“Besides, I can stay home and play NBA Live on PlayStation 3.” “Arcades are expensive, noisy and filled with cigarette smoke,” said 15-year-old Gene Sato, adding he’d rather save his money to go to a theme park. Unlike many countries where the rise of Sony Corp’s PlayStation during the 1990s wreaked havoc on the industry, Japan’s arcades were more resilient, helped by a greater variety of machines and plentiful foot traffic in crowded cities.īut now some of the biggest chains are shutting many of their outlets.

Japan’s $6.9 billion arcade industry has been whacked hard by new advances in gaming, particularly Nintendo Co Ltd’s wildly popular Wii, the latest big craze to compete for the time and pocket money of Japanese kids.

Japan's $6.9 billion arcade industry has been whacked hard by new advances in gaming, particularly Nintendo's wildly popular Wii, the latest big craze to compete for the time and pocket money of Japanese kids. A boy plays a toy-catching game at Amusement Expo 2008 east of Tokyo, February 15, 2008.

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