Sega closed several Japanese arcades last year, including a few of its flagship Joypolis entertainment centers. And according to Sega Enterprises President Hideki Sato, Sega's two biggest competitors in the arcade market, Taito and Namco, are about to close many of their arcades as well.
"Sega is dominant in the arcade business area, both as a game manufacturer and a location owner," Sato says. "We have scrapped many of our centers recently. We have had to look at each location as a unique case and decide if it is a good location or not. But now we can begin to build again.
"Right now only Sega is making profits from the operation of amusement centers. Namco's amusement centers are losing money right now because they did not restructure their amusement center business. That is why Namco announced that they will close a couple hundred amusement centers."