Over the last 15 years you may have noticed the quarters in your pocket hanging around longer and longer. The reason may be the waning number of video arcades in your area. Since the 1990s the video arcade industry has been in decline. Small privately owned mall arcades and large corporate-sponsored franchises have all but disappeared. I spent my childhood wandering each new mall searching for the next arcade to dump a bucket of quarters into. It's a personal loss and perhaps the first true example of the changing times I live in. Why do arcades have such a hard time finding a home or staying a afloat these days?
As a computer science major and bonafide nerd, I fondly remember the dimly lit rooms with bright glowing screens as an origin point of sorts. Video arcades at the time had the best video game graphics that humanity could muster and I delighted in their innovation. When you house the latest in graphical prowess in a single room and only charge quarters to play them, it isn't difficult to see the allure.
The craze began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with die-hard legends like Space Invaders, Galaxian and Pac Man. The large cabinets allowed for vastly superior tech power that home consoles at the time just couldn't handle. The frenzy peaked in the mid 1980s, described as the Golden Age of Arcade Gaming. Gaming came into its own and gained social popularity, spurring contests, competitions and eager acceptance of arcade machines into seemingly unlikely locales, like supermarkets. The “Atari Debacle” of 1983 effectively collapsed the home video game console for a number of years, allowing video arcades ample room to grow and flourish.
Each region experienced their own popularity with video arcades,
but in the early 1990s a decline began. Technology was advancing in the home video game console market, and Nintendo's NES system was at the forefront when the home console industry recovered. It was able to port many arcade classics and favorites with respectable detail and accuracy to previous home console ports. Home consoles were a cheaper prospect than they had been in the past. The video arcade was becoming a thing of the past - the vaudeville of gaming. Home consoles evolved quickly providing graphics that could rival the modern arcade. With less patrons and an absence in industry innovation advancing the machines, arcade owners knew their days were numbered. Home entertainment, like home consoles, the internet, and computer gaming, were stealing the show.
Japan was the only place that did not suffer from the decline of the 90's. There, the industry thrived and Japan became the leader in arcade innovation. Instead of trying to beat home consoles at their own game, they focused on providing experiences that could not be replicated in the home setting. Larger and more elaborate cabinets made their way onto the scene, along with larger screens and monitors. Gun and racings games were still largely dominated in the arcade venue, and Konami's Bemani series of games provided a comprehensive set of franchises covering music and rhythm demands. What was once a collection of side-scrolling and top-down games evolved into a mass of crowd-gathering spectacles; the continued evolution of the public video arcade.
These efforts introduced new genres and game franchises and created memorable experiences, but inevitably the home market caught up. Next to my TV I have a GunCon controller with Time Crisis 4, and under my bed is a $300 metal dance mat; a replica from the Dance Dance Revolution machines. I have complete control. I don't need to drive anywhere, pay anything, and my hardware won't suffer from degradation due to public misuse. The modern home market supplies everything I need for in-home gaming. New fighting game consoles have physical ports to attach home game console controllers, and more and more arcade machines are simply ports of the home version.
Today, even Japanese arcades are in decline. Numerous producers and arcade franchises have shut their doors or scaled back. Though the leader of the arcade industry remains standing, arcades as a whole struggle to compete against strong home console competition. The majority of arcades today exist inside theatres, as well as other places where there are already crowds of people. One might be hard pressed to find an airport that doesn't have 2 pinball machines and a “Cruin'N World” machine hanging around in a small forgotten alcove.
What Can Arcades Do To Survive?
Video arcades have a history of being leaders in innovation offering new ideas that can only be expressed with a large machine. They are also more immersive. Actually rolling the car of the racing game you're sitting in or playing Dance Dance Revolution under the flashing lights and an adorning crowd is something you just can't pull off at home.
Arcades have been using motion gaming for years, in games like Dance Freaks or the more infamous Police 911 game (a motion-capture game that senses when you lean and dodge away from bullets). Arcades are meant to be an experience but they need to keep moving, and fast. Sony and Microsoft are poised to dominate even this level of motion gaming with their Move and Kinect systems.
Arcades should have jumped on 3D gaming years ago. Who else has full control of all the extra hardware needed? Who else masters technical gimmicks and delights in their presentation? Currently 3D gaming at home is a pricey proposition. Many find glasses to be obtrusive, and the need to buy a new TV and the small selection
of 3D-enabled games means that this contrivance has a long way to go. Sadly, arcades seemed to have missed this opportunity. Had they taken advantage of it, 3D gaming would have had years of publicity behind it. People would be more excited to take advantage of 3D gaming and more games would have become immediately available.
The modern home console scene owes much to video arcades. They were competitors and partners, each pushing the other and driving innovation. Arcades acted as research and development for new and exciting video games. Today, they're a shadow of their former selves. Arcades were easy market research; they were a public spectacle and a glimpse into what was going to be the next big craze. It lended guidance and watched as the home console market got back on its feet and flourished, nudging and encouraging it along as it went. The decline of the video arcade is like a sad movie that I've spent my entire life watching and experiencing. I can only hope that they have many more years left in them. It's an integral part of the video game ecosystem, and a part that is still very much needed.
