2024 was a busy, uneven year for the arcade industry. New games, trade-show announcements, location openings and preservation projects all provided reasons for optimism, while operators also faced softer revenue, rising equipment costs and difficult repairs.
Here is a review of the major arcade-business, game-release and history stories that shaped the year.
Website and editorial growth
2024 marked the 18th year of operation for the publication behind this review. The site remained broadly familiar, although WordPress-related formatting changes created technical work behind the scenes. Older posts published before late 2016 may still be missing embedded videos or other external media. Restoration work is continuing, and archived versions can help locate some of the missing material.
The strongest social-media growth continued to come from YouTube. The channel passed 17,000 subscribers during 2023 and was approaching 20,000 by the end of 2024, with plans for a special celebration after reaching that milestone.
Contributors Ted, Oga-Shi and Kevin Williams were especially important during a busier year. Their work expanded international trade-show coverage, while Kevin also produced another feature on the rapidly developing rhythm-game scene. Ted helped create an interview with Oga-Shi, and further content areas are being considered for 2025.
For Australian readers following the wider market, the Arcade Blog is a useful place to keep track of industry news, machines and gaming developments.
Arcade business conditions
The operator behind this review also runs Arcade Galactic, a real arcade in Salt Lake City, Utah. The venue was originally documented under the Game Grid Arcade name, but changed identity in 2020 to avoid a costly legal dispute. The decision and its background were explained in a video.
A second venue opened in 2020, but closed on the final day of 2022 after failing to generate enough business and contributing to personal pressures. Although the experience was worthwhile, closing was ultimately the responsible choice. New game additions supported the original venue for much of the year, but November 2023 became the company’s weakest November on record.
Trading in 2024 began reasonably, then weakened through the first half of the year before a particularly poor summer. The downturn was more severe than the conditions seen after the 2020 lockdowns when measured against the amount of equipment being carried. Selling a large number of machines was considered as a way to protect the business, though doing so for too long could create a damaging cycle that ends in insolvency.
Other operators reported similar problems. Calls and emails from venues around the country revealed that nearly everyone contacted was seeing lower revenue, apart from one operator. Industry surveys also found that most businesses were down year on year, ranging from modest declines to substantial losses. In one comparison, revenue fell by 5% in a month and then by 23% in the following month.
November 2024 brought a welcome reversal, with revenue rising sharply compared with the same month in 2023. Better film releases may have increased mall traffic, while broader political events may also have influenced attendance. Without directly surveying customers, the precise cause is difficult to establish, but the year ended on a much stronger note for the venue.
Debt from the former second location remained a constraint, limiting investment in new equipment. Several machines also suffered critical component failures, made more difficult by high replacement costs and limited manufacturer service support.
If conditions remain positive in 2025, clearing outstanding debt will be the priority. The next major investment may be a card-management system rather than a new game, reflecting the price of current arcade equipment. For now, the venue remains one of the few still operating with tokens.
Trade shows and industry highlights
Trade shows delivered strong results in 2024. AAA and GTI in China received unusually detailed coverage, while exA-Arcadia used EVO Japan to reveal several new titles. The year began with EAG, followed by Amusement Expo 2024 in Las Vegas.
One of the biggest Amusement Expo announcements came from Alan-1, which secured a licence from Atari to convert the Atari Recharged games into arcade releases. Asteroids Recharged was the first title, with its polished arcade version released in November.
California Extreme, Utah GameXpo and Pinball Expo were also attended during the year. Bowl Expo was missed after a flight-time mix-up, although coverage was still supplied by the LBX Collective, whose weekly programme continued to feature Arcade Corner.
IAAPA remained the largest arcade-focused trade event of the year. Bandai Namco drew particularly strong interest with Taiko No Tatsujin and GoldStorm Pirates, with the rhythm game attracting the most attention.
Raw Thrills made its largest virtual-reality push to date at Amusement Expo. Its booth featured Godzilla Kaiju Wars VR, King Kong Skull Island II and the debut of T-Rex Safari Adventure VR. The Godzilla release appeared to gain the strongest response, while the future of the other VR projects remained less clear.
IAAPA also included announcements from TouchMagix, Amusement Source, Wahlap, Night Heron, Bandai Namco Amusement, Sega Amusements, LAI Games, UNIS, Stern Pinball, Jersey Jack Pinball, American Pinball, exA-Arcadia and independent developers. Redemption games, simulators and VR were also prominent topics. Japan’s Amusement Expo took place close to IAAPA, making its coverage easier to miss, but Sega’s historical display was among its notable features.
