Will arcade games make a comeback?

Mackmax

Mackmax

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Many gamers that are older than me talk about how much they miss arcade games. Most of them talk about the Mortal Kombat arcade games and how amazing they were back then. I've never gotten into arcade games, and I don't think I ever will. But for all of you who used to play arcade games, do you think they'll ever make a comeback, or do you think that at-home gaming systems have permanently taken their spot?
 
Make a comeback where exactly, though? Are you speaking specifically in the West? Because it still has a bit of popularity in Japan where fighting games get both the console treatment and the arcade game treatment if it's popular enough and/or distributed by a big enough company. That's why you get videos of people having played characters that aren't yet available as DLC for example.

I'm... not really sure about the status of the arcade gaming in the West so I can't be sure. Where I'm from, there are still a few places to play arcade games and the variety of the one nearest me is actually quite good. I'm just not much of an arcade gamer so I don't know what the current titles are.
 
I'm gonna say no way in hell.

The way the western market is going a lot of people are developing the inability to pay for games. I can't see this generation of spoiled brats happily going to an arcade and dumping singles into arcade machines.
 
I think the rise in consoles, handheld and mobile games has made it difficult to arcade games to coexist. While places such as Dave & Busters exist as well as dedicated arcades at certain boardwalks, arcade games are getting harder and harder to find and usually only found in bars, pool halls and bowling alleys.
 
I think that time has come and gone. Arcades are really only good for nostalgia these days. Arcades became obsolete with the rise of things like online play. I will always love a good arcade, but I know for the most part I want to play all the classics, the racing games, and light gun games.
 
LitoLawless said:
I think that time has come and gone. Arcades are really only good for nostalgia these days. Arcades became obsolete with the rise of things like online play. I will always love a good arcade, but I know for the most part I want to play all the classics, the racing games, and light gun games.
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You make a lot of excellent points. I think the introduction of mobile gaming has also really hurt too. There are just so many different ways to play games these days. However, I also fully agree with you that nothing can replicate playing light gun games at the arcade.
 
Very unlikely. The boardwalk wear I live used to be FULL of arcades and all sorts of arcade games. Now all they have a million claw machine games, and a lonely DDR machine in a corner. Though one place has a single giant Temple Run arcade game in their back area. (Which is so bizarre to me, like, I can play that on my phone? For free? Why would I pay you a dollar for every try?? On a giant machine where the game is controlled by a giant roller ball which is extremely hard to use, to boot?)

There is a cool dive bar called "BARcade" in Jersey City, that is literally just an old arcade that got a bar shoved into the corner on one side, and some tables added. It's got lots of cool "vintage" arcade games. But it's a popular place with college kids, so it's never not jam packed with people.

But long story short, arcade games don't make money any more. It's not where the market is any more. :(
 
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petrushka said:
Make a comeback where exactly, though? Are you speaking specifically in the West? Because it still has a bit of popularity in Japan where fighting games get both the console treatment and the arcade game treatment if it's popular enough and/or distributed by a big enough company. That's why you get videos of people having played characters that aren't yet available as DLC for example.

I'm... not really sure about the status of the arcade gaming in the West so I can't be sure. Where I'm from, there are still a few places to play arcade games and the variety of the one nearest me is actually quite good. I'm just not much of an arcade gamer so I don't know what the current titles are.
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It's actually the other way around. Fighting games get released in arcades first (because they make quite a nice chunk of money, especially the Gundam VS. series and Persona 4 Arena), they get location tested there (which is basically beta test for balance, to see if there is something really off with the frame data or move properties) and then usually after half a year to a year they get released on home consoles. There are few rare cases where a game never got to home consoles (Under Night IN-Birth's vanilla version was arcade only, it took like 2 years for a home release), but I don't think I know of any Japanese-made fighting game that would come to consoles first and then arcades later (the only example I can think of is Skullgirls, but that's because it's a USA-made game where the arcade scene is almost nonexistent).

