SEGASammy Report

[George]

We where just talk last month about big arcades SEGA released and totally bombed. In 2008 AM2 even said that the days of those types of arcades are over. Have no idea why SEGA even bothers now with arcades.

I think the fall of arcade is one of the reason's for SEGA's lack of good software sadly, they should have transitioned their teams to consoles instead of having them release games built for an arcade audience that wasn't there.

[Team Andromeda]

Well, the golden age of arcades in general is over anyways. Impressive cabinets with impressive graphics are thing of the past

Yes I agree, but its still not right to see Namco out doing SEGA a little. I just feel Sammy is slowly killing SEGA myself

[Trippled]

Well the arcades are different now in Japan. It's not a quick easy fix with awesome graphics. It's more about repeat business. Here's what the type of business it is

Lately we've seen a shift in Japanese arcades from traditional arcade games to massive, multiplayer networked games with large custom cabinets and setups, such as Key of Avalon and Quest of D. Why do you think these machines have gained such popularity? Do you think they will continue to do as well in the future?
Hiroshi Kataoka: Multiplayer games like those became popular due to the desire of players to play with several people at once. The trading card elements also proved to be popular - there's a big tie between them and the motivation of players to keep coming back to the game.

There are other factors, too. You've got IC cards now that are capable of storing player data, so players can store records of their play. There are now networks in place that allow you to play against opponents all across the country. And finally, there's more space available when compared to the past.

1UP: Do you think the emerging popularity of MMORPGs at the time had anything to do with it?

HK: The basic concepts of enjoyability behind the game are the same as an MMO game. But talking more deeply, the arcade games have things like cards to collect and people sitting around you participating in gameplay, as opposed to the usually solitary MMO experience.[/qoute]

Sega has been making on these type of games for almost a decade now...and doing money off it. What is described above is what actually is more like a console or PC game...

[Chaosmaster8753]

Assuming Virtua Fighter 6 ever happens, it'll probably be built from the ground up on either consoles/PCs like a lot of other major fighters are nowadays?

[Sharky]

I'm sure it will come, I read a while back a quote which said basically 'VF6 will come when we have something worthy of its name.' (not an exact quote.)

[MadeManG74]

Assuming Virtua Fighter 6 ever happens, it'll probably be built from the ground up on either consoles/PCs like a lot of other major fighters are nowadays?

Well, VF5 ran on the Lindbergh board, which was basically a PC anyway. It's not like the old days of radically different hardware anymore.

I imagine if/when VF6 is released, it'll still get an arcade release. It's an important title for Sega's arcade division, and like I said earlier, I think arcade releases help games that are traditionally arcade. More money may come from console sales, but the arcade release will go a long way to driving those sales, especially in Japan. I think it's also an image thing for a lot of fighters, and arcade release legitimises it for a lot of fans and helps the brand.

[Sharky]

I bet VF5 has made more money, life time sales, from Arcades than console sales. Considering it's a pound, dollar and Japanese equivalent for each game played in the arcades and I assume the game is a staple in all of SEGAs Arcades.

[MadeManG74]

I bet VF5 has made more money, life time sales, from Arcades than console sales. Considering it's a pound, dollar and Japanese equivalent for each game played in the arcades and I assume the game is a staple in all of SEGAs Arcades.

I would really like to know what kind of money those machines make for the arcade owners, and in turn, what Sega makes from leasing the machines to arcade operators.

Sega don't sell VF cabinets (or any cabs?) I believe they lease them all out instead. I'm not sure if Namco et.al have also adopted this trend. Personally I think it's a much better model for arcade operators rather than having to drop $40k or whatever on a new machine up front and then pay for updates/revisions.

[George]

Their last game (AM2), that did really well that I heard about was 2010's Borderbreak that received up update in 2014. It just seems that the game for arcades these days is long term support which oddly enough is how games like League of Legends and DOTA 2 stay in business: Long term free updates to all users.

I think SEGA should really look at how other competitive games do so well and gather a huge user base, also how they acquire income and try to go from there. I think the whole $60 dollar retail game with no updates didn't do very well for SEGA with VF5 early on and FS did beat expectations when it was digital.

[Team Andromeda]

It's not a quick easy fix with awesome graphics. It's more about repeat business. Here's what the type of business it is

The days of Arcades being more powerful than the Console staretd to die out with NA@MI and it marked the era when Arcades boards had be made with huge cost cutting in mind . My point is that SEGA seems to have a weaker board than either what TATIO or Namco can offer for the Arcades .  Namco are making soem decent Arcade games and games I actually like to play in the Arcade with Star War and the likes of Lost Land Adv, Dead Storm Pirtates SE .


I can never ever remember when SEGA was being outclassed by Namco for Arcade boards really (Maybe system 21 for a bit) . Even Quest of D was at the time running on a Powerful board Chinhiro , SEGA Arcade boards of late were well behind that of the 360 tech

I bet VF5 has made more money, life time sales, from Arcades than console sales. Considering it's a pound, dollar and Japanese equivalent for each game played in the arcades and I assume the game is a staple in all of SEGAs Arcade

Wasn't it reported that Tekken now brings in more revenune than VF 5. VF IV was a sales monster I don't think VF 5 has came anyhwere near that plus now  Tekken bring in more money in Japanese Arcades than VF 5. SEGA needs to up its came in the Arcades and come out fighting with a super impressive VF 6 on a new Powerful board (even if its just a PS4 based system)


 

[Trippled]

Eh, I haven't been impressed with an arcade game technically since VF5, graphics are just not a draw for arcade-goers, and have not been for a while.

[Team Andromeda]

Eh, I haven't been impressed with an arcade game technically since VF5, graphics are just not a draw for arcade-goers, and have not been for a while.

Well the days of Arcades having world leading Gfx died out with Model 3, but I've still been impressed with plenty of Gfx in the Arcades. I thought Lets Go Jungle 3D was just amazing to look at and play and Namco new Star Wars game looks seriously impressive

[inthesky]

I would really like to know what kind of money those machines make for the arcade owners, and in turn, what Sega makes from leasing the machines to arcade operators.

Sega don't sell VF cabinets (or any cabs?) I believe they lease them all out instead. I'm not sure if Namco et.al have also adopted this trend. Personally I think it's a much better model for arcade operators rather than having to drop $40k or whatever on a new machine up front and then pay for updates/revisions.

I've just been reading elsewhere that apparently for certain games the publisher takes a fixed cut of each credit required to play (30 yen, etc.)

Certainly in some areas arcades are dying out in Japan but with more consolidation into already busy areas and different pricing structures, there's probably enough money for the time being.

Bigger problem with VF is too few people want to play it outside of Japan =\

[MadeManG74]

Bigger problem with VF is too few people want to play it outside of Japan =\

Hmm, the digital release for Final Showdown did pretty well from what I understand. I don't see why it couldn't work or build on that momentum.

[Trippled]

I had a thought, I think the growing asian markets will inspire the Yakuza Team to make a game aimed at the Chinese market. Similar how Binary Domain was aimed at the west. Around the same time Yakuza 3 was localized, development of Binary Domain started. Yakuza 0 is localized in chinese now...