thats true … bars do survive… but i think that’d be more of a hassle… only 21 and up which cuts off alot of random cash flow from younger kids … liquor license… etc but iono it could work. people do spend money on booze
How does GW do it?
Just steal their system on Alcohol but still cater gaming to the younger crowd, I’d be there like every other day playin SF4 and other games.
Lord knows that Alderwood mall is a hot spot in the NorthWest so if it’s near there and has a good location to be noticed on the drive/walk/bus to the mall, you’ll be sure to get people going to it.
yea im a big fan of having working controls and a variety of fighting games, mvc2 is a must. along with games that are harder to come by, darkstalkers etc to draw people in
SF IV arcade version is obsolete. Even if you decide to buy one of these, it’ll cost no less than $10,000(?).
I’m not sure anyone really wants to pay $1 per game (with the exception of Narrows/Gameworks regulars) anymore.
There’s no reason you can’t do both, but try and stay away from buying a SF4 arcade cab. You may be able to have a custom Versus setup made for far less.
One last thing to consider, let’s say the business fails, you wont be stuck with a bunch of cabinets to resell. HDtvs and consoles/games can be sold rather quickly.
If you could create some kind of schedule for events or tournaments and run them for players, that would go a long way towards getting people (myself included) to show up. I’m much less likely to go to an arcade, especially if its a drive, if I don’t know for certain people will be there to play with.
I think it’s important that you make it into a place where people “know” they can go and meet other players and have a good time. Tough to do, I know. But as people above me have posted; the games aren’t the draw, the people are.
The best part of an arcade to me is playing randoms, people you have no idea who they play as or how good they are. It creates excitement in my book.
Tournaments/Hype is a must. It is the people aspect.
Of course all of us are for cabs, but none of us think that a place with a few cabs can survive. And people are just too spread out and don’t play in the arcades enough compared to Asia. We would love to see cabs, but for you to get 20xT6:BR cabs like where I play, it’d cost you no less than $200,000 and you prolly wouldn’t get the 50-100 people a night constantly on the machines that you see here. Granted, this is the world’s best Tekken arcade, but just saying that you prolly don’t have that money to drop nor those players to pull in to consistently put money into your machines.
To make any money or even survive you’re gonna need to be getting people in there all day. Like… from after school to midnight at least. Open in the afternoon and run 12-hour days. If you don’t pull them in, you go under.
The problem with opening an arcade is the large amount of overhead with things that don’t make money quickly. Hybrid LAN centers are the place to go, location is your number one priority as is availability.
I don’t know, I really don’t see it being feasible unless you have a large amount of disposable income.
btw, rhythm games are great as long as you have a place to put them. Pop ‘n’ Music and DDR would be a great draw. I have a Neo Geo cab with Mark of the Wolves in it that I’d be willing to part with if it allowed the community to play it.
Right.
What Pablo said is true. Opening any new business is NO JOKE, and arcades are not exactly booming. That’s why something like a bar could really be something to look into. You don’t have to keep < 21 folks out, just having a designated bar area where you’re not allowed to enter if you’re < 21 should be enough. I don’t know the law in great detail, but this is what many music venues do, as well as GameWorks. It’s also possible to have the place be a ‘bar’ only after 10 pm, for example.
For the casual crowd, I’m kinda guessing, but I think a couple retro games (pac man, mario, donkey kong, centipede… or even things like skee-ball, etc.) and rhythm games would be popular, potentially. I personally can’t see ‘casual’ players going to a LAN center, but I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.
To be completely honest, I don’t know how likely I am to make a trip up to Lynnwood myself. You might want to see how many people you can talk to in the area. I think arcades are not something that many people will travel very far to go to, and your success will be based around how many regulars you can snag from close by. The other option is to try to get something which will make people want to travel to, but that’s easier said than done. It will probably take more than working controls for that.
As far as console setups go, I wouldn’t turn my nose up at them. Especially with MvC2 being released for PS3 and 360 this summer, the number of games where you really need the arcade version is pretty small, and dropping. However, if you do go with consoles, I would love to see a few nice arcade-style joysticks available. You could even have a couple faux-cabinets, where there’s just a PS3 or 360 inside, but with a nice big cabinet-style controller layout for two players. That seems like it would be a nice compromise to me.
If you have the bank roll and the gumption then more power to you. If it’s in Lynnwood I’ll definitely be there that is only 5-10 miles from me, but it being 21+ after 10 would be bad for me seeing as I’m only 19. I like the bar/arcade idea (seeing as the bar would be the main source of income) just keep them separate all of the time. Or have sessions past 2am so that minor’s like me can play after then because of the state alcohol shut off time.
Wow… it’s like people just started sprouting out of nowhere after I left Everett. How is it that Everett seems to have gotten more players AFTER its arcade died? I used to run that place on broken controls… Ironman with no hk all day!!! c.lk,c.mp,xx,/ , ad/df lk,mk,u+hp infinite proton cannon… and cable c.lk,s.hp, AHVB… gross, hahaha.
We got one of those. No idea exactly how profitable it is, but it’s stayed in business for years without needing redemption ticket games.
I doubt I’d pay 50c per game very often on a SF4 cabinet that didn’t have the console characters on it.
Dude I’ve been wondering the same thing. I was one of the 16 year old mallrats you used to beast on all the time. Me and my friend played low tier religiously. :lol: Good old Casey’s. Miss that shit.
The thing about SFIV is that it is a widescreen game, so if you play it on cheap standard definition candy cabs, it will look like shit with a fucked up aspect ratio and low-res. I would rather play on console than like that, unless you are willing to pay THOUSANDS for two hi res screens and 2 cabinets for SFIV.
And even then since it’s outside japan, there will be no card system and no alternate costumes, just barebones ass SFIV.
At this point in America it is not worth it to buy an SFIV cab, imo, the opportunity for recouping your investment is already gone, all the casual players who played on SFIV cabs already either have bought it on console or moved on… definitely SFIV would only be profitable on console IMO.
SF4 my friend.
if you ask me,
i would like you to have a private
plain for the outsiders to fly to your arcade.
and i’m not hardcore, but just imagine what
a hard, hardcore cat would ask.