JKKDARK
February 7th, 2008, 14:14
via Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/353630/namco-bandai-sega-closing-arcades-all-over-japan)
Hard times are falling on the arcade scene in Japan. Thanks to a combination of high oil prices - keeping families away from shopping malls - and the continual inroads of home console gaming, two of Japan's biggest gaming names have announced they're closing down huge numbers of their branded arcades. Namco Bandai have announced they're closing 50-60 of their Namcoland centres (around 20% of their total), news which comes not long after Sega also announced closures, planning to shutter around 100 of their own arcades.
Hard times are falling on the arcade scene in Japan. Thanks to a combination of high oil prices - keeping families away from shopping malls - and the continual inroads of home console gaming, two of Japan's biggest gaming names have announced they're closing down huge numbers of their branded arcades. Namco Bandai have announced they're closing 50-60 of their Namcoland centres (around 20% of their total), news which comes not long after Sega also announced closures, planning to shutter around 100 of their own arcades.