UP FRONT
The Industry
Must Recapture Players' Interest
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Like the yo-yo depicted on this issue's cover, every
industry has its ups and downs. In 1983, the coin-oper-
ated entertainment industry, which once considered
itself recession-proof, proved to be no exception.
The figures are in from Play Meter' 1983 Annual
Subscribers' Poll , and the results are hardly surprising.
It has previously been a pleasure to present the Annual
Subscribers' Poll results in our State of the Industry
issue. But, for the first time, the task of reporting our
findings is one of pain rather than pleasure. As every-
one suspected, 1983 hit hard at all industry levels.
Average weekly collections at the operator level
plummeted nearly 30 percent. Consequently, some
2,000 operators went out of business last year .
Although there were just as many or more machines
and locations this year as last year, just one thing was
missing-about 2.5 billion dollars. That's a total of 10
billion quarters that found their way to other forms of
entertainment.
As operators' collections fell , new equipment sales
decreased by 43 percent, forcing a number of manu-
facturers out of the industry.
Distributors, reliant on new manufactured pro-
duct, found operators staying away in droves.
Had those 10 billion quarters found their way back
into the cash cans of our nation 's operators, enough
money would have been available to purchase as many
or more new games than last year. But that didn 't
happen , and as a result, the whole industry suffered.
During this industry's pre-video years, the meat of
an operator 's route was in bars, truck stops, taverns,
and restaurants. His target audience consisted of blue
collar workers and college students. The video game,
however, changed all that and brought with it a new
audience-the teenage, or young adult, population .
The whole marketplace shifted its attention to this new
generation of quarter bearers. All those young people
with all those quarters to spend was a temptation no
one could resist.
In the short run , things turned out better than
anyone ever dreamed possible . Arcades sprang up
everywhere, and new equipment sales as well as
earnings and profits at all industry levels soared to an
all time high. But in the long run , we found ourselves at
the mercy and whim of the young adult market, not to
mention the regulatory and legislative problems that
this new market brought along with it.
It is abundantly clear that the games released this
year failed to retain this industry's share of the young
adult market. Young people today are quite likely
more fickle , discriminating, and sophisticated than
ever. If this industry is to recapture its share of this
market, it must make every effort to present the
younger generation with games that are more da z-
zling, exciting, realistic, and challenging than ever.
As it is now, home video games have all but closed
the gap that once existed between the coin-op and
home games . You can now play BurgerTime on your
home TV set although the coin-op game was released
less than 12 months ago. If the manufacturers fail to
reinterest the young adult market, our Subscribers' Poll
findings may be worse next year.
So, operators would be wise to turn back more of
their attention to the adult market where a pool table, a
jukebox, and maybe even a pinball can be churning
out steady income on equipment that doesn't need to
be replaced every six months . A lot more money can be
made in the adult market than is being made now-all
we have to do is go after it harder than ever.
In essence, this industry must make every effort to
regain its share of both the young adult market and the
adult market. If it succeeds, the good times will indeed
be back . But if it fails, the future of this industry is
uncertain . Let 's hope we can pull it off together.
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Ralph C. Lall y
Editor and Publ i her
Pt.A Y MITER. November 1, 198J