Japanese View Arcades As 'Too Expensive' and 'Too Scary'

61 percent of the Japanese public never frequent amusement arcades while 53 percent describe them as being "too expensive" and 52 percent say they are "too loud" according to the results of a new survey conducted by MyVoice (translated by Versus City). The survey interviewed 12,000 members of the public, the results of which reveal the poor light in which the Japanese view the arcade industry today. 47.4 percent of respondents believe arcades are currently aimed at children, while 12.3 percent say they’re hard to enter, 11.6 percent claim they are too dark and 10.9 percent believe they are scary places. In addition, 26.7 percent believe arcades smell too strongly of cigarette smoke. Only 18.2 percent of respondents believe that arcades are a fun place to be. Overall, 61 percent of those surveyed say they never frequent arcades, while 20.4 percent claim they visit less than once a year. Of those who do frequent arcades, 59.2 percent do so to play crane games, with only 27.5 percent of visitors doing so in order to play video games. Racing is the most popular genre of video game in Japanese arcades, attracting 15.2 percent of visitors. Contrary to popular Western perception, fighting games are one of the least popular genres of arcade title in Japan, attracting just 6.7 percent of visitors. 46 percent of participants in the survey were male, and 54 percent female. 63 percent of respondents were aged between 30 and 40 years old.