Arcades are quickly becoming a relic of the past as home entertainment becomes more and more viable thanks to home consoles and a plethora of games being released for them. Arcades were a great idea that really took off in popularity when the idea of home consoles was far-fetched for most consumers. Consumer electronics used to be incredibly expensive, as I remember back to the late-80’s when my dad took me to pick up a brand new CD player at the store for around $600, which was at the time pretty normal. This is what helped arcades to thrive and Namco was without a doubt one of the giants in the arcade business.
You can still see the remnants of that today, actually, as I did last week in the middle of nowhere, Nevada, where I found a ten-year-old Time Crisis 3 machine which I pumped more quarters into than I’m prone to admit. They are looking to re-evaluate their business model in the US and move into the realm of the “upscale” restaurant with a game theme business model, in something that sounds like a Dave & Busters and could, theoretically, work, if done properly. Everything is still in the early planning stages right now, but expect to hear more about this soon.
Because bars need more light gun games.