As for the original poster's question.. I don't think so. Arcades are too expensive to make and mantain, which drives the per-play price up, which makes less people want to play it... I think that scene is dead, outside of the fighting game niche.
 
Kitty Reeves said:
Very unlikely. The boardwalk wear I live used to be FULL of arcades and all sorts of arcade games. Now all they have a million claw machine games, and a lonely DDR machine in a corner. Though one place has a single giant Temple Run arcade game in their back area. (Which is so bizarre to me, like, I can play that on my phone? For free? Why would I pay you a dollar for every try?? On a giant machine where the game is controlled by a giant roller ball which is extremely hard to use, to boot?)

There is a cool dive bar called "BARcade" in Jersey City, that is literally just an old arcade that got a bar shoved into the corner on one side, and some tables added. It's got lots of cool "vintage" arcade games. But it's a popular place with college kids, so it's never not jam packed with people.

But long story short, arcade games don't make money any more. It's not where the market is any more. :(
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I had not heard of BARcade before but next time I am near the area I will definitely check this out if for nothing else but the nostalgia factor. It's always fun to relieve your childhood memories.
 
It will take something revolutionary to bring arcade games back into mainstream fashion, at least in the West. Paying for play just can't compete with the many cheaper options you have access to at home. However, the recent trends of barcades may turn it around. Pair up arcade gaming with good camaraderie, good drinks, and tasty food, and people will start coming!
 
I remember a time when arcade games were extremely popular. Every year we went to the beach, we couldn't wait to go into the arcade rooms. I recently went to the beach and these arcade rooms are dull and quiet. The arcade games are hardly a great comparison to the exciting play of PS4. Kids would rather just stay in their homes to play games.
 
They are never coming back, it is just too expensive to make them, and too expensive to play them compared to consoles or hand-helds. It is just too easy to get free games on your phone.
 
Azrile said:
They are never coming back, it is just too expensive to make them, and too expensive to play them compared to consoles or hand-helds. It is just too easy to get free games on your phone.
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That is a great point, you can download a mobile game for free and play it anywhere you want at any time of the day which takes away a large appeal of arcade games. I was curious as to what the costs involved in purchase, repair and up keeping of arcade games are. I found the following website which does a nice job of breaking down the various costs involved.

http://www.davesclassicarcade.com/cost.html
 
I don't think so. Some new shops might open but I don't think it will ever peak as much as it did in the past. It's just simply evolved into something way different now and whatever it has contributed lives on in spirit with any rendition of competitive gameplay, but that's probably about it.
 
I definitely think arcade games can make a big comeback but not on the pc or console platform. Android and other mobile platforms are perfect for such a comeback because I have seen a lot of garbage games gone big on Android and IOS so the best arcade games from back in the day will be a huge welcome for mobile gamers.
 
I doubt it, not unless they make it a cheaper hobby. Right now I could just download so many free games, or invest in a console and controller for the same experience, without the hassle of paying money every session, or having to wait my turn to play.
 
Does anyone here own any arcade games. A friend of mine has a collection of around 15 arcade games in his basement although it has been a while since he has added any new games to his collection.
 
Mackmax said:
But for all of you who used to play arcade games, do you think they'll ever make a comeback, or do you think that at-home gaming systems have permanently taken their spot?
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These games are coming onto home systems. Q*Bert was announced yesterday, for instance. Other games have been based off of them and such in the past as well. I don't think Arcades as they once were will become alive again, but the games that were once housed inside them will continue to be reborn.
 
Probably not, arcade machines are huge, heavy and expensive.

They're even slowly losing popularity in Japan supposedly, and Japan was crazy about arcades a few years ago.
 
I really don't think so. I mean yeah there are some places for little kids that are still popular with them, or adult places like Dave and Busters where you can play games like that while you're drinking and having a good time with your friends, but I don't think they're going to make some huge comeback and be as popular as they were back in the 80's.
 
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