them in the general areas. What happened to all these games?

The store owners found different ways to generate the same revenue: vending machines, crane machines, ATMs, and the like. And since the owners of the machine--and not the stores themselves--do the maintenance...that means less money spent by the stores.

 

I'm not faulting business here. They have the right to get a profit as best they can.

 

But I am saying that these businesses have gotten their profits at the expense of the game manufacturers...and at the expense of gamers.

 

Did home gaming become popular enough to kill the arcades? Not in the GNO area. Around here, the death of arcades and the dearth of available coin-ops forced gamers to seek out home gaming as an alternative.