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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Oh No! Wii Claims Another Victim - Japanese Arcades

Grampy on 18 May 2008

According to Reuters the Wii has done it again:

Japan's arcade industry slumps as Wii takes off

“The Wii, launched in late 2006, has introduced innovative games that have players jumping around as they simulate boxing, skiing and other sports.

That has robbed arcades of one important advantage they used to have over home devices -- being the best place to play active games such as Konami Corp's dancing hit Dance Dance Revolution, analysts say.

"A large element of the problem is innovation and in Japan, it's pretty clear that Nintendo has been the leader in innovation," said Jay Defibaugh, an analyst at Credit Suisse.”

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spiyde on 18 May 2008

i blame wiif...oh wait!?



Parokki on 18 May 2008

Didn't you just make a thread about how Wii owners should stop gloating on their console's success? =P

But yeah, arcades have been dying everywhere for a while now. They've had a bit more luck in Japan where they're less like console games shoved into arcade cabinets, and more about crazy stuff that's impractical to do at home. I guess you could claim the possibilities offered by the Wii make going to the arcades less interesting, but I'm not convinced that there's enough weird games on the Wii to affect Japanese arcades quite yet.



johnsobas on 18 May 2008

Arcades in Japan are much different then they used to be. Most of them are quirky games that could never be made on consoles. It's nothing like the old arcades were in the US. I miss those days.



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Grampy on 18 May 2008
Parokki said:
Didn't you just make a thread about how Wii owners should stop gloating on their console's success? =P

But yeah, arcades have been dying everywhere for a while now. They've had a bit more luck in Japan where they're less like console games shoved into arcade cabinets, and more about crazy stuff that's impractical to do at home. I guess you could claim the possibilities offered by the Wii make going to the arcades less interesting, but I'm not convinced that there's enough weird games on the Wii to affect Japanese arcades quite yet.

I didn't gloat. Every word below the headline is a direct quote from Reuters, I take no joy in business closings and people losing their jobs. But yes it is definately hurting them;

"Sega Sammy Holdings Inc plans to close 110 arcades, around one quarter of its outlets, while rival Namco Bandai Holdings has announced that it will close between 50 and 60 stores, or roughly 20 percent of its arcades."

The article goes on however to say that it's not just the Wii, the PS3, wide screen TVs and handhelds get some of the credit too.



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Alby_da_Wolf on 18 May 2008

ZOMFG! Or maybe better YOMFG! Now the Yakuza will be after them!!!



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sieanr on 18 May 2008

The reason why many arcades in Japan thrived is because the games used unusual controllers, so you got an experience that you couldn't get on a home console. Supposedly this was one of the inspirations for the Wii.



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Possum5454 on 18 May 2008

didn't we hear about this a long time ago...or am i just crazy



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Grampy on 18 May 2008

It's new to me and to Reuters but I'm sure that this has been going on quite a while for arcades to be closing down. Very possibly it has been reported before.



plzdontbanme on 18 May 2008

Yes we did hear about this a long time ago. Spend more time on the internets



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