1970s - The first ever arcade video game that was coin operated was called Galaxy Game, it was installed in Stanford university in 1971. The same year as this coin operated arcade game was created there was another type of video game released, this was called 'Computer Space', this was the first ever mass-produced video arcade game. In 1972 there was another coin-operated game released, This game was called 'Pong'. This game was the first ever commercially successful arcade game that the world had seen, This game was such a huge hit on release that the first ever machine made for it got clogged up with coins.
A few years after this there was a brand new game released, this game was called 'Gun Fight' and was released in 1975, this was one of the first ever games to use a microprocessor. In 1978 a well known game called 'Space Invaders' was released, this game took over 1 year to develop but when it was finished it was one of the most popular and most known arcade game of all time
A Year after this (1979) Atari released its infamous 'Asteroids' game, this game was one of the major games of this golden age, the game became so popular and known that Atari ended up selling over 70,000 cabinets of the game, this made it one of the highest selling games that Atari had ever produced. Between 1978 and 1982 the business grew very quickly, this meant that the most popular machines were bringing $400 per week in quarters with 13,000 machines spreading around America.
A few years after this there was a brand new game released, this game was called 'Gun Fight' and was released in 1975, this was one of the first ever games to use a microprocessor. In 1978 a well known game called 'Space Invaders' was released, this game took over 1 year to develop but when it was finished it was one of the most popular and most known arcade game of all time
A Year after this (1979) Atari released its infamous 'Asteroids' game, this game was one of the major games of this golden age, the game became so popular and known that Atari ended up selling over 70,000 cabinets of the game, this made it one of the highest selling games that Atari had ever produced. Between 1978 and 1982 the business grew very quickly, this meant that the most popular machines were bringing $400 per week in quarters with 13,000 machines spreading around America.
1980 - This was a very Iconic year for the Arcade game industry, this is because it saw the release of 'Pacman'. Pacman is one of the best selling arcade games of all time with over 350,000 cabinets, this brought in over 2 Billion dollars in revenue, this would be 3.4 Billion with inflation. This is because the game appealed to both male and female genders, this made the game a phenomenon. 1980 also saw the release of frogger, Galaxian, Centipede, Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong Jr, and Tron.
A year after the release of Pacman one of the first platform games were released, this was called 'Donkey Kong' and was only the second game ever to contain more than one level within it, this game also had a much more fleshed-out story line with a damsel in distress. In Just one year Donkey Kong had sold over 60,000 arcade cabinets which earned the company 180 Million Dollars.
1983 saw a major downfall in the arcade industry almost bringing it to a halt, the reason for this halt was because too many similar games were being produced from companies trying to make success like all the other, there was also a moral fight against video games, this fight was being led by concerned parents. This saw the industry value go from 12 billion to just 100 million with in 3 years of all these games being produced.
1985 - 1986 was the time in which Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment system and also Sega released the Sega Master system. These new released meant the focus was taken away from arcade games and put heavily onto developing Home gaming systems.
A year after the release of Pacman one of the first platform games were released, this was called 'Donkey Kong' and was only the second game ever to contain more than one level within it, this game also had a much more fleshed-out story line with a damsel in distress. In Just one year Donkey Kong had sold over 60,000 arcade cabinets which earned the company 180 Million Dollars.
1983 saw a major downfall in the arcade industry almost bringing it to a halt, the reason for this halt was because too many similar games were being produced from companies trying to make success like all the other, there was also a moral fight against video games, this fight was being led by concerned parents. This saw the industry value go from 12 billion to just 100 million with in 3 years of all these games being produced.
1985 - 1986 was the time in which Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment system and also Sega released the Sega Master system. These new released meant the focus was taken away from arcade games and put heavily onto developing Home gaming systems.
1990 - The year 1991 saw the release of Capcom's brand new game 'Street fighter II' this brought some of the focus back onto arcade games giving the industry a second chance. the release of this game also open many opportunities for other companies to produce more fighting games to fill any playing experience that street Fighter II had not covered, this meant there were many fighting games released such as Mortal Kombat and Virtua Fighter, these games became very successful bringing the focus back to the arcade industry.
Towards the middle of the 90s the industry once again became very slow but this was revived again by the release of Konami's 'Dance Dance Revolution', after the release of this game they saw a huge 260% increase in net income. Some people were worried because at this time most of the arcade gamer were fighting, they thought people would want to play the new Fast pace dancing game. However it became a huge success reaching 6.5 Million dollars in sales by 2003.
In the middle to the end of the 90s there were many arcade machines made, these were called MAME's, this meant Multiple arcade Machine Emulators or Milticades. These were built so you could have hundreds if not thousands of arcade games built into one arcade cabinet.
Towards the middle of the 90s the industry once again became very slow but this was revived again by the release of Konami's 'Dance Dance Revolution', after the release of this game they saw a huge 260% increase in net income. Some people were worried because at this time most of the arcade gamer were fighting, they thought people would want to play the new Fast pace dancing game. However it became a huge success reaching 6.5 Million dollars in sales by 2003.
In the middle to the end of the 90s there were many arcade machines made, these were called MAME's, this meant Multiple arcade Machine Emulators or Milticades. These were built so you could have hundreds if not thousands of arcade games built into one arcade cabinet.
2000 - The start of 2000 was when Sega released their flight simulator, this was a Simulation game called 'Strike Fighter'. In 2005 Nintendo implemented a Built-in camera on their Mario Kart Arcade GP machines, this was so the machine could take a picture of the user and then use it in the game to show them. In 2007 there was a Deal or No Deal game released, this was no ordinary game, this is because it used actual live clips from the TV show instead of making graphics, this made it basically an Interactive DVD. in the late 2000s Activision teamed with Konami to create the infamous Guitar Hero, this was after the huge popularity it got from the home console version.
2010 - 2010 was the year that introduced sharing scores through social media, this was first used on the game 'Dead Heat Street Racing' this game also had the same idea as Nintendo did with Mario kart in 2005 as they used a camera built within the machine to take pictures of the user to show to them on screen.
In 2012 Big Buck Hunter HD was released, this was released with the ability to win cash prizes for an additional fee, this game also featured the ability to share the scores through social media sites. 2013 saw the release of the first 4D arcade game, this was called 'Dark Escape 4D, it was a horror shooter combined with Surround Sound, 3D Glasses, Blasts of air and also a heart rate monitor.
In 2014, Facebook bought a huge virtual reality company known as Oculus, this was for a huge 400 Million dollars in cash and also 23.1 Million shares of Facebook.
In 2012 Big Buck Hunter HD was released, this was released with the ability to win cash prizes for an additional fee, this game also featured the ability to share the scores through social media sites. 2013 saw the release of the first 4D arcade game, this was called 'Dark Escape 4D, it was a horror shooter combined with Surround Sound, 3D Glasses, Blasts of air and also a heart rate monitor.
In 2014, Facebook bought a huge virtual reality company known as Oculus, this was for a huge 400 Million dollars in cash and also 23.1 Million shares of Facebook.
Limitations - Limitations of Arcade games is that they were very large and some people may not have the space to have one in their home so they would have to go to an arcade near them to enable them to play the game. Arcade games were also very expensive so most people couldn't afford them if they wanted to get one in their homes but instead had to go out and constantly pay to have a turn of their favorite games. Here are a few more:
- Graphics were not as good so some people may not enjoy playing them as they do other games
- Many people were confused by the amount of buttons and what they actually did
- Arcade games were fun but because the user had to stand they may not have been played as much as consoles
- You have to pay to play each time you want to