I disagree with your arcade death reason by the 2x price. According to [1], arcades had started costing a $.25 USD since 1966. By standard rate of inflation o

I disagree with your arcade death reason by the 2x price. According to [1], arcades had started costing a $.25 USD since 1966. By standard rate of inflation of ~3.4% [2], that means it should cost approximately $1.50 USD today. One argument to this is rather the starting basis of $.25 is the right price. According to the same source, the golden age of arcade is ~1980. So for the sake of finding a lower optimal basis, let's assume that $.25 is the optimal pricing in 1980. Which means arcade games should cost ~$.75 to play today. Now the question becomes rather games should accept coins other than quarters so the pricing isn't such a steep step function, or game creators needed to start making games to justify 2x pricing. I guess they decided on the latter. So I totally disagree with this assessment. I would say the consoles offering an alternative to arcade games at a reasonable price is the main reason. Yes, I agree with you that it's a totally different experience, but maybe not enough to stop going to the arcades when one can play for "free" at home or friends' house. This is the first step in killing the arcades. The second step is the internet and portable gaming/mobile as an alternate pastime for kids. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcade_game [2] http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/long_term_inflation.asp http://inflationdata.com/inflation/inflation_rate/long_term_... (not sure the credibility of the site, but I'm sure the average inflation rate in US isn't too much different)