Sega to close 110 arcades, reduce development by 20%, 'lay off' 560 of it's employees

Sad, sad news:

http://blog.wired.com/games/2009/02/sega-layoffs.html

 

Anyone that keeps saying "SEGA will re-release Dreamcast" or "SEGA will make a Dreamcast 2" needs to read this and then wake the fuck up.

Sad days.

 

the worldwide economy has impacted the biggest giants and we ve got the previous US administration to thank, two times in a row, for that. Bush killed Arcade gaming, let it be known in history's pages.

 

Dreamcast 2 will be comming and this is a cost cutting measure to get more funds available to work on the super console from sega.

I'm joking of course and this very sad news indeed to see sega having to do stuff like this.

 

BC: Video killed the radio star! Let's face it, arcades have been folding left, right and centre way before the recession was even talked about. Consoles, their availability, relative costs and wide choice of titles (some from arcade smash hits) has been the slow killer of arcade gaming!

However, this is bloody awful and more directly linked to the World Wide financial slump. So, feel free to lay some of Sega's decision at the door of the American Government for sure. However, it might mean Sega concentrates it's efforts. They are not folding (God I really hope this is not the beginning of a slow death!!)

 

Though, these days, what does SEGA actually represent? I love my old SEGA stuff - I have a blog about it! - but what on earth is worth fighting for these days? Valk Chronicles?

 

Major bummer indeed. We have 3 Sega Arcades in this city being Sega World (just 5 minutes walk from my door), Hi=tech Sega in the main Train Station and Sega Land which is probably the biggest Sega arcade here. I hope none of them get closed although I bet they'll close the biggest one since the one near my house just got redone and is always packed with bloody kids. The one in the Train Station is always jam packed as well as full of smokers. Man, you really stink after coming out of there.

Yakumo

 

I love some of the dark and dingy arcades you get in Japan. Unlike the UK I feel safe when pottering about in there, being shit at most games.

There was one tucked away arcade in ikebukuro that I went to last year and it was ace.

Outside of Japan though, I feel good old SEGA is just a distant memory to most people.

 

It is sad to hear this, but maybe now that they're under this kind of pressure it'll make them get some decent games out the door, and actually do decent marketing so they sell.
For example the phantasy star games are awesome, but half my friends haven't even heard of them, let alone played one.

 

Tis a sad day,

Personaly I don't get why sega doesn't write emulators for all their old hardware (past the genesis era they keep milking) and offer their stuff as DD through PSN/XBLA. I'd totaly buy some dl dreamcast games for ps3. Hell i'd kill for some Model 1/2 games on my PSP.

 

A real shame. I guess this will ruin Tez Okanos plans for Space Harrier 4D and Fantasy Zone 3. No way SEGA will be interested.

 

I agree with Parris. I stopped going to the arcade to play Area 51 because my friend just went out and bought it for the PSX and we could play it all day without spending a quarter. Consoles have been killing arcades not Bush. :lol:

 

This is sad news indeed. I hope this will eventually help SEGA but, how they seem to have been lately....I dont know. I just hope this isn't a sign of the beginning of the end for SEGA.

 

Sad, sure, but how many of you actually go to Sega arcades? Put your hand down, Yakumo! :lol:

They close because people don't use them enough. Yes, the console market killed the arcade years ago. Most of us can't afford to go to Japan and play in arcades - even if we could, we'd probably do it once or twice, but spend most our money buying console games or used PCBs. It's the same for the locals. And face it, when was the last time you went to the arcade?

I bet that when our local arcades closed, we all said "Noooooo! We can't lose that! That's part of my childhood!"... and yet that's EXACTLY what it was. Part of your childhood. How many can say you said that, but actually still went REGULARLY to the arcade instead of (or as well as) buying console games?

Yes, it's sad. Move on. It's also good, because there will be lots of games for sale :thumbsup:

 

Sounds like the gamestops in the U.S. God the smell is so bad I can't even walk into one anymore.

 

Yeah, Bush has just fucked up lives for half the people on the planet :nod:

 

It's just sad how arcades are having a terrible ending.

Even here in Brazil, arcades are disappearing. Nowadays, just one or another, with those problems (smoking, low quality,...). And you know what took it's place? Cybercafes / Lan Houses, for people to play CS...

Good arcades only on shopping malls, making it more expensive to play.

I understand your point of view retro, but arcades used to be not just technology. There was something else. Creativity, Pioneering,... not to mention a part of pop culture.

Stuff like R360, Holloseum, Starblade, 2-screen 8-player X-Men, first real 3d games,...

 

if arcades were cheaper per play session more people would play, that's a fact that most arcades haven't come to grips with yet

 

Agreed, I played very few arcade games. Even as a kid many were 50p a time, and when I could buy a new console game for £10, it just didn't make sense, especially on a very limited amount of pocket money I was given. The ones I came across that were 20p to play I would use, and more than once. Now arcade cabs charge £1 a time or more, you can buy a used console game for a few quid these days.

 

yeap, just imagine the new Virtua Fighter or Sega Rally with a large banner saying "only 30p per play!"