10 ms·
Note Sega is divesting from arcades (the places of business), but they still make machines that go into arcades.
by DerekL 5y ago
Note Sega is divesting from arcades (the places of business), but they still make machines that go into arcades.
- ksec 5y agoSo they are not operating Sega World or Arcade Centre, but still making arcade the machine? If that is the case I am fine. I was rather worry about the end of Arcade. Especially with Racing Games.
- philistine 5y agoYou should be exceedingly worried. If Sega has no ownership of arcade locations, they lose a very big reason to make machines for the arcade. For Sega, the money was in owning the complete operation.
- nsxwolf 5y agoDoes Sega own any arcades in the US? I've always seen a lot of new Sega machines - is that not an important business for them?
- musicale 5y agoGameworks was co-founded by Sega and also owned for a time by Sega Sammy; at one point it had dozens of locations, but it seems to have struggled financially for much of its life and is closing its last two locations due to pandemic-related difficulties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameWorks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameWorks
- amelius 5y agoWhy? Microsoft (Xbox) doesn't own arcade locations.
- als0 5y agoArcades in America and Europe have essentially been dead for a long time, which has to be a reason why Microsoft doesn't own any. But in Japan arcades were still thriving until recently. Unfortunately, times are tough.
- shkkmo 5y agoI've been to arcades all over the the USA in the last decade. The new breed of arcades serve a role more like "video game bar" than the their more kid/family friendlier predecessors.
- mlindner 5y agoI've been to US arcades and there's basically no relation to a real Japanese arcade.
- astrange 5y agoRound1 runs real arcades in the US, but seems to fund them with ticket machines that are basically gambling.
- musicale 5y agoI think Chuck E. Cheese still has lots of locations. GameWorks seems to have been a casualty of the pandemic, sadly. Hopefully arcades (and not just barcades) will resurge a bit as the pandemic recedes.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 5y agoI was at a chuck e cheese recently (just before the pandemic) to attend a child's birthday party. At least at the one I visited, there were no recent arcade machines. Most of the machines were really crappy gambling machines. There were a few extremely outdated video game machines, but not many. It was a far cry from what I remember from my youth but maybe it was always like this?
- fomine3 5y agoKonami don't have their own arcade shops, but they still make many arcade machines. Sega would do the same thing.
- jandrese 5y agoMaybe not the best example since they have seemingly switched to pachinko as their primary business model.
- fomine3 5y agoEven if pachinko is related, Sega (Samy) is also big for pachinko machine market. Arcade machine is not very profitable business but I don't know they completely shut down their business in the future or not. I just point that no more shop != no more machine.
- sjtgraham 5y agoThis doesn't seem at all plausible. I can't think of a country I have been to in the world that didn't have Sega arcade machines. I'd be shocked if simply manufacturing and selling the machines wasn't more lucrative.
- TylerE 5y agoThe problem is arcade machines are just a TINY markey. The best selling game of the '90s was Street Fighter 2: CE, and that sold a grand total of 140k units. Most other successful games like NBA Jam or Mortal Kombat sold 15-20k units. That's just not compatible with the budgets needed in the 3d era.
- ksec 5y agoAs other have mentioned. I am not an expert on the subject, but as far as I am aware Arcade owned and operate by the same company like Saga World London is a relatively new and niche phenomenon. Arcade for most of their life are just being sold and operated by other parties when Arcade were everywhere ( in Japan anyway ) back in the 80s and 90s. I do miss SegaWorld London though.
- SllX 5y agoGlad this is the first comment I saw before clicking through to the article.
- friedturkey 5y agoA tale as old as time. “We won’t abandon the business. We’re just changing our focus.”