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Street Fighter IV pricing (in Japan)

Shaggy 16

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While many operators (including myself) are looking to get their hands on Street Fighter IV when it comes out to arcades this summer/fall, one factor that will determine which arcades will be able to pick the game up is the price. AM-Net posted the price in Japan yesterday and according to both AM-Net and a graphic on rs2006.co-.jp, to purchase four kits of SFIV, it will cost about 2280000¥ (roughly $22,000 USD with current exchange rates). To purchase four full body DX SFIV systems it will cost 4180000¥ or roughly $40,000 USD. It’s important to note that they are listing this price in units of four and this is not the price for a single unit and this is pricing for Japan, not international markets which is different.

I decided to see how rates compared with titles that have already been released – AM-Net lists Sega RaceTV for 898,000 yen which is about $8700 USD while distributors in the US are carrying the game for a little less than $8000. So either way whatever the price is listed at on these sites, it appears that are a little bit cheaper when released internationally as there are many factors to consider when it comes to distribution. So when it comes to the final price for SFIV in the US or UK we can only guess at this time but when have a decent idea of where it might be upon release – by looking at the exchange rate, dividing by four and looking at how pricing translates with other games, it could be sold for less than $10k. I hope that it is affordable either way – where Tekken 6 is costing $15,000 USD and Namco doesn’t expect the game to sell well I have to hope that Capcom won’t repeat this same mistake and will list it at a price that small, large and route operators can afford to make a good ROI on.

[Information for this article contributed by AM-Net, rs2006.jp and The Stinger Report] [Discuss on the forum]

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16 comments
Geo

i can build an arcade with a 27″ flat tv and an Xbox 360 inside when it comes to consoles, for less than $1000.00

it amaze me how expensives professional arcades machines are….

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Geo

AHH and i forgot, i can still make money out the game, how…? pay for play….

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Shaggy

The problem is that there are still legal issue surrounding setups where you put a console in and do pay-for-play – Microsoft wants their cut (which is all of it AFAIK).

But I understand what you mean – I don’t know of any arcade hardware that uses a high end PC – mid-range at best which can be built for less than $1000. Or if they use a game console then it’s even less. But I understand that they sell in far less numbers but there was a time when arcades cost much less. It’s interesting to note however that the American arcade developers (GlobalVR, IT, and Raw Thrills) consistently have cheaper games than the Japanese developers (minus Taito). Namco is the worst – they charge as much as they can and then turn around and release those games on consoles. IMO if more games cost between $1500-$3000 you would see sales grow quite a bit in the arcade industry.

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Geo

yes i understand your point too, i dont know if is possible to use that kind of setup in U.S.A but at least in latin america you can do it and still make a lot of money out of each arcade machine you build, this kind of setup with consoles inside are very popular in our countrys, the difference is that you get credit with time minutes, for expample; you insert $.50 cts and it may give 10-15 minutes of gameplay.
it all depends how you want to program your arcade to give the credit minutes you want……

i just wich to know if i can use that kind of setup here so in can open my own arcade…

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Shaggy

Yeah I saw those all the time in Brazil, usually it was places where you setup PS1’s and maybe an n64. I think I once saw an original Xbox setup but I never saw a 360 (last time I went the PS3 nor the Wii had been released).

I know of one company that was attempting to use an Xbox 360 arcade machine setup – they were at ASI 2007. My distributor even mentioned them but it looks like they didn’t want to touch it until the legal side of the machine was worked out. I haven’t heard about them since. I’ve heard of people creating businesses where like in Latin America they setup a bunch of consoles and do pay-for-play but I don’t hear about them afterwards. Not sure if they get shut down or if they simply don’t make enough money off of that concept alone. It would be good to find out.

