Biz news: amusement operations up at Dave & Busters; Namco expanding in China

We’ve got a couple of arcade business related items to briefly discuss today, first off in the US, arcade/restaurant chain Dave And Busters has released it’s 3rd quarter earnings report and unfortunately for them, total revenues were down 2.1%; total food and beverages revenues were down 5.3% – however according to the report “revenues from Amusements and Other increased 1.4%“. According to the CEO of the company, “”We are encouraged that the key differentiator of the Dave & Buster’s brand, our Amusements business, has remained relatively strong during this economic downturn,” said Steve King, Chief Executive Officer. “This gives us confidence that as the economy recovers, we are well positioned to take advantage of renewed discretionary spending.” (emphasis mine). [Via Fox Business]

This is quite interesting – despite the fact that D&B’s food business is down by a few percentage points, the fact that their amusement revenues have remained strong is a testament to the appeal of coin-op gaming right now.  With more strong games coming out from different manufacturers at lower prices, it will remain strong and can be stronger as we continue to get the word out. In the case of my own arcade, this past third quarter was quite good for me once we moved and this quarter has been the best we’ve had as well although I still have a ways to go in catching up on bills. How about your own arcade business, how is it faring?

In other business news, Namco Bandai will be expanding it’s operations in China, by opening up ten new themed amusement facilities which are to be mostly attractive to kids. [Via Nikkei.co.jp]