Why are Arcades dying in US and not in Japan?

Current Fighting Games Fighting Game Discussion
101

Doubt you could smoke marijuana in a Japanese arcade since almost globally its an illegal substance(Although obviously some countries,cities,or states crack down on it more than others with a few exceptions like Amsterdam and Mexico and most 3rd world countries).

They are probably just alot more open to smoking out in public,compared to Americans.Japan is a place where you can actually buy ciggarettes and alcohol from a vending machine and they trust you to be honorable enough to abide by the legal age limit.So obviously they would be a bit more lenient when it comes to some things compared to the United States.

102

I used to live in Houston…is “Stargate” still around?

103

Sarda- They have lots of internet cafe’s here as well. Different MMO’s are popular based on the country. People here dont play WOW, but i see advertisements for Legion 2 and Ragnarok and so on. But yeah, there’s Lan Cafe’s as well, and in the local arcade, they just installed some computers with counterstrike on them, pretty neat.

Krasshole- Well, let me put it this way, you can openly smoke in America outside or in your own home. That doesn’t mean you can smoke marijuana legally, however. Same deal.

104

I just returned from a trip to Japan to see my best friend over xmas and new years. We went to several arcades each day. I am also in my late 20’s so I have experienced the arcade scene here in the states throughout my life.

The arcade scene hear is a complete joke compared to Japan. In Japan there are arcades litterly on every corner and sometimes 3 or more of them right next to each other, across the street, and/or on the same block. Its ridiculous and I loved it. There was not one time that we went to an arcade (and we went at some really obscure hours during the week) that it wasn’t packed with males and females. Now the females weren’t playing VF5 or GG but you see my point. Lots of old businessmen too.

Reasons why arcades are successful in Japan:

  1. The population of Japan (esp Tokyo) is extremely dense. You can’t move when you walk into a store there are so many people. With all of those people crammed into one spot, there is always someone (or a bunch of someones) willing to throw down in ANY arcade fighter.

In America, I have to drive over 30 minutes to get to the nearest arcade and guess what…it is really crappy with no one there. To get to the “premiere arcade of Texas” (Planet Zero), I have to drive even further (only 45 min thank goodness) and it doesn’t really get as much traffic as it should until Friday/Saturday nights despite having SC3:AE, T5:DR, GG:AC, 3s, MVC2, KOF, F-Zero, and a crap ton of dancing games.

  1. Its socially acceptable there. Things like anime, card games, technology, and especially video games are “cool” there. Again, there were several girls in the arcades and gaming stores in Japan. In America, these things are only for nerds and geeks. In Korea, for example, the top Starcraft players are doing it for a living, getting television coverage, and dating supermodels. next time a chick is impressed by your Starcraft skills here you record that **** for us all please.

The east in general puts more value into things of the mind rather than physical ability. Not in America. If our pro football players don’t get another 2 million dollar raise this next year they get pissed. Come on man. You put on pads and jump in front of another guy in pads and hope to move a ball a few yards. Not that there isn’t skill in doing that but it certainly isn’t much brain power.

  1. Some above posters really nailed this next one:
    Japanese people don’t talk trash and are respectful of one another.

In Japan, when we needed directions, we would ask a stranger, and they usually did not know english but with a smile on their face, would help us as best they could until they saw that we were satisfied. This happened all the time as we were lost a lot!

In America, if a foriegner asks us for help we can’t be bothered. We roll our eyes, point in some direction, shoo them off, and mutter under our breath “why can’t they learn our language.”

One thing that really angers me about America (and this is why other countries hate americans) is that we are pompous jerks who think we have to show off to everyone and show them how much better we are than them. What a society. We treat each other like trash without even knowing the other person. Its so juvenile. I teach at a public school and I see kids treat other kids like this and i wonder where they get it from…hmmmm their parents acting the same way. America is so dang backwards culturally.

Its amazing to notice the Japanese players giving one another advice and recognizing good play even though they did not come in together and obviously were not friends. Sportsmanship instead of being a jerk. WHAT A CONCEPT!

I’ll close with this…when America has ONE arcade that is packed by both sexes any time day or night and has a VF5 terminal where tons people sit for hours on end as “feature matches” are broadcast as replays from all over our country like it was a football game, then I will say the US has a shot. Because that is what is was like in the Japanese arcades.

How anyone can say that our arcade scene can compete with Japans is completely ludicrous.

Sorry for my long rant.

105

Despite the fact that this has been discussed to death, there’s one aspect I hardly see anyone touch on, and I think this is a fairly blind spot to most of us as gamers. Whether or not we agree on the finer points of why arcades are dying, there’s a general trend of where the perspective comes from, and that’s the social aspects of the arcade. This is very natural, since these are the reasons we enjoy doing what we do: play games, hang out with buddies, and have fun as a result.

