Kevin Williams: Dance The Night Away To The Rhythm Resurgence

Guest contributor & industry specialist Kevin Williams is back, this time taking a look at the “rhythm resurgence” as music games return to prominence on the gaming scene. Take it away Kevin!

KWP: In this special feature for Arcade Heroes, we look at the reemergence of the music/rhythm game genre. Once an incredibly profitable and popular genre, the scene had been largely assassinated by a variety of factors and influences. 2024 is looking more and more like players are ready to get their dance shoes on again. It would be difficult to miss that over the last few months, more than one video amusement music game machine has been on test at several prominent locations. This would not be happening if public interest had not shifted in a positive direction. To that end, let’s take a look at how we got here, where we are, and where the trend is headed.

Rhythm Background

Once the darling of the video games scene, rhythm and music game systems from the late ’90s through the early 2010’s were strong sellers and earners for operators. The music game genre can trace its roots back to the success achieved from the Japanese factories, predominantly the BEMANI series from KONAMI was a runaway success, that still to this day has an incredibly strong following in Japan and is one of the mainstay platforms of the market – seeing many iterations of the rhythm music formula.

However, for the Western market the music game series suffered several blows, that saw their otherwise great success decimated. Once the king of the genre in any market, Dance Dance Revolution is no longer as prevalent as it once was in the States, replaced by the likes of ANDAMIRO USA’s Pump It Up series, and Step Revolution’s StepManiaX there outside of Round1USA and Dave & Busters locations (although; the latter seek to sunset their support for it also). DDR’s fall from grace has resulted in a similar dearth of BEMANI games in the States, with no Japanese-made rhythm game being officially carried by a US distributor. The situation is slightly different in Europe, discussed further later on in this piece.

All this however seems to be about to change, as we see leading facility operators such as the aforementioned Round1USA and even Dave & Busters undertake location testing (LocTest) of new Japanese music game machines. Via the Japanese parent corporation’s business links and rising Western popularity of cultural exports from the region, R1USA has particularly kept the flame alive by catering to the existing crowd of ‘rhythm gamers’, and offering a majority of Japanese rhythm titles from KONAMI, TAITO, and SEGA for patrons to play. R1USA have the support and justification for the central online network functions of these games – a possible problem for US rollout outside of them, that we shall also detail later.

Our publication The Stinger Report, was one of the first to cover the issues with the downfall in Western adoption of music games back at the time. Other problems took hold, but to recap the largest one – many key US amusement distributors got cold feet in continuing to run certain lines as questions regarding the payment of music license fees was reported. Operations running these machines had been reported receiving visits from trade association ASCAP (the American Society representing music Composers, Authors and Publishers) towards the payment of licensing fees for the music being played in public.

At this time, an incredibly popular series of amusement music games was thusly side-lined, and many distributors in key territories decided to abandon offering and running machines to avoid issues with licensed music. This essentially slammed the brakes on rhythm growth, where it has since languished aside from unofficial ‘grey imports’ by a relatively small number of locations and underground outfits.

Rhythm On Test

Recently we have seen a toe dipped back in the music game waters. Initially BANDAI NAMCO Amusement America (BNAA), working with Round1USA and Dave & Busters, placed their successful Japanese drum game Taiko No Tatsujin on test at the beginning of 2023. A game originally launched to Japan in 2001 and seeing major amusement success in the home islands, as well as a consumer game series, it had long enjoyed a “cult classic” status in the West, but without any official amusement support (excepting a small number of early 2000s location tests, that did not lead to any wider release).

This changed when, after another round of extensive testing, NAMCO announced that the game would receive a “limited” US release for the end of 2024. This was linked to creating a Western suitable variant of the system and coming to terms with fielding the competition mode, integral to the machines success. Sources close to the evaluation of the hardware reported on strong revenue generation.

Among the revealed details of that announcement, was the inclusion of a monthly subscription for operators. This partly to address the need for the game to be connected to the ‘BANDAI NAMCO Passport’ network and supported player card access to scores. There were suggestions that this subscription fee would also address licensing fee issues, but this was not fully confirmed at the time of going to the wire.

Following the news of BNAA entering the Western market with a new music game, it was revealed that another popular Japanese music game was seen on LocTest. Revealed by Arcade Heroes, the SEGA Corporation Japan release MAIMAI DX was tested at Round1USA sporting a USA branch of its pre-existent English “International” version, already deployed in other Asia and Oceania territories. The unique circular touchscreen and eight-button music rhythm game has a very strong following in the Asian market, and, like Taiko, garnered a strong reputation in the West despite its rarity outside of imports over here.

The surprise test at R1USA has recently been followed up by another held at Dave & Busters, mirroring the corporation’s previous US trials of its PINK Plus version during the 2010s. This earlier testing, like Taiko’s aforementioned attempt in the 2000s, unfortunately did not lead to wider release either. It was reported that the evaluation of this new machine was again being made for possible consideration of its own Western rollout, even if most likely following in the footsteps of other games as a R1USA limited exclusive.

