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Super Street Fighter IV Arcade gets a price tag

Shaggy 22

It wasn’t long ago that we heard that Super Street Fighter IV would be getting a December release. Now we have a price tag to chew on as AM-Net reveals the following about the kit:

HDDROMKIT4セット\1,912,000(税別) Set HDDROMKIT4 \ 1,912,000 (U.S.)

In a currency converter, 1,912,000 in yen is around $23,000USD. That can’t be for a single kit – you might recall that the first SFIV Arcade was sold in packages of four complete cabinets for around $40,000 and the HDDROMKIT4 seems to indicate that these kits are being sold in fours as well. That would put the kits individually around $6000USD per unit and of course for an operator to get a 2 player setup going they have to purchase two since Capcom seems to think that the VS. configuration is perfect for everyone. I’m sure SSFIV will sell to those who already plunked down a several grand to get SFIV Arcade the first time around, assuming they still have the funds for such a purchase but I have a hard time believing that Capcom will really obtain sales on the scale of thousands that they are looking for at such a price. What would make far more sense is to A) offer a decent price for the game and make a build for 2p on 1 cabinet(ex. the new Blazblue is going for a little over $2k per kit) or B) offer the game on NESiCAxLIVE for a download, which eliminates the costs of hardware that SFIV operators have already invested in(it’s all running on the Type X2) and it could be sold at a reasonable price that many more could afford. Seeing how several other fighters are being made available on NESiCA including Blazblue Continuum Shift II, KOF98 Ultimate Match, Samurai Spirits Sen, Battle Fantasia, and KOF Maximum Impact Reg. A, it’s not like SSFIV should be out of the question. Then again I have heard that NESiCA will charge a small fee per game (like CoinUp does on Big Buck online games) which will increase the cost of each play which can be a hindrance on the users end depending upon the price per credit. Of course there is always C), which is available now – get a Game Gate VU and purchase a copy of SSFIV for the 360 or PS3 and you get a 2 player arcade setup for much less.

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22 comments
Phil Arrington

I believe Capcom is pulling a smart move, because with the new characters….it changes the game.

Yes they could just wait for the DLC to come out. However, Capcom have the option of never releasing that DLC which will force players to the arcade as well as arcade owners to get the game. New characters in a fighter game always change the game itself (I think I’m not using the right word there. Maybe “the balance of the game should be change with the 6 new characters.”)

Reply
    Phil Arrington

    Oh yea, when I used “they” I was using it towards ‘US” the players

    Reply
      Shaggy

      I agree that the additions to SSFIV are a great move to entice players to come out for the game – the arcade version needs some exclusive content to stand out. Where I have a problem is Capcom’s greed getting in the way of making the game available to more than a handful of locations.

      Reply
Outkast

Hello,

This Game Gate VU set-up is mentioned in the article. Are there any other similar solutions that are on the market?

Reply
ECM

I’m not sure I grasp Capcom’s business plan here: do they really believe that charging operators through the nose for these set-ups will actually net them more money than reasonably-priced kits? How about the goodwill generated by such a move amongst operators?

I’d love to see the spreadsheets and logic involved in going down this road…

Reply
    Shaggy

    They sure have a golden opportunity here to carve out a nice piece of the market for themselves and it seems obvious how they could go about it but apparently no one gets it there. I’m sure most operators would jump on SSFIV or MvC3 in a split second if prices were in line with everyone else has(even a few hundred dollars more would be understandable as opposed to thousands). But Capcom is behaving like they are the only company on Earth making an arcade title.

    Reply
editor

No GameGate is the only legal system this side of the water.

Reply
DaRulz

ok maybe I am confused about what a kit is…. Is a kit a full cabinet with LCD monitor and everything included? If so 6000 is more than fair. I don’t understand the problem….

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    Outkast

    I think part of problem is they are making people buy 2 kits at a time. There is no 2 player boards I think? I don’t think the kit includes the cab. I think it’s 3,000 per board and you need 2 to get a 2 player set-up.

    Reply
    Shaggy

    No a kit is either a PCB of the game or in this case it appears to be an imaged HDD or disks to load the SSFIV image onto an existing SFIV HDD. Kits also include artwork. As I mentioned in the post, kits for the new Blazblue are available for $2k (less via NESiCA) and that lets you have 2 players on one cabinet.

    Operators will pay $6000 for this per kit, most will shell out $12k:
    http://coinopexpress.com/products/pcbs/taito_type_x2/Super_Street_Fighter_IV_kits_8283.html

    Buying a full cabinet already will probably be in the $10k range.

    Reply
      DaRulz

      HOLY DOG CRAP BATMAN!!!!!! $6000 and it isn’t a FULL CABINET??????? No wonder the Asian arcade manufacturers say the arcade market is dead… Who in their right minds is going to shell that kind of coin for a not full cabinet….. wow just wow…..

      I see that bending your customers over the barrel is not only a western business pursuit these days……

      Reply
      Outkast

      Ahh, I see. Damn you Capcom!!!!

      Reply
fubarduck

What you guys don’t understand is that the vast majority of arcades in Japan are owned by large corporations like Taito, Sega and Namco who all have a large stake in the arcade industry. Capcom / Taito are simply charging as much as they think they can get away with so that only the corporate arcades will purchase the game, fully knowing that it’s out of reach for most independent / mom-and-pop arcades.

Simply put, they are well aware that fewer arcades will be able to afford a $12,000 upgrade per 2 player kit, and they don’t really care.

Reply
    Outkast

    Are you affiliated with Arcade UFO? (seems like the same user name).

    Are you guys getting SSF4 arcade?

    Reply
    Shaggy

    I understand that perfectly well but part of making a fuss about it is to drive a point on a couple of fronts, to the companies and the players. I know it might be futile to make a fuss about the price (at the end of the day actual sales speak louder than words) but it’s still important that someone says something about prices if they are extravagant for a particular game. I’ve been straightforward with reps of different companies if they have a game where the price just seems out-of-line and even if they personally can’t change it, at least they are hearing feedback about it. Also in part, the better that players understand how much the equipment costs, then they understand why an operator has to charge a dollar per play or more.

    What comes to mind is Capcom’s own comments on SSFIV in the first place – they wanted thousands of orders or they talk about how the arcade industry is dead, etc. yet their own practices would prevent them from obtaining thousands of sales and make it more difficult for the industry to pick up steam. Maybe they don’t care that fewer places will grab their game but they have to also realize or care that they could make more money by getting a higher volume of sales too.

    Reply
      fubarduck

      Capcom (namely Inafune) sees the arcade industry as a kink in their chain of money-making. They have been manipulating their fanbase for years trying to get them to adopt the mindset of “console > arcade” so that they don’t have to worry about arcade development any longer.

      They know that the arcade industry is strong in Japan but continually try to make it look like the player’s fault. Sort of like an abusive marriage =P

      Reply