New arcade releases in 2024
The year’s North American arcade releases included a broad mixture of video games, rhythm titles, redemption attractions and VR products. Tracking VR remains complicated because some games shown at IAAPA have already been available for a period, while others are genuinely new and still awaiting release.
Arcade games expected in 2025
IAAPA provided an early look at a solid 2025 release schedule. Announced or expected titles include Sega Amusements’ Alpha Ops VR Strike, MonkeySplash Studios’ Chef It Up and LAI Games’ Kaiju Rampage.
Bandai Namco is expected to receive a second US shipment of Taiko No Tatsujin, with a European release also possible. GoldStorm Pirates, which first appeared in Japan in October, is also planned for a Western launch.
Stern Pinball was expected to begin shipping a new Dungeons & Dragons machine in January. The licence has appeared on pinball tables before, but Stern’s version follows a long period without a new take on the property. Stern also used a similar early-year reveal pattern for JAWS in 2024.
exA-Arcadia has a substantial pipeline, including Yuzo Koshiro’s Earthion EXA Label, Asuka 120% Burning Fest Exallent and Airgallet EXA Label. More major announcements were anticipated at Amusement Expo 2025.
Alan-1 also planned an aggressive release schedule. Avian Knights was due to begin shipping in January, with pre-orders open at the time, followed by several other titles.
Location watch
New arcade venues continued to open despite difficult trading conditions. A significant share of openings came from established chains adding further sites, particularly in Japan. The year included quiet periods, such as spring, followed by stronger bursts of expansion.
Location updates were published in January, March, June, August, October and December. For operators and collectors planning a venue or home setup, RETROCADE’s arcade machine buying guide offers a practical starting point.
Preserving arcade history
Arcade history remained an important subject in 2024, with historical articles often attracting more attention than current news. Preserving corporate and industry records is still a concern: some companies remove older online material or give little attention to past releases, leaving public documentation incomplete.
Sega hosting a special history area at the last Amusement Expo in Japan was a positive example of a company presenting its legacy. However, many lesser-known games from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s remain at risk of disappearing from public memory.
Recently uploaded trade papers and magazines, including issues of Play Meter available through the Internet Archive, have helped support research for a planned follow-up to The Arcade Experience. That history project is still intended to proceed, although it may not be completed in 2025.
2024 was also 40 years after 1984, one of the poorest years for overall video-game performance. Research into the video-game crash suggested that 1984, rather than 1983, represented the lowest point. The modern arcade industry remains far more stable than that period, and the outlook for 2025 was not considered bleak.
Three notable history-focused pieces from the year covered major arcade trends across several decades, the 26th anniversary of Sega’s NAOMI hardware and an 18-year retrospective of the publication’s biggest stories.
The ten most-read stories and videos
YouTube now drives more growth than written articles, although older videos about major licensed Raw Thrills games continue to outperform much newer uploads. The 2024 list did include the year’s most-viewed video, covering the announcement of NBA Superstars.
On the written site, Bandai Namco and Sega titles dominated much of the top ten. AAA and EAG coverage also performed unusually well, replacing IAAPA and JAEPO as the trade-show topics most often found near the top.
- 10: EAG 2024 recap and new European arcade games
- 9: The first day of AAA 2024 and new games shown in China
- 8: New details on Bandai Namco’s Animal Kaiser Plus
- 7: Dave & Busters’ planned “Store of the Future” format in Dallas
- 6: NBA Superstars and the return of the NBA Jam spirit
- 5: Raw Thrills’ Series 3 “Hero Cards” update for Minecraft Dungeons Arcade
- 4: US release details for Taiko No Tatsujin
- 3: exA-Arcadia’s Jitsu Squad featuring the Samurai Pizza Cats
- 2: Sega’s Maimai DX tested in the United States
- 1: Confirmation that Taiko No Tatsujin would launch in US arcades in November
The Taiko No Tatsujin announcement led the rankings by a wide margin. The initial limited shipment was concentrated heavily in Round1 USA venues, while a second shipment planned for 2025 was expected to give more operators an opportunity to obtain the game.
For a broader look at arcade ownership, equipment selection and maintenance, explore RETROCADE’s guides to arcade machines, arcade parts and arcade repairs.
2024 closed with a mixed but ultimately encouraging picture: operators faced real financial pressure, yet trade shows, new releases, venue openings and preservation work kept the arcade industry moving into 2025.
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