The thing is, a lot of the opinions stated are “incomplete” in terms of taking account the incredible amount of factors that go into why an arcade will be successful or not - and the different contexts in which an arcade can exist in this country due to its sheer size. I’m saying that out opinions as gamers are “incomplete” not as an attack or to call anyone wrong, but we don’t really touch on the business aspect of running an arcade, and ESPECIALLY in the area of marketing the arcade. Let’s not just stop at defining the problem as a matter of population density, equipment failure, online gaming, consoles, and the fad of the arcade dying. I’m pretty sure a number of us would like to see a resurgence in the arcade phenomenon, and rather than just condemning the problem, and simplifying it, there needs to be some dialogue on how to successfully run such a place in the 21st century. It can be done, and there are stark (though few) examples of success in this country.

I really hope someone business-minded can learn to think like a gamer, and yet think outside the boundaries of the gaming world to create a working model of an environment that appeals to gamers while using other attractions to draw casual or non-gamers in. We have to overcome some challenges because of the layout of the country and competing media of gaming. But a starting business model is a key catalyst, and this void is a real problem to be addressed.

106

LOL…

107

We had 3 Large arcades in the area. I was a huge fan of the smaller seedy one, first place I played Mortal Kombat 1-3, amongst many other games at that time.
As the home systems got better and better I stopped going less and less, I guess I wasnt the only one cause eventually, that arcade closed down, as did the other one.

In fact, the only one standing is the local golf and stuff (the same one seen in Karate Kid 1) I think that one stays around because of the additonal mini golf, bumper cars, ect.

I always felt that with the increase in technology for home systems and the lack of innovation in arcade games was its downfall.

I love games like Police 911 and Mocap Boxing, but even now with the wii, they have taken that innovatve control scheme and ran with it.

Also, the increase in online gamming has taken over for casual competitive purposes.

In japan however, they have alot of random weird games that would work on home systems, unique control scemes, and general society itself is why they continue the thrive.

108

Seth’s article is a good read.

Basic problem is that arcade operators suck ass. They don’t keep their games working, they don’t promote themselves at all, they view customers as an annoyance, and they target a very small audience.

The vending machine analogy is accurate. Arcade operators in the US act like they are in the vending machine business - install a machine and wait for the money to come in - that’s it. That is the whole strategy. Working buttons? Not a priority.

109

-While there are certain differences between us and japan, none of those prevented an arcade scene from existing before, so theres no reason they should prevent it now.

-The arcade scene that worked here was different from the one in japan, and the future one will be different from both.

-Instead of blaming a bunch of things for the demise of arcades, we need to figure out how to use those things to our advantage.

The fact that they ran arcades like vending machines, also means that they haven’t really looked at the industry since pac man days, someone has to do the catchup R&D to see what would attract people in todays market to pay money to play in a neutral area. I think as the tournaments start to try some things, we can get some ideas from them, some from the lan cafe’s, some from whatever arcades are left, and see where we go.

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http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?p=3216500&postcount=5

111

its cause nobody cares

112

Yeah, man, which is exactly why it is great playing in Japan. The girlies.

113

Hang on guy’s! Don’t give up on US gaming spots!

I’m opening up an arcade this year.

The Chief’s Arcade… / Stip Bar! “Come get served!”

Comming Soon in 2007

114

oh wow…it closed right around when I had left…

115

There are no advantages in the American arcade industry. Awful, backwards hardware(I dare you to compare a shitty standup 33" Dynamo cab to a Namco Exceleena or a Sega Net City or even Blast City cab; i swear, if I ever have to see another Naomi hooked up via a JVS->JAMMA IO converter on a low res monitor…), nearly useless distributors and localization efforts(we should be incredibly thankful that HnK and KOFXI even came out here) etc. not to mention a user base that is both not large enough and is not willing to pay enough to make the arcade profitable(ask anyone here if they’re willing to throw the close USD equivalent of 100 yen into a cab).

Maybe if attitudes changed within the industry and among gamers, then yes, an arcade is possible.

116

Why would anyone wanna throw the 100 yen equivalent amount of money into a US arcade cabinet? I touched on this before. It works in Japan, and I have NO problem paying 100 yen per game but in he USA it doesnt work.

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i’m guessing the arcade is just more popular in japan then in the U.S…and besides the Japanese probably have more and beter games to play at this point.I mean I’m not going to go to the arcade and spend money playing a game I already own.I’m guessing they have lost of cool shit that’s not out on any console.

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http://www.fubarduck.com/2007/01/04/reviving-the-fighting-game-scene/

good article. Dunno if it’s been posted here before, if so sorry.

119

Because it would mean walking into an arcade and knowing it’ll be there next month.

That’s why I’d be willing to pay a dollar for cvs2.

120

^ But you realize there are 50 yen arcades in japan right? You talk as if all arcades are 100 yen over there, the are several 50 yen only arcades that still manage to have decent quality compared to USA arcades and manage to stay open.