Distributor BMI Gaming updated their site today and with it bring us news that Sega’s RaceTV and Primeval Hunt are now available for purchase in the United States. We also finally find out what the prices will hover around (prices do vary from one distributor to another although they generally do not vary greatly) except for the 29″ version of Primeval Hunt. For the Delxue Cabinet of Primeval Hunt operators can expect to pay $15975 (which is still cheaper than Namco’s Time Crisis 4 Deluxe and only a few dollars more than House of The Dead 4 Deluxe); RaceTV is listed at $7975 (which puts it a few hundred dollars more than Raw Thrills’ F&F Drift or SuperBikes but still way below a single unit for Maximum Tune 3 or Sega’s own ID4 Deluxe). Oddly enough Sega Amusement’s USA page has not been updated with any information on either game and after a quick check, no other distributor has these games on their pages yet. I think I will be stopping by my local distributor this week to see if they already have either game in or if they will soon have them in – I’d like to see how prices compare and it would be great to give each of these games a spin.
[BMI Gaming – RaceTV / page with Primeval Hunt ] [Discuss on the Forum]
Man these games are so expensive. I think developers need to find a way to make their arcade machines less costly. If you are on a tight budget, or are a small operator, there is no way you can afford to shell out $7k for one machine. Especially considering if you open an arcade, you will need more than a few machines. What’s an operator to do? Lease? To me it just seems like paying $7k for one machine may take years before it makes its money back, which is a very poor ROI, as in that time new games will be coming out that an operator will be required to get in order to keep up with the times, so it’s almost like one would always be operating at a negative cash flow, as your outflows would exceed your inflows.
Right now GlobalVR and Incredible Techonologies are the only ones who seem to be trying to bring prices down, Raw Thrills’ is a little bit although for their newer games they haven’t dropped below $7000 yet. I was expecting RaceTV to be a little cheaper to try and compete with GVR’s NASCAR which I can get for only $6000 but my local distributor always has better prices than BMI so I’d like to see what they will be carrying these two games for.
You are right that prices need to come down – it’s something I’d love to see especially as a small operator. The problem is that most developers like Namco or Sega seem to think it’s just fine to charge this much because of large FECs which can more easily afford such games and who will pay them off in about 6 months. That’s not the case with a small fry like myself of course which is why I’ll have to focus on either GVR/IT games or used games that can make a solid income but won’t set me apart in any way. Also I’d like to support GVR/IT to show how price does matter – every sell counts in the arcade industry.
It’s amusing and sad at the same time when you read about why Atari cancelled The Last Starfighter arcade game – because it cost $10,000 and they knew that very few arcades would be able to afford that and get any sort of ROI on it and thus few would buy it. It seems that most companies (especially Namco – their prices are a rip off for what you get IMO) just don’t care about that anymore, Of course they have to make a profit off their game which is why you see arcade ports to consoles in the first place but the problem (as is the case with Namco) is that even with the ports out there it doesn’t bring the price down on the arcade versions of the game.