Unlike most devs these days, coin-op/arcade games are still interesting to me. To you, it's likely seen as a thing of the past. To me, it's one of my favourite past times; going to the arcade and playing some exclusive title that brought a unique experience and bringing long lasting memories that even exceed my console gaming experiences. These days, it's all about Steam, XBLA, PSN, etc. So, I wanted to ask everyone a few things:

1. Is coin-op gaming still popular in Japan? I heard from somewhere that even though arcade gaming is dying off in Murica, lots of people still enjoy arcade gaming in Japan. These days, I definitely hear about and see more Japanese arcade cabinets than Murican ones.

2. What companies besides Sega, Namco and Taito still build coin-op game titles? In the past, I could name lots of companies and publishers. Not so much anymore.

3. Do you still play coin-op games anymore? I don't see them often enough. My city has a large arcade, but it doesn't have all the titles it once had 10 years ago, many of which were Sega Chihiro titles like Ollie King, House of the Dead III, etc. You might say "well, why go to the arcade when I can play game X on PC or on Xbox?" Certain titles only have arcade ports (at least the ones that I'm interested in), and others IMO are just better off that way.

I do have a few of my own titles which I think would nicely on an arcade cabinet, and would like to get that a go, just for the thrill at the very least. 5 years ago, I did a thread on coin-op game dev, and Ravyne gave some very detailed advice. So Ravyne, if you are reading this, I just wanted to say that I never got to thank you thoroughly enough. Unfortunately, at the time, I was technically homeless, so all of this was out of my reach. Now that it's the opposite, I can do so if I want to.

Lastly, as Ravyne said, selling one of these is definitely an uphill battle, especially in the states. If I had any plans to sell one at all, I would target Japan almost exclusively.

So please, share your views on coin-op games and the market in general. Thanks.

Shogun

The biggest obstacles preventing me from playing coin-ops are as follows:

- I pretty much only encounter coin-ops when I'm out on some unrelated outing. Think movie theatres, ferries, malls. I don't go to those places all that often. Much of my leisure time is spent either in my own place or in my friends'. I have to go rather far out of my way to find an arcade, though they do exist in my city. It's far simpler to just boot up my laptop and play a quick game of TF2 than spend half an hour trekking downtown just to go to the arcade (many of which double as dark, crowded bars, or I have no access to without paying for something totally unrelated like a movie).

- The gameplay of most coin-op experiences I've had has not been worth the $1-2 per play it takes to play them for me, especially when I can get similar or better gameplay experiences for much cheaper overall through other means. That could be a function of the quality of the arcade near me, however.

If the arcades I've encountered have been representative of North American arcades in general, I'd say there's a reason coin-ops are in decline here.

Well I am an adult here, so the only time I would play coin-op arcade games is when I am actually inside an arcade during a company outing, or happens to be in a mall with kids and they wanted to play some arcade games.

Having said that, even while in the arcade, I would prefer to play games either for nostalgic reasons (e.g. pacman, galaga, street fighter), or for its novelty reason, like this arm-wresting machine, or those racing games with steering wheels, or the snowboarding game.

The only place I see paid coin ops here in the UK is at the cinema.

The collector scene in the UK however is very active. There is quite a few boards where you can buy / sell arcade cabs boards and parts for pretty cheap. There have been a few attempts by some board members to reopen classic arcades but either one of two things happen:

1) There isn't enough paying customers to justify the cost of keeping the machines switched on (The estimate is that with the cost of electricity nowadays they would have to charge around £2 per credit).

2) Some of them try to make the experience a little more modern by having LAN gaming and PS3s alongside the arcade cabs and unfortunatly all the kids just want to play on the PS3s.

I currently have a Jamma cab in my garage with a NeoGeo MVS board installed.

The only place I see paid coin ops here in the UK is at the cinema.

The collector scene in the UK however is very active. There is quite a few boards where you can buy / sell arcade cabs boards and parts for pretty cheap. There have been a few attempts by some board members to reopen classic arcades but either one of two things happen:

1) There isn't enough paying customers to justify the cost of keeping the machines switched on (The estimate is that with the cost of electricity nowadays they would have to charge around £2 per credit).

2) Some of them try to make the experience a little more modern by having LAN gaming and PS3s alongside the arcade cabs and unfortunatly all the kids just want to play on the PS3s.

I currently have a Jamma cab in my garage with a NeoGeo MVS board installed.

Wow, that's depressing.

The arcade we have here used to be packed 10 years ago. Now it seems mostly dead. Everyone would rather sit in their apartments/houses and play WoW, COD, etc online instead. Lots of hermits in my city.

Would like to have a War Final Assault cab for myself, but my apartment is a small studio, and I barely have room to walk around. Just when I can finally afford it too...

Shogun.

I think the decline came with producers looking more at their production costs and came to the realization that more players putting in more money over shorter periods of time equals larger profits. The particular point in time that I think of is when Street Fighter II came out and the slew of tournament fighters that popped up around the same time. These days, with a little bit of a better understanding of production costs, I can understand a little better what sort of challenges they might've been up against. But I remember back then feeling as though something was being lost.

These days, I think the smaller games on smart phones effectively fill the void that was left.

We have a chain of arcades around here, "Nickelcade", that seems to do fairly well.

The prices are $2.25 per person or $7.25 for a group of 4 that includes an adult ("family" rate, although it isn't done per family.) They are youth-oriented, about half the people in the 6-12 age bracket on weekdays, plus some teens on the weekend as a cheap hangout. Focusing on their core audience they don't tolerate most teenage shenanigans and they don't hesitate to throw people out for mild profanity or aggression.

I'm not sure how profitable they are, but they make enough money to keep the lights on and have been in business for over 20 years -- I remember going there two decades ago. As the name implies, they charge five cents (one nickel) for most games. A few are two nickels, a small number are 4 nickels.

The cabinets are mostly old, but a handful are newer. Most of the ride-in cabinets have broken down and have been removed, but they've still got a few of those. They also have some surprising new advances to old games; the most impressive looking are new air hockey tables that project light effects onto the table while speakers blast music and sound effects. Forty cents to play (a fortune at Nickelcade) but quite fun.

As a family activity it can be fun to go there, get a roll of nickels per person ($2 each, 40 coins) and have a fun night out with younger kids.

The only place I see paid coin ops here in the UK is at the cinema.

They have a few at seaside towns, holiday camps and bowling centers around near me in UK