UP FRONT
Not So Great
Expectations
You can't fake enthusiasm. The interest, excite-
ment, and buying activity at AOE '85 last month heralded
the end of the industry's two-year winter.
Operators were buying once again, and manu-
facturers seemed pleased with the business they were
doing.
But wait! Isn't it true operators weren't buying
anywhere near what they were buying during the video
game boom? Why then all the enthusiasm? Why all this
swelling hope for the future?
Because it was exactly that attitude which is
turning this industry around.
Exhibitors didn't go to AOE '85 with great
expectations but with modest ones. Perhaps they were
humbled by the drastic decline in sales over the past two
years. Maybe it was because they took a hard look at
themselves and realized they could remain profitable if
they cut costs but not quality.
Whatever their motivation, the exhibitors'
modest expectations were met. And their realism
spurred a genuine optimism for our industry's future.
For several years, some manufacturers- I prefer
to call them dinosaurs- took the attitude that operators
existed only as a dumping grounds for their product.
Now those factories' names read like the names of
extinct species like Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, and
Triceratops. Ancient history. They died out because
they couldn't adapt.
One of the last of this dying breed, the T yranno-
saurus Rex of this industry, Bally Manufacturing, went so
far earlier this year as to fault the industry as a whole for
being unable to support Bally in the manner in which
Bally has become accustomed. According to the
company's chairman of the board, Bob Mullane, Bally
may soon be exiting this industry as a result.
By contrast, we saw at AOE '85 exactly what kind
of animal it takes to survive this battle of the fittest.
Atari, Inc., which is even more recognizeable to
the public than Bally, exhibited its product in two simple
unadorned booths at the operators' springtime showing.
Some who remembered Atari's heyday when it ruled the
coin-op world said such an austere exhibit was beneath
Atari's dignity.
Baloney!
Atari's austere exhibit at AOE '85 was the most
eloquent response to Baily's wrong-headed well-publicized
attitude about this industry. Atari knew it wasn't going to
bulldoze anyone with balloons, Frisbees, and stuffed
animals in their booth. The only thing operators were
interested in were the games themselves, and Atari's
games were strong. Anything else-the balloons,
Frisbees, and stuffed animals-was needless expense.
Bally, on the other hand, chose to erect an
elaborate mausoleum of an exhibit for its distributors at a
show it knew operators would not attend. Perhaps such
mausoleums on an exhibit floor help struggling dinosaurs
die with dignity among their kind, but the coming
together of operators and manufacturers at AOE '85
showed that the industry can survive if operators and
manufacturers meet on equal terms.
Dinosaurs don't recognize this. But it was
certainly encouraging to see a company like Atari show it
was capable of adapting, and that will be the industry's
salvation.
The industry's two-year winter was brought on by
overproduction. We all know that. At AOE '85,
Destron's Ken Anderson said there was one point when
this industry had an inventory of 120,000 unsold games.
One hundred twenty thousand unsold games!
That was created back in the days when
dinosaurs thought operators existed only as a dumping
grounds for them, when some manufacturers thought it
beneath their dignity to be seen in the company of
operators.
That attitude has changed. And everyone's the
better for it.
Anderson went on to say he sold more than he
ever expected he would sell at AOE '85. He also said the
people were friendly and happy and, by gosh, the
industry was fun once again.
How 'bout that! All this and heaven, too.
Not only have we survived the winter, but the
business is becoming fun once again. And manufacturers
and operators are coming together again.
I can't wait for AOE '86!
I can't wait for the future!
David Pierson
Associate Editor
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PLAY METER, April 15, 1985
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