The arcade industry over the years Over the years, the humble arcade machine has been quickly fading out of existence. Today there aren’t that many dedicated amusement arcades where you can go to play on coin operated machines, instead they are usually found in other places such as fairgrounds, bowling alleys and in cinema waiting areas as a way to pass the time.

Figure 1 http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_industry

The graph above shows the U.S video game market revenues for the arcade market and the consumer market, which includes things like consoles, handheld gaming, PC and mobile gaming. As you can see from the graph, the arcade and consumer console revenues start to drop in 1982 with a sharp decline in 1983 which is probably a result of the video game market crash that happened in 1983. Afterwards both start to recover but the consumer market revenue quickly starts climbing and over takes the arcade revenue, this is likely due to advancements in technology allowing video game companies to produce better games and more powerful consoles for a cheaper price. An example of this would be the Gameboy which allowed consumers to play games on the go, reducing the need for them to visit arcade machines to play their favourite games. Location of arcade machines Originally arcade machines could be found in bars, college campuses and bowling alleys, generally anywhere people would have free time. This was so that they could cure their boredom by playing a simple game however as technology has advanced and manufacturing processes have improved, people can now play a game on their mobile or tablet instead because these devices have become small enough to fit in a pocket or bag, letting the user take them anywhere.

As well as this the evolution of app stores such as google play and the apple store allow you to browse and download new games when connected to the internet, which enables you to further expand your library of mobile or tablet games with ease whereas with a handheld console you would have to go to a shop and buy a new game before you could play it. I think that the decline of arcade machine has in some way been caused by this because people don’t have a good reason to spend money to play a game when they can play one for free by downloading it off of an app store. Another reason they have declined is because of the development of home consoles and handheld consoles becoming more powerful allowing them to play games that have high definition graphics and the technology becoming smaller making them more portable than arcade machines. The development of home consoles also allow people to play games in the comfort of their own home without the need to leave the house however if they wanted to play on an arcade machine, they would have to go to an amusement arcade and spend money on a game that may be out dated. A study into console gamers found that 68% of gamers play games on a console and 53% of them play on a smartphone. Different cultures I feel that different cultures have had an effect on the decline of arcade machines, especially the ones that are found in drinking establishments such as pubs. The reason I think this is because immigration has become more common over the years and in some cultures and religions it is forbidden to consume alcohol, which means that people of these religions and culture would never visit a pub meaning that they would not play the arcade machines in them. As more and more people immigrated to the country, the less play time the arcade machines in pubs saw.