Rebirth of the Arcade: a false alarm

After I wrote last week's post for The Cultural Gutter, I was given a link to an interview at Gamasutra that had been published a week prior. The interview was with Clint Manny, vice president of sales and marketing at GameWorks. The arcade chain was recently acquired by the Sega-Sammy Group, who has big plans to boost GameWorks' market share - and rebuild the U.S. arcade scene while they're at it.

In summary, GameWorks wants to position itself in the same realm as Dave and Buster's or Sega's own Playdium chain: providing alcohol and food in an arcade-like setting to lure in adults, while providing a "safe, clean atmosphere" that would be just as comfortable for kids. In other words, an arcade that is less about the games, and more about the social interaction between patrons. You wouldn't go to one of these places to play games - you'd go to eat or watch a football game or drink some beers, and then maybe play a few games. Manny elaborates:

The Arena Sports Bar & Grill has so much synergy between the gaming and the action and the environment that's created on the arcade side - taking that to a bar and grill environment where you've still got that energy and excitement - there's so much synergy between those two.

But wait, there's more synergy:

There is that synergy between the game floor and back-and-forth in a social environment where you're not sitting at home in front of a screen with two friends playing a game. Now you can compete, be the star, really shine, but you can also be there watching the latest and greatest on the flat-screens that we have which works really well on the gaming side.

At this point it's clear that Manny is looking to pitch the company line, and not address the fundamental problem behind the current model for arcades. I don't see how being able to hit my opponent in the back of the head in the comfort of my living room differs from hitting him in the back of the head at GameWorks with a menu.

Gamasutra poses the question: "What kind of people do you think visit arcades now?" The answer:

It's probably much more diverse than what people would think from the outside, and I think once people experience it and can experience either a personal experience or an event experience at any of the locations that are more glorified than just the standard arcade. I think that they can see themselves in that experience...We've created a great "team-building" program in corporate America now, where you can actually go and be with your boss to talk about your sales goals and initiatives for the year, and planning for the quarter - all of those things. Then you can go out on teams and compete against each other and it really brings the team together.

So Corporate America loves arcades? He's losing me. Just what is GameWorks supposed to be, anyway?

We understand that we're not trying to be all to everyone, but what we are is as the generation grows, you and I grew up where we could go to the convenience stores and play Pac-Man and Asteroids. Then later we started getting into other games and we understand gaming...I'll still go in with my ten-year old girl and my seven-year old girl and my wife and I'll play the games. I'll also wander over and have a beer and check out the score of the college football games. That's a nice environment for me.

Yes, it does sounds like a nice environment for the majority of the U.S. - but what about gamers? Providing a casual setting like this is great to attract people that want to get together with friends and family, but I don't see how this is preserving video game culture.

And now Manny addresses the rise of networked gaming, both on consoles and PC:

I think what we're starting to see is more and more of that integration, and taking that and putting it in a social environment and setting. Most people are not going to be able to sit at home and play on their flat-screen with great-surround sound in a leather chair and be playing [the] latest and greatest console gaming.

Actually, yes they are. And they will choose to do that because it's free. Let's consider this for a second - and I know in the article they mention House of the Dead 4 - but what was the last exclusive must-play arcade game? My sister plays Dance Dance Revolution on her XBox, complete with floormat. It just doesn't make financial sense anymore to put an exclusive in the arcade and expect people to play it for $4 a round, when they can achieve the same experience at home.

The title of this interview was frustrating, because I actually thought for a second that someone had taken the lead to bring back what made arcades such a fun experience. But the sales pitch was so prevalent in this interview, and used not-so-tactfully to obfuscate the real questions of where they are taking this concept. I realize now that the arcade as we knew it is gone forever. It has been replaced by multiplayer gaming both on the console and PC.

Though most disturbingly, the trend of adding a "sports bar" dilutes the culture that established this activity in the first place. Once again I am reminded of the people who shoved video gamers into lockers when I was in high school. Now, they're playing with us in some bid to preserve their youth. It's simply another stage in the commercialization of gamer culture - and GameWorks' plan sounds incredibly insincere.