The Age of the Broken Arcade

[Erik_Twice]

An article on the decline of modern arcades and why they are all closing down:

http://eriktwicedoesitagain.wordpress.c ... en-arcade/

[ExedExes]

Good article.

Everywhere around the world from France to the US and with the obvious exception of Japan, all arcades seem to be in a constant state of disrepair

Truer words have never been spoken. I came from Northern NJ, where in the 90s it was COOL to be at the arcade. The local 7-11 always had a hot new pinball and SF II in all its flavors and a Neo Geo 4-slot.

We also had many legendary arcades that all shuttered in the middle of the last decade.

Come here now to FL, and nearly all the games are always messed up. Monitors, sticks, GUNS with poor calibration, steering wheels and pedals that don't feel right, yet those humble games are getting eaten up by the evil REDEMPTION monster. Guess they have better profit/turnover potential?

Anyways, I still play whatever I can that is in working condition, but I do salute the "FES"es (dare anybody call themselves an arcade anymore) that are still in existence, and YouTube users like Gamester81Arcade who highlight the few people that still have a passion in the arcade business that keep their games in immaculate condition.

[cookie monster]

It is sad to see all the arcades that have closed or are in a state of decay but for me there is a bright spot a new arcade opened in my local mall everything is shiny and restored so i can go in there and relive all my happy memories on marvel vs capcom and some pinball machines this place seems to be growing i hope it sticks around for a long time

[YoshiEgg25]

Great article, dude. And it's true; arcades simply have not kept up with changes to the industry, which is a damn shame. And I know it's even worse over in Spain.

[Erik_Twice]

Come here now to FL, and nearly all the games are always messed up. Monitors, sticks, GUNS with poor calibration, steering wheels and pedals that don't feel right, yet those humble games are getting eaten up by the evil REDEMPTION monster. Guess they have better profit/turnover potential?

They do have better profit margins than your average game, specially a broken one, but they don't make anyone come in. Nobody cares about those games and all the profit is into the short-term. Operators also get greedy and think they would get more money by putting more and more of these machines in the place but that only splits up revenue among several machines while removing the games that made the place fun in the first place.

And it seems it's a common occurence. Everyone knows what happened when suits decided Disneyland should have more shops and restaurants.

Great article, dude. And it's true; arcades simply have not kept up with changes to the industry, which is a damn shame. And I know it's even worse over in Spain.

The problem with Spain is that most arcades are owned by a terrible chain called "New Park" or owned by bowling alleys whose owners look down on the game division. Something you get both which is terrible beyond belief. From what I hear Spain doesn't have any specific problems, they are simply worse there.

There's a way of thinking which is probably a policy in more than one place that is to blame for the biggest part of the decay which can be summed up as follows:

If the game makes money, why upgrade or repair it? It already makes money
If the game doesn't make money, why upgrade or repair it? It doesn't make money

Which means you never get anything new or the managers feel there's any need for repairs. Really, some things are simply moronic beyond belief.


A Pump it Up or DDR pad with a broken arrow sees absolutedly no play and the community will leave until it's fixed. Replacing this arrow costs 10€ to the arcade.

When I went to play PIU, I spent around 4 euro per day and I often went with several friends. In weekends the machines were so full you were getting 1,5€ per five minutes of play and the machine was played non-stop from 5PM to 10PM. Think about how much money they could have made.

But no, they chose not to repair the machines. Arcades like this are just asking to be shut down.


I'm glad you guys liked the article

[Curlypaul]

I miss the atmosphere in the arcades, especially when they were all smokey and packed with people. Whenever I get to go to an arcade, its always the same old machines that they've had for years. Sounds like its the same everywhere though.

[ZeroAX]

It's moronic beyond belief. If the arcade owners just took a look at Japan they'd have seen that arcades can co exist with consoles if they were run properly.

But the lack of new fun games and hooooorrible maintenance killed them .

Well at least the reason they died isn't as stupid as the reason they died in Greece in a matter of 3 months

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_3037/2002#Impact ....and people were shocked to learn this country is bankrupt......

[Curlypaul]

Wow - arcades are BANNED! that is harsh man

[mcfrosticles]

Good article. I'm lucky enough to live near an arcade that is in great condition that contains all the classics.

[ZeroAX]

Wow - arcades are BANNED! that is harsh man

It wasn't enforced outside the first few months, but it pretty much killed all of them. There are some arcades still operating in cinemas, but they also have bowling and stuff like that, so it's hardly their biggest money earner.

The funny thing is that according to the way the law was worded, it's illegal to play video games, but not to buy/sell or own them..

So even if we were living in a 1984 like society, you could buy them and say "I'm just buying this copy of Sonic and Knuckles to place it on my bookcase cause it looks good".......which let's me honest is what most Racketeers do practically