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Geo

well this industry is growing up very fast in our countrys, and there are new companys in Latin America that are taking this concept to sell you the entire arcade with a PC or a console inside the cabinet, arcades are very popular over there just like Japan, one of the reason is that a lot of people cannot afford to buy a console or PC like here in the USA, and if you see that one of the reason arcades are`nt that popuar here in USA anymore, im not saying its completle dead but is not the same compare to the 80` ,
most people here are happy with their consoles, you can see the power of this new consoles and people in our countrys are taking advantage of that.
i`m from Central America, i use to go to an arcade since i was a kid, the arcade i use to got had PS1, N64, SNES, Genesis an of cource professional arcades…

i should talk with a lawyer to see if there are any legal issues to use this kind of setups here…

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Geo

ha i forgot the arcade i use to go still exist the owner it`s a chinesse guy he make his own arcades, this is a good bussines there, but we can also see lot of proffessional arcades just like Japan and U.S.A too….

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editor

Guys,

It is totally illegal from two levels to run your own created amusement machines. I will run from the Californian perspective, but this fundamentally holds true for the rest of the international scene.

1- you are not able to operate unregistered coin-operated machines that do not obey the restrictions and stipulations of the treasury

2- you are not able to run consoles or consumer PC machines and content in public space, they have clear disclaimers about using ANY game in public (for pay) – the same way that you can not screen home DVD’s to audiences

I have spent way too much time writing about companies that claim they have a loop hole and can run home games on their machines. The only ones that I think can are the CyberCafe (pay for time) guys linked to STEAM (we reported in the Stinger ATEI coverage).

We have to understand that it is not worth Microsoft Latin America to get out of bed and stop one guy selling four cabinets a year. You will see large combines get shut down, but like shooting rats, as soon as one is blasted anther takes there space – better to focus on the big mothers!

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Geo

Editor :
what about the report of arcade heroes where i think an american company FRAGISLE called their arcade console machine CONSOLE PLANET and the game included is GUITAR HERO II you actually show a report of the legability of the arcade.
but still not sure if is in the market, you can also watch a video of the arcade being played by a kid.

is this is legal or not …can you explain…??

https://arcadeheroes.com/2007/10/08/is-it-a-console-is-it-arcade-is-it-legal/

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editor

We broke the story of Fragisle – we gave them a chance to prove what they told us at AMOA, and then checked with Activision and Microsoft – We ran in the Stinger that they had been asked to cease production, taken to court. After that they fell off the face of the planet. They were meant to email the Stinger proving our last email was wrong…. that was nearly three months ago!

I have just been handed a whole load of images of more illegal console games for arcade, so it looks like next month we will be running a feature on this situation.

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Geo

ahhh tha it`s soo sad the prototype looked amazing, but as i said this is big in Latin America and Asia…

i wish to open my own arcade, but the prices and games scare me a lot…..

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Shaggy

Yeah the prices are outrageous in some cases, difficult to swallow in most, that’s why I advocate lower prices. It makes it tough for a small start-up to pick up some decent games and compete against those who have much larger budgets.

BTW- It was confirmed to me again that the pricing on these is covering FOUR cabinets and not one – I noticed that Kotaku reported it as costing $23,000 for one kit which is incorrect.

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Geo

And Shaggy do you own an arcade…?

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sevenout

So, wait, am I reading this right; $40,000 for FOUR Street Fighter IV arcade games?
How is any operator supposed to make any money at $10,000 per machine with a fighting game that will be outdated by next year? $15,000 for Tekken?!!!

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Shaggy

@Sevenout

That is correct. Of course we don’t know if Capcom will be charging $10k per unit for the US release, it could be a little more or a little less.

Unfortunately on the arcade scene prices like this are considered “standard” by some companies but not everyone is charging this much per game. America’s Army Arcade costs less than $4000 but it also lacks the prestige of a series like Street Fighter.

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Geo

This is my Arcade budget:

– Cabinet (paint, primer brushes)=….$200.00
– Xbox 360=………………………………….$300.00
– 27″ flat TV=………………………………..$300.00
– STFIV game=………………………………$ 60.00
– Joystick Arcade=…………………………$ 50.00
– Coin Door=…………………………………..$ 90.00

Total Amount=………………………………..$1000.00

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