SEGA has officially left the arcade business in Japan after more than 50 years, signalling the end of an era for Japan and video game history. The company has decided to sell their remaining shares to Genda Inc. and rebrand them under a different name.
Releasing a statement on Twitter, Genda chief executive Takashi Kataoka said SEGA’s former arcades will all be renamed as GiGo or Get into the Gaming Oasis.
全国のSEGAのお店の屋号をGiGOに切り替えていきます。SEGAの56年の歴史への感謝と、リアルなエンタメで人々の渇望を癒すオアシスになるという思いを込めました。ゲームのオアシスに飛び込め!Get into the Gaming Oasis の頭文字をとってGiGOです。
まずは池袋、秋葉原、新宿から。そして全国へ。 pic.twitter.com/bAMbdIXEkk— 片岡 尚 / GENDA会長 (@GENDA_Kataoka) January 28, 2022
The signs of SEGA’s departure from arcades began as early as the rise of the home console market. With video games eventually making more money at home than at arcade cabinets, businesses have struggled to keep these machines afloat. However, when the global pandemic hit in 2020, things started to take a drastic turn and SEGA eventually sold a large majority of their arcade business to turn a profit. Now, it seems that the company has decided to go all in, and has sold their remaining shares to Genda entirely.
It was more than a year ago when we reported that SEGA was planning to leave the arcade business, with the company closing its iconic SEGA Akihabara Building 2 on August 17, 2020 and a lot of Japanese gamers and fans converging in the area to say goodbye and pay their respects.
Source: Eurogamer