at its height there were about 13 000
arcade machines across america
individual units were making as much as
400 a week
revenue for the arcade industry peaked
in 1982 at 12 billion
but just three years later revenue
plummeted to a hundred million dollars
the american arcade industry was busted
[Music]
today remaining american arcades are
bastions of a time long ago
only surviving on nostalgia but in japan
arcade culture is
thriving japanese arcades have somehow
withstood many of the same cultural and
technological advancements
that have killed the american arcade
the american arcade industry is partly a
victim of its own success
arcade owners were ordering more
machines than their clientele could even
support
the market was saturated and saturated
with particularly bad games
at the same time anti-video game
sentiment was growing in american
suburbs
society was beginning to question the
relationship between video games and
violence
and parents were upset at the hours
their children would spend in arcades
officials say they are responding to
complaints from parents that children
have skipped school or stolen money to
play the games
and made a nuisance of themselves the
american arcade industry began to
decline
and then in 1985 will you be the one to
experience the nintendo entertainment
system
the success of nintendo's nes marked the
beginning of a new era the american
arcade
was toast but japan faced many of these
same issues
and although the japanese arcade
industry faced moments of decline
arcades remained a staple of its cities
to find out why we have to go back to
post world war ii japan
the japanese economic miracle is a term
that marks a time of
unprecedented economic growth in japan
economic support from the us marshall
plan
combined with high japanese economic
involvement sparked a technological
revolution
jolting japan up to the second largest
economy in the world
one visible byproduct of this economic
boom was the birthing of a thriving
entertainment industry
bowling alleys movie theaters and
entertainment halls began springing up
in japan's cities
and then
in 1978 space invaders became a global
phenomenon
and the arcade industry took off space
invaders was so popular that they were
arcades solely dedicated to space
invaders gaming cabinets
and the 100 yen game was so popular that
some gaming historians often credited
with starting a coin shortage in japan
and while american arcades were placed
in small suburbs small towns or strip
malls
japanese arcades were strategically
placed in the hearts of their biggest
cities
they are hypervisible to customers often
built near major train stations
since public transportation is so
integral to japanese culture
this gives visitors and locals
opportunities to pop in play a couple
games and still have time to get to
their next train
and while the arcade boom brought
arcades to large cities in japan
even suburban and rural areas began
building arcades near their train
stations
but even with expertly said locations
arcades in japan throughout the 80s and
90s faced a problem
similar to american arcades they began
to carry a cd reputation
many of them were akin to dive bars with
low lights and small spaces
hitoshi hagiwara president and ceo of
bandai namco
stated in the japan times a lot of
arcades didn't have staff or were dark
with lots of shadowy corners
incidents happened both in the west and
in japan
arcades were slowly gaining a negative
reputation
but while this was a major factor in the
decline of american arcades
japanese arcades actively worked to
overcome their dark portrayal
sega and bandai namco owned arcades
essentially gentrified themselves in the
mid-90s
shedding those shady corners in favor of
bright lights and well-staffed spaces
and while the more dive bar esc arcades
still exist to serve more niche
clientele like the fighting game
community
many of them went for this new and
cleaner look and these gaming centers
are huge many have multiple floors with
each floor specializing in different
types of games
you know when you go to an arcade in
japan it's usually multi-level right and
there's
you could literally start from here and
it's crane games and it's
pachinko machines and then as you go up
it's dancing games
and it's almost segmented out so you get
to the top floor like the boss level
and that's where your retro games are
right that's where your classic
90s and 80s video games are because
people still play those in japan
these reinvented amusement park-esque
japanese arcades are often owned by
their game developers themselves
such as sagazaki habara buildings in
tokyo
this gives them the liberty to decide
which titles to fund and which games
they want to continue to invest in
another tactic they use is to release
games in arcades before at home
releases for example street fighter 4
was first released in arcades in 2008
before their home release in 2009 when
it first came out it was only in arcades
and the companies were listening to the
communities and saying what do you like
what needs to be changed the entire
gaming system is integrated
and therefore works in a way that
american arcades never could
japanese arcades are continuously
evolving the business model mandates the
need for innovation to remain relevant
and now the japanese arcade industry is
facing its biggest challenge yet
the coronavirus pandemic has hit the
arcade industry very hard
the japanese government quickly
implemented comprehensive restrictions
on travel and gathering
this effort has been a relative success
with only 1 600 deaths from the virus
so how did the arcade industry fare
sega's akihabara building 2
one of the larger arcades in tokyo was
forced to close due to a lack of income
but others like the famous mikado arcade
have been able to survive
the fighting game community came
together to help mikado pay its bills
and like they've done throughout their
existence japanese arcades have evolved
arcades have installed glass panels
between arcade machines or in some cases
full barriers around entire consoles
sega corporation is working on a system
that could turn japanese arcades into
data centers that tap into the powerful
cpus and gpus of their arcade machines
to offer low latency no lag streaming
services
it's called fog gaming since systems and
arcades are so close together physically
it lowers data travel time with sega
optimistically predicting that they
could reduce lag to less than one
millisecond
this means that players could practice
their favorite fighting games from the
comfort of their own home without having
to travel to the arcade
even during a global pandemic the
industry is once again in the works to
reinvent itself
while the future of the arcade industry
is unclear it's fully possible that
these japanese innovations may make a
resurgence in the united states
and the rest of the world it may not be
the arcade
as we have seen it you know be
created in north america especially but
there will be some kind of
new experience right people love
the experiential model one that isn't at
all like the classic arcades of the 70s
and 80s
but still an arcade in essence only time
will tell
america has already seen a resurgence in
the ways of arcades so the public seems
ready to welcome arcades back into their
hearts
thanks for watching what's your favorite
arcade game let us know in the comments
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