The arcade industry has all but disappeared over in the west, while arcades in Japan struggle to remain in business. In August, the famous Sega arcade in Akihabara, Japan closed its doors permanently at the end of the month.
Now, another famous arcade has just announced that it will also be closing down permanently within the next few months. The Silk Hat arcade in Japan announced via its official Twitter account that it would be closing down permanently by January 11, 2021.
During the 1970s and 1980s, venues housing arcade cabinets were massive boons for countries like the United States and Japan. Unfortunately, as home console gaming has become infinitely more accessible and has garnered much more mainstream popularity, in-person video arcades have gradually begun to disappear, so much so that Sega sold its entire arcade business to Genda Inc., an arcade rental company in Japan – thus all but completely withdrawing from the arcade industry. Now, another iconic Japanese arcade known as the Silk Hat will be permanently closing its doors soon as well.
The Silk Hat Twitter account shared a heartfelt message announcing its closure on January 11 of next year saying, “Thank you for your patronage… The entire staff would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to all of our customers who have lovingly supported us for so long.” Silk Hat featured a variety of machines, including classic retro arcade cabinets, UFO catcher machines, rhythm and dance machines, and much more. Though many western readers may be unaware of the Silk Hat arcade, some anime fans might recognize it from its brief appearance in the first opening of the 2010 anime Durarara!!
As fans of the video game industry, it’s always unfortunate to see a large part of the industry’s history slowly disappear. While traditional video arcades are still hanging on in Japan, many businesses are trying to find new ways to make arcades more appealing as a whole. Recently, Japan opened the first video game bar to use officially licensed games made by Sega, Arc System Works, and SNK among many others. Still, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before video game arcades are a relic of the gaming industry in every country.
Video arcades have long since died here in the west, though some companies have found success with VR arcades. Unfortunately, thanks to factors like COVID-19 and the expenses that come with VR arcades, those too are in danger of phasing out completely. Recently, the major western VR Arcade The Void showed signs of being in imminent danger of shutting down completely, after a failed partnership with Disney. In-person video arcades seem to have quite a tough time ahead of them, as it looks like it’s only a matter of time before physical arcades are a thing of the past.