(Thanks to Kieran for the tip!)
We’ve had a slew of reports of small arcades opening their doors in the US recently but what about news from some larger arcade chains? One chain of game centers you might not hear about too often if you are out West is Timezone, which operates numerous FECs (Family Entertainment Centers) in Australia, India and Singapore (click here for some previous stories we have run about Timezone). In fact in 2011 that number grew at a healthy pace last year, bringing the total number of Timezone owned locations to 228, with more on the way this year. Last year, the company spent $14 million USD on new game purchases, according to this article on Intergame Online. That’s certainly nothing to blow off as unimportant, showing that the model they are using in those regions is working and profitable.
I would be curious to know what their top 10 games are on average, but they probably don’t share such information freely. It is always good to hear of someone doing well out there in the industry and of course when you have large chains like this willing to purchase large amounts of games, that keeps manufacturers busy to provide content to the rest of us as well.
