/vr/ - Retro Games

>>10746948
Yeah. Arcades in Japan have 2 choices. Bend the knee...or become a "retro arcade" with older games only. From what I hear, both options have downsides.

I'm not sure if Japan has Barcades or Freeplay arcades where you pay an entry fee and all games are free to play. The feeling I get is Japan is very slow to adapt when it comes to changing their methods of doing business.

The really ironic part? When Arcade companies tried that whole forced subscription service in America, the arcade businesses said "We are not doing that" in one loud voice and switched to buying Raw Thrills arcade machines. Then Japanese arcade manufacturers panicked when they saw how well Raw Thrills sales were doing, and created custom "export models" of their arcade machines that are only sold overseas. These arcade machines can run without a subscription service. They can get updates by ordering it through mail.

However these machines are not sold in Japan. They will not sell them to Japanese arcades. And even if you get your hands on one, arcades with forced subscriptions agree to a contract stating they will not run "unauthorized" arcade cabinets like export models. I don't know if it's enforced often, but I've heard of arcade manufacturers occasionally sending employees to suspected arcades of running unauthorized machines to see. If true, then the arcade manufacturer will threaten to terminate their subscription service if they don't get rid of the export model machines from the arcade floor.

Basically arcade manufacturers in Japan are really screwing arcade businesses. They really really are bending them over and milking them for as much money as possible.

I loved the look of this cabinet