Arcades, Loving them is a Losing Game
Arcades had been around from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. During the times I’m still Yay High,when I had enough of the bullying I got from school. I skip classes and go to arcades as an escape. I remember almost every street in my city has an Arcade. The Surviving Arcades in my country are usually in Shopping Malls and they die faster than death because. Back then consoles are not threats to Arcades. Some games cannot be ported for home consoles because the technology can handle it or people just like playing with friends. Now, most people play games with their smartphones. If you want to play with friends, you can do it online.
I thought there was a glimmer of Hope for Arcades, when I saw this Youtube Documentary that says this industry still thrives in Japan.
Sadly, there is this more recent documentary that says Arcades are slowly dying in Japan too.
Gaming centers are still Alive in Japan because they still make new Games but not in the US and most countries. The Surviving Arcades in my country’s most recent game is Tekken 6. No Company is making new games for these machines. Some Arcade owners try to convert console fighting games with Arcade mode into a custom-made game for inserting coins. The Pandemic makes it worst for the Game centers because fewer people go to public places in fear of getting infected. Some surviving establishments try to market their place as nostalgic hangouts for vintage gaming because no new titles are made.
The 2019 Winning song for Eurovision was a song titled Arcade. Its chorus resonates with what’s going on with the Game centers. “Loving you is a losing Game”. Many people hoped that VR could revive the Arcade industry but we have portable VR machines and home VR machines now. I am still hoping for a miracle to happen that will give life back to historical businesses like this one.