I’ve spent a bit of today in one (for a job), and it’s… Honestly just kind of sad.
Everything is “branded” and based on some commercial IP. All the “independent”/quirky things I grew up with are gone, it’s fully cashless, much more expensive, and just generally… Super underwhelming. I’ve seen one pinball machine in the entire place. 😔
And still, the place is nearly empty. So if they’re trying to “appeal to different demographics” by pivoting to branded shittiness (fidget spinners! plants vs zombies! Fucking rabbids), it clearly ain’t working, lol…
Ah, I miss the 2010s, even compared to this shit…
One of the problems with technological progression, a lot of the unique things about arcades are now more available at home plus thanks to the Internet you can play with others easily.
We don’t have the same arcade culture they have in South East Asia anymore, I could see a return to prominence if they shift to vr and those omnidirectional running platforms but the old school style isn't going to cut it and the ones left are appealing to hipsters as I saw MANY pinball machines and the like at Twitch, Google and Twitter (before Elon) headquarters..
I don’t know about elsewhere, but there was still gaming cafés here not that long ago (maybe just before Covid. I haven’t seen any since…).
I don’t know how they did/do the IP stuff, but those places definitely still existed, not that long ago!
I think they were all online-based, though, not so much LAN…
There are still pubs were you can rent/borrow gaming systems with games, even Nintendo games other than that, been around for a while. Don't remember it being more DRM than what is usually included in the console/steam.
And if you worry about system being stolen/amount of req drm, hmm perhaps setup the bar were people bring their own consoles/systems and just support with good infrastructure and beer :D
There are a fair number of VR focused arcade-like locations actually. Some are pretty elaborate.
IE: https://www.thevoid.com/