You know that arcades are dead when Capcom won’t even give Street Fighter IV a North American release. Speaking to Edge, Ken Cramer, the senior director of communications and community for Capcom, stated that even though there exists a demand for Street Fighter IV arcade cabinets, Capcom won’t be releasing any localized versions. However, If you happen to live in a bigger city there is a good chance that an arcade in your area has already imported a cabinet from Japan for your gaming pleasure. You should go hug it.
“There’s not really an arcade business in the U.S. anymore. It’s sort of like an ‘amusement’ business that sometimes has arcade games in it.”
“Street Fighter IV’s a great game, but could it rejuvenate an industry that died off seven or eight years ago? I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s that great. I don’t think anything by itself would be capable of revamping a whole business like that.” — Ken Cramer to Edge
Is anyone really surprised by this? The only real market for new arcade cabinets is the hardcore tournament scene, and even many of those gamers are starting to turn to the networks like Xbox Live and PSN for competition. It’s true that nothing will ever match a true arcade experience but thankfully we do have alternatives like consoles to get our fighting game fix.
Street Fighter IV will be hitting Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 17, 2009.
