A New Sega Arcade Will Open Soon

A New Sega Arcade Will Open Soon

After Iconioses, A New Sega Arcade Will Open Soon

Sega is opening a new Ikebukuro arcade following the closure of the iconic Sega Ikebukuro Gigo earlier this year. The new Sega Ikebukuro is located across the street from the shuttered Sega Ikebukuro Gigo arcade

in September, hundreds of fans gathered in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro to say goodbye to an iconic arcade. The SEGA Ikebukuro Gigo arcade opened its business 28 years ago, catering to both local and international gaming enthusiasts who’d visit the branch as part of a must-see tourist attraction.  Sega Ikekuburo Gigo called it a day and it’s and claimed the move was due to the ending of a lease agreement and the need for building renovations. But this month, a new Sega arcade will open right across the way.

Covid-19 has hurt arcades in Japan. “If it were in my power, I’d want to stay open forever at this location and greet the happy faces of our wonderful customers,” the arcade’s manager said at Sega Ikebukuro Gigo’s closing ceremony. “Unfortunately, at this time, the way it turned out was, the arcade has closed.”

Fortunately, Ikebukuro will get a new Sega arcade that’s located right across the street from the old Gigo location—and it’ll get it soon.

Genda Sega Entertainment, the company created after Sega sold off 85 percent of its arcade business, is opening a new arcade on October 22. Dubbed Sega Ikebukuro, the four-story building will be home to three fours of crane games, with a café on the top floor. Arcade games will be playable in the basement.

Genda Sega Entertainment, the company created after Sega sold off 85 percent of its arcade business, is opening a new arcade on October 22. Dubbed Sega Ikebukuro, the four-story building will be home to three fours of crane games, with a café on the top floor. Arcade games will be playable in the basement.

Genda Sega Entertainment is preparing further development in the Ikebukuro area, adding that this is the first in the company’s “Ikebukuro Project.” This likely means there will be more Sega-branded arcade gaming coming to the area. If so, hopefully that means future locations will be focused on different styles of arcade games.

Last year, SEGA closed its Akihabara landmark arcade after almost two decades. Since then, the Japanese gaming giant has been hit with a turbulent year amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, at one point even requesting 650 employees to voluntarily retire, and now the company is forced to close yet another one of its iconic arcade centers in Tokyo

Located in Toshima, The center would often feature new and innovative games to test their market appeal and subsequently opened a taiyaki stand on its first floor in order to give hungry tourists and gamers somewhere to eat. Unfortunately, due to a lack of tourism now and a declining demand for retro gaming machines domestically, SEGA has decided to close the arcade at the same time its fixed-term building lease agreement came to an end.

“The fact that even big arcades are going out of business one after the other shows the situation’s severity,” said Morihiro Shigihara, a journalist and former arcade manager, when speaking about retro gaming arcades and the difficulties the industry is currently facing, especially with during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Elsewhere in the gaming industry, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X shortages could extend into 2023 due to chip shortages.