Namco Bandai Holdings to Close Down 20 Japanese Game Centers
Wonkey ON Wednesday, February 5, 2014 at 10:56PM 
Namco Bandai Holdings. company president Shukuo Ishikawa revealed yesterday that 20 Namco owned, Japanese Game Centers (Arcades) are to be closed down by the end of March due to unprofitability. This comes to a 10% cut reduction to the amount of Namco owned game center facilities which is said to be at 225 at the end of last year. It's mentioned that the reduction in the average young person in Japan using cars and the upcoming April consumption tax increase for Japan will lead to an estimated 1 billion yen cost increase to the company year over year. Additionally, Namco have adjusted their March 2014 consolidated balance sheet with a downward revision from 29 Billion yen to 25.5 Billion yen due to the loss of these stores. Sales of 485 billion yen and an operating profit of 45 billion yen remains however.
Source ▶ http://www.sankeibiz.jp/business/news/140206/bsd1402060503004-n1.htm
Reader Comments (5)
one more nail in the coffin
It sucks to hear but on the other hand, 200 arcades is like, a lot. That's like the total number of all the good arcades in China. And like, 60x all the good arcades in the US. And that's the amount owned by just one company...
Why the fuck is Japan raising taxes? I heard the Japanese economy is so fucked up that many Japanese people are working overtime and this is causing a lot of Japanese people to be stressed out and commit suicide. Shinzō Abe, that fucker needs to resign.
Nobody wants to be in a shady arcade if they can play at home in their underwear. Put arcades next to trainstations and schools and get rid of the ghettostamp. "Hardcore"/ OG players are broke, unemployed, and unfriendly.
No ticky, no loundry.
Video games sales overall in japan are down, so this is no surprise.