Japanese arcades, once a global gaming giant, are facing a slow fade. Over the past ten years, nearly 8,000 game centers have vanished, with bankruptcies hitting a five-year high in 2023. This decline isn’t new – arcades have been losing ground since the 80s (remember 26,000+ back then?). The culprit? A double whammy:
SEGA Amusements has put together a short video showcasing what arcade games the company has for 2022. Some of the games we’ve seen talked about before like Mission Impossible Arcade DLX, but the video also showcases smaller titles like Capto Crane and Polar Slide.
The video features:
I know that lately people have assumed SEGA has pulled out of the arcade markets because they sold their arcade management business, but that isn’t true. SEGA is, as of right now, still creating arcade games but just doesn’t own most of its Japanese venues anymore.
SEGA’s arcade division has been taking a lot of hits since Covid-19 with the company selling a majority of its Amusement management business in Japan and now the company has announced that a 31 year veteran Roger Pennington will be leaving the company. The website Global Amusements and Play has a good write up on Roger.
He began his career with Deith Leisure as a financial controller, Deith Leisure would then be taken over by SEGA. Roger and Bob Deith would grow the UK Amusement division branch to have a £100m turnover and 250 employees.
“It has been an enjoyable 20+ years working with Paul and building a new team which has become a second family. We have seen our own game development grow and no longer rely solely on Sega Japan for games. Rebranding the company to Sega Amusements International Ltd (SAI) a few years ago and focusing on becoming an international company selling machines all over the world to major operators and distributors. SAI has truly become a global company which not only manufactures and develops games but also distributes 3rd party product and operates games,”
Roger Pennington will be replaced by Siraj Elkhawad moving forward. Welcome aboard and we hope 31 years of more arcade action!
SEGA Amusement, the part of SEGA that specializes in arcade games has released the above image as a teaser for IAAPA Expo 2019. The posts description read: “Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It… #IAAPA2019 #IAAPA #MissionImpossible #YourMission” which is a catchphrase of the Mission Impossible franchise. Not only that, they literally have a hashtag for Mission Impossible in the post and the icon of Paramount can be seen on the left hand corner.
If this becomes true, it should be interesting to see what SEGA does with the IP. In the past SEGA has made arcade games for big IPs like Die Hard, Transformers and even Rambo. I guess we shall see soon since IAAPA Expo 2019 takes place this November 19 through the 22nd in Orlando, Florida.
It seems that SEGA’s maimai Pink Plus music rhythm arcade game has been localized and is now available to try out in Dave & Buster’s Irvine location. Maimai Pink Plus previously had a English version released when the title hit the Taiwan and Hong Kong market, seems that now SEGA Amusement will be bringing it to American locations. According to the arcade technician, the cabinet is set up as a location test that will last 2-4 weeks. SEGA All Net isn’t supported for the location test, at least.
Check out photographs taken below, SEGA fans will notice that the game has a pretty nice selection of SEGA tunes including Sonic Adventure 2‘s Live and Learn, as well as Phantasy Star Portable 2‘s Living Universe. So check out the screens and see what tracks from your favorite SEGA games you find. The cabinet is said to support 40-50 songs! Also if the maimai Pink Plus arcade cabinet reminded you of a front loading washing machine in the photos, that’s intentional since SEGA teamed up with Sharp showing maimai themed washing machines. I think its a good move, since I haven’t seen too many arcades with this design.
Its pretty cool to see SEGA Amusements start beefing up their arcade lineup with maimai Pink Plus, Daytona 3 Championship USA, and Target Bravo: Operation Ghost. What is your thought at SEGA Amusement making the news lately with new localization and titles?
[Source: Bemanistyle]
While the fact that Sonic Dash Extreme, the arcade port of the hit mobile game Sonic Dash, isn’t new. It has been spotted in the wild multiple times. The reason we decided to post it now is because we finally got a press release for the game. .
The cabinet for Sonic Dash Extreme will be housing a monster size 55 inch display and use an oversized ‘d-pad’ controls instead of touch. If you ever wanted to play Sonic Dash on a big screen, this is your chance. The game is set to get a official release this October and the other Sonic redemption machine that was spotted before (see photo below) will be coming out November.
Want to read the press release? Hit the jump.
[Source: Arcade Heroes]
EAG Expo 2014 is a new trade show that will be held on January 21st to the 23rd in London. SEGA has announced that they will be showing ‘14 exciting new titles plus 11 current hit games‘ at the show. One of those titles? Storm Racer G!
Storm Racer G is not being developed by SEGA, but by a Chinese company known as Wahlap. SEGA will be bringing and representing the game for the Western markets. Developer Wahlap describes the game as:
“Storm Racer G is a Classic Arcade Racing Game. The game contains of 12 Tracks with 6 Hidden Tracks; a Total of 14 Cars with 7 Hidden Cars. With full force feedback steering wheel and vibration speakers to simulate car response, it brings you a real racing car driving experience.”
The game, if you see the trailer above is looking a bit old school with those graphical effects. Who knows, maybe its a good thing?
Seems that SEGA Amusement is teasing a new product or cabinet on social sites. They have posted the picture above in an album called “R&D Spy Cam”, what it is or what it will do is not really known. But that isn’t all they posted, they also posted a clue in the discreption.
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What is it and what could it be? Your guess is as good as mine.