Arcade netplay - would it be viable?

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
1

let’s say that you’re going to an arcade center and has no one to play against (either there’s few people or no one at the arcade, or no one wants to play with you), you then decide to leave the arcade; other people might find themselves in this situation too, and the arcade owner misses these chances to profit. But what if said players had the option to netplay people who’re (preferrably) close enough to them in this situation?

  • would it be doable?
  • would any problems arise? (server maintenance? costs? etc)

I think that, in a situation where someone at arcade A was alone, and there were lots of people playing that game on arcade B, people at B would (obviously) prefer local matches (which might lead to no stations playing online at that time), but maybe this could encourage newbies to gather at arcade centers (to play against people on their level or below). I wonder if this idea has been considered before, and if it was, why wasn’t it done. (also, I didn’t think of any way to make matchmaking time-efficient, since you have time constraints when playing on arcades, compared to playing at home; maybe give the player the option to search for games and then charge him/her when he/she challenges a player? Online queues and rooms wouldn’t be much profittable and would keep people waiting)

2

There is already aracades with netplay in japan.
There is a DBZ game by namco that uses ggpo for example.

3

Haha what you’re suggesting is common in Asia. Racing, music, and fighting games all have this feature and have had them for years.

I can sit down at an initial d cabinet and race someone from Japan no problem. In fact, if you want to run an arcade in Asia in 2016, a good internet connection is almost mandatory. Most all games will make use of it.

There is no extra cost for playing online. When you start a game the machine will look for a local opponent. If none is found it will go online and look. If there are no online opponents it will drop you into the game solo.

It’s not uncommon to play a music game and be playing the same song against 2 or 3 other opponents, all located in other arcades.