Revenue per sq foot. That was the metric for sure. It's why arcade cabs lost out to fruit machines in the UK. Even with the relatively high payout percentages fruit machines made more money per sq ft than your average arcade cab.
In some cases, I believe, arcades were also used to launder money, making them artificially successful businesses.
@McShifty1984
Agreed, the go big approach makes sense as a strategy.
If I were doing this (never going to happen as I don't have the guts) then I'd try to make sure I had multiple revenue streams. In particular you'd need something to bridge the periods of low demand. Here's my back of a napkin business plan:
1. Sell snacks and drinks - anything that doesn't require kitchen preparation.
2. Sell merch
3. Collaborate with other free to play arcade owners to loan games in and out to keep the lineup fresh.
4. Develop in-house capability to renovate/repair arcade cabinets and boards and then sell that out as a service.
5. Sell cabs and games that have been renovated for profit
6. Hire out the venue for private functions - this will require licensing.
7. Promote the hell out of it. Socials, influencers, events, etc.
As other's have said I think this is a tough business to crack and to be fair it looks like he's doing most of the above already. I would question the wisdom of trying to sell memberships and gift vouchers on a website that basically says we are going out of business! He also has far too many pinball machines = too much space, a pain in the whatsits to maintain and not a big enough draw.
Love arcade games and I'm happy to see Free to Play arcades making a go of it. I've not run the numbers but my guess is this is a hard business to make successful due to the large amount of retail space that is required to house enough games to make the value proposition attractive to punters. I'd be interested to read a longer format article on these businesses. As someone who is uninformed I would guess you're not going to survive if your only revenue stream is entry fees.
Loved playing this at Namco in London, not many arcade games where you can sit down with five mates and have a blast. Simple game, but the coop was a big draw. Happy to see there's still one in the wild.
This makes me slightly sad because I absolutely love arcade games to the point of having a JAMMA cab in my house and I would dearly love an arcade renaissance. I'm all for bringing games to a new audience too, but somehow this feels like a way of squeezing more money out of my nostalgia, rather than opening up these classics to a new generation.
Emulation is pretty much a necessary thing these days so I'm not against that, but I do think you need to go someway towards curating the releases or at least getting deals to provide official releases of some forgotten gems. Sticking some licensed ROMs on the internet and then slinging an emulation box to download and play them with existing emulators isn't hitting the spot for me.
Yeah that wait for the physical MD cart is a shame. I'll probably end up buying this twice - the digital edition to play it on something modern and then a cartridge for the proper game.
I love this game. I remember pumping a fair bit of cash into the arcade version years ago. My memory may not be what it was, but having played the Mega Drive port it's pretty faithful to the arcade original as far as I can tell.
Yeah seems like a waste doesn't it. VCDECIDE has done a side by side between the Dreamcast version and Remake, this all but confirms my initial take on pacing problems in Remake. Remake also appears to use a brown colour grading, which completely crushes out some of the subtle accent colours used in the original. Changes to the cutscenes are a mixed bag. There are some improvements but some scenes are worse in terms of direction compared to the original.
Perhaps there's an option to revert back to the original voices, although that option isn't in the demo. There's an option to use the original music though.
This does look like an extensive remake, which might explain why this has taken six years. That said six years is a long time to make a light gun game, especially when you consider the game design was done already.
As a Sega fan I will of course be picking this up, but having played the demo it feels like it's lost something. There's some odd rag doll physics going on with the zombies and the pacing feels off somehow.
@Poodlestargenerica Good news! Unless this game has a dramatic change of direction then it isn't going to be a touge racer. There's a sub series called Kaido Battle that fits that niche.
Comments 11
Re: Arcade Enters "Survival Mode" As It Seeks To Avoid Closure
@gingerbeardman
Revenue per sq foot. That was the metric for sure. It's why arcade cabs lost out to fruit machines in the UK. Even with the relatively high payout percentages fruit machines made more money per sq ft than your average arcade cab.
In some cases, I believe, arcades were also used to launder money, making them artificially successful businesses.
Re: Arcade Enters "Survival Mode" As It Seeks To Avoid Closure
@RetroMasters
I'm detecting a little sarcasm . Without wanting to sound like more of a knob... I own two small businesses, neither though are thriving sadly .
