Newsbytes: Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade; Men In Black; Headlines

Welcome to Newsbytes, a post that curates quick news from around the world of arcades and pinball machines. There isn’t a ton of news to chew on this time, but just enough to have some fun. Let’s get to it:

Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade Gets A Date

That’s right, if you live in Japan or perhaps at Round1USA, then you can soon enjoy Street Fighter where it’s meant to be played. Street Fighter 6 Type Arcade will launch on the 14th. If you’re a little arcade like myself and want to get one though, good luck. I’m sure it’ll cost a ridiculous amount as every SF does when these, and no one comes in to play it the second that Capcom will release this software to consoles, which they always do. That said, for the short time it’ll be arcade exclusive, ~~it does have some extra content such as two new characters and some balancing changes.~~ EDIT: I’ve been told that there’s zero difference between the console and arcade editions, excepting that the arcade version is “slightly laggier.” In that case, I don’t know what the point of this release is, other than Capcom once again using the arcade as a way to run a commercial to get people to buy more copies of SF6 on console.

They also are holding some special tournaments over in Japan, which is a great thing to be doing for the arcades over there – at the very least.

Sega’s Men In Black Is Now Play-For-Fun

In a world where many video games function as videmption machines (i.e., play for tickets), it can be a little difficult to track which ones have an amusement or “non-ticket” option or not. Since they released it back in 2021, Sega had Men In Black operating purely as a ticket game. Now, they’ve announced that software is available for it to play as a standard video arcade game.

The story doesn’t mention if there are any content changes to the game – I would assume that it doesn’t end right at 90 seconds but if there is a change there, I’ll update this space.

Sega’s “New Energy”

If you’re a Sega fan then you’ve already watched this video below, where Sega announced a new initiative that is bringing many of their big names back to consoles. Most of these so far, come from games that got their start at the arcade. Sega is reportedly looking to recapture that energy they had with the Dreamcast…which I get in one sense, but in another, that was where the company massively stumbled and fell. Perhaps “that ’90s arcade energy” would be more appropriate but whatever.

I’m looking forward to seeing how all of these games turn out (with that hope moored to a healthy “please don’t suck” feeling) although I have no idea if this energy will find its way back to Sega’s Japanese arcade division. By my understanding that’s been running on a skeleton crew since the pandemic, and Sega Amusements International that was mentioned above is its own independently managed entity.

Which of these announced reboots interest you the most? I’m caught between Shinobi and Golden Axe myself.

On another quick note, there were quite a few nods at arcades seen at the Game Awards on Thursday night. That is always nice to see, even if they don’t recognize arcade games in any award category.

Is The Amusement Industry “Recession Proof?”

This year has not been great for my arcade, where I just saw the weakest earnings of the year in November. This has me a little bit on edge, as I have never in 15 years seen a time where November performed anywhere close to the bottom. On the contrary, it is generally the second or third best performing month. Even in 2020 we didn’t see this.

I suppose its fortunate that I’m not alone, as I’ve been hearing that other operators have noticed a decline in revenues too. I will still be as proactive as I can in marketing but it begs the question, how economically resilient is the amusement industry? This is the question that was asked and debated in the recent episode of Sound Off with the LBX Collective. Check it out and sound off yourself!

The IAAPA 2023 Wrap-up Coming Next Week

It’s almost been a month since IAAPA 2023 started and I’m only now finishing up on all of the videos. I plan on holding a livestream this coming Monday, where I will discuss all of the new games that were unveiled at the show and answer your questions. If you want to join, just stay tuned to the Arcade Heroes YouTube channel.