Re: Arcade Enters "Survival Mode" As It Seeks To Avoid Closure
@McShifty1984
Agreed, the go big approach makes sense as a strategy.
If I were doing this (never going to happen as I don't have the guts) then I'd try to make sure I had multiple revenue streams. In particular you'd need something to bridge the periods of low demand. Here's my back of a napkin business plan:
1. Sell snacks and drinks - anything that doesn't require kitchen preparation.
2. Sell merch
3. Collaborate with other free to play arcade owners to loan games in and out to keep the lineup fresh.
4. Develop in-house capability to renovate/repair arcade cabinets and boards and then sell that out as a service.
5. Sell cabs and games that have been renovated for profit
6. Hire out the venue for private functions - this will require licensing.
7. Promote the hell out of it. Socials, influencers, events, etc.
As other's have said I think this is a tough business to crack and to be fair it looks like he's doing most of the above already. I would question the wisdom of trying to sell memberships and gift vouchers on a website that basically says we are going out of business! He also has far too many pinball machines = too much space, a pain in the whatsits to maintain and not a big enough draw.
Re: Arcade Enters "Survival Mode" As It Seeks To Avoid Closure
Love arcade games and I'm happy to see Free to Play arcades making a go of it. I've not run the numbers but my guess is this is a hard business to make successful due to the large amount of retail space that is required to house enough games to make the value proposition attractive to punters. I'd be interested to read a longer format article on these businesses. As someone who is uninformed I would guess you're not going to survive if your only revenue stream is entry fees.
Re: This Might Be The Only Working 'Galaxian 3: Attack Of The Zolgear' Cabinet In North America
Loved playing this at Namco in London, not many arcade games where you can sit down with five mates and have a blast. Simple game, but the coop was a big draw. Happy to see there's still one in the wild.
Re: Recade Wants To Be Netflix For Arcade Games, But It Needs Your Help
This makes me slightly sad because I absolutely love arcade games to the point of having a JAMMA cab in my house and I would dearly love an arcade renaissance. I'm all for bringing games to a new audience too, but somehow this feels like a way of squeezing more money out of my nostalgia, rather than opening up these classics to a new generation.
Emulation is pretty much a necessary thing these days so I'm not against that, but I do think you need to go someway towards curating the releases or at least getting deals to provide official releases of some forgotten gems. Sticking some licensed ROMs on the internet and then slinging an emulation box to download and play them with existing emulators isn't hitting the spot for me.
Re: Earthion's Soundtrack "Has Surpassed" Streets Of Rage 2 To The Point That Even Its Unused Songs Are "Keepers"
Yeah that wait for the physical MD cart is a shame. I'll probably end up buying this twice - the digital edition to play it on something modern and then a cartridge for the proper game.
Re: Toaplan's Arcade Cult Classic Wardner Is Coming To The Amiga
I love this game. I remember pumping a fair bit of cash into the arcade version years ago. My memory may not be what it was, but having played the Mega Drive port it's pretty faithful to the arcade original as far as I can tell.
Re: Forever Entertainment's House Of The Dead 2: Remake Now Has A Steam Demo
Yeah seems like a waste doesn't it. VCDECIDE has done a side by side between the Dreamcast version and Remake, this all but confirms my initial take on pacing problems in Remake. Remake also appears to use a brown colour grading, which completely crushes out some of the subtle accent colours used in the original. Changes to the cutscenes are a mixed bag. There are some improvements but some scenes are worse in terms of direction compared to the original.
Re: Forever Entertainment's House Of The Dead 2: Remake Now Has A Steam Demo
Perhaps there's an option to revert back to the original voices, although that option isn't in the demo. There's an option to use the original music though.
This does look like an extensive remake, which might explain why this has taken six years. That said six years is a long time to make a light gun game, especially when you consider the game design was done already.
As a Sega fan I will of course be picking this up, but having played the demo it feels like it's lost something. There's some odd rag doll physics going on with the zombies and the pacing feels off somehow.
Re: Tokyo Xtreme Racer Hits Steam Early Access Later This Month
@Poodlestargenerica
Good news! Unless this game has a dramatic change of direction then it isn't going to be a touge racer. There's a sub series called Kaido Battle that fits that niche.