Unusually, the machines on test were linked to SEGA JP’s ALL.Net online network system and AimePay payment platform, used by other games such as the older Hatsune Miku Project DIVA – already a R1USA limited exclusive. This has seen some of their features go offline during the servers’ evening downtime in Japan. MAIMAI has additionally been reported in recent Stinger coverage via its appearance on the WAHLAP booth at this year’s Asian Amusement & Attraction (AAA) Expo, as they announced the rollout of its latest separate version in China. This notably does not use ALL.Net, instead, a QR code-based online function (WAHLAP’s version of Taiko launched last year following the same route).

The Chinese market has continued their own love affair with music games and other aspects of Japanese popular culture, as reported in both the Stinger Report and Arcade Heroes coverage of the AAA Expo back in May. Along with WAHLAP’s representation of MAIMAI DX in China, other developers such as ARCCER Amusement presented their music game releases. The Dance Cube series, active since the 2010s (a time where MAIMAI was not always officially available in China, due to SEGA JP distribution changes) borrows heavily on the circular touchscreen rhythm music game aesthetic of the original. It is expected that other ‘grey imports’ of these Chinese music games will eventually make more Western landfall.

For the rest of the Western industry, it is not presently clear if MAIMAI DX will be made readily available at some point in the future or also be on a R1USA “limited” release, the latter seeming most probable. Especially considering the more complex needs for a constant network connection, downtime during business hours due to maintenance, and the use of Aime Cards. The SEGA Group JP AimePay platform – offering Amusement IC cards for players to store progress and scores across the suite of SEGA JP connected amusement games – is supported by an online app, though with possible privacy-implicating online features already disabled (such as cameras) and certain songs removed for the US LocTests.

Attempts to reach out to SEGA Amusements International (SAI) regarding plans to present MAIMAI to the wider Western market had not received a reply at the time of writing this coverage.

The Rhythm Resurgence

As stated previously, there has been continued successful deployment of music games in the Western market. Most notably, ANDAMIRO USA with their Pump It Up series conceived in 1999 –  celebrating a 25-year legacy with the latest version, Phoenix 2024. This brings even more features and licensed songs to the ‘PIU’ table. The series is built on the strength of K-Pop licensed music, which has been a hit with the loyal player-base and appealing to growing public interest in the music genre, parallel to that of Japanese music. This version of the game is supported by the “Pump It Up Mall” platform, which offers an online commerce storefront dedicated to supporting the music game community with official merchandise goods.

On the other hand, Step Revolution with StepManiaX have moved their platform beyond the conventional amusement archetypes and established an “Exergame” platform. Defined as a exercise amusement piece, the StepManiaX machines are popular with much of their loyal player-base, and it has become the most successful “indie” arcade piece on the market. The game merges fitness, eSports, and amusement into a potent mix of entertainment. Those aware of the loyal following of these platforms may be missing out on the strong revenue that well-designed music games can offer. The latest application for SMX is the ‘StepManiaX Tracker’ mobile app, collecting data on players’ progress through a global leaderboard.

The tenacious endurance of Pump It Up and rise of StepManiaX has gone against the old best wishes of KONAMI – who notably once enacted legal action against ANDAMIRO over early entries of the ‘PIU’ series, and similarly StepManiaX predecessor In The Groove by ROXOR during the 2000s (both ITG and SMX using the ‘Stepmania’ game engine originally engineered for home PC play). The latter course of action proved successful due to its sheer number of similarities, but the involved ITG personnel were able to regroup, with ‘SMX’ now sold into many locations with little issue owing to a subtly different dance pad control scheme and older KONAMI patents lapsing. Despite giving up the ghost in the United States outside of certain chains, however, there is one territory where KONAMI’s game still competes on a wider level.

Though not receiving limited releases of other games via Round1 due to their present absence in the region, Europe has not been left out on all the rhythm fun, as a result of the above two titles being marketed by BANDAI NAMCO Amusement Europe and UDC, as well as KONAMI’s continued partnership with with veteran UK distributor Electrocoin. Having long served as a main source of DDR and other KONAMI games in Europe (and the last one standing, following the 2000s closure of KONAMI Amusement Europe), they have been furnishing Dance Dance Revolution A20+ to interested European operators – albeit on an offline-only basis, with no support for its newer versions (DDR A3 or WORLD). As of this writing, KONAMI still has no equivalent official distribution deal in the States, remaining highly weary of the wider US market.

Back in Japan, the music rhythm game business has continued to be a scene staple, holding up better than other video amusement genres against the vast interest in ‘UFO CATCHER’ crane machines and Gachapon capsule vending industry upheaval. The series of BEMANI machines manufactured by KONAMI are augmented by rival releases from BANDAI NAMCO, SEGA and others in the market. Supporting them is an extensive litany of tournament competitions such as the KONAMI Arcade Championship, often held at and in conjunction with the Japanese trade’s Amusement Expo (formerly JAEPO), alongside the newer, highly popular “BEMANI Pro League” eSports-styled promotions, now celebrating their fourth season.

Regarding the fusion of innovative new amusement technology and rhythm, we have seen some successful deployments, particularly with Beat Saber. The game was given an amusement VR release by VRsenal in 2018 as a fully automated kiosk. However, it received only a limited release before the game owners, Beat Games, undertook a removal of the content from representation in amusement. At the time, the move was shrouded in secrecy and was followed by considerable layoffs from Beat Games – who are owned by Meta.

Well-placed sources suggested that Meta were unhappy with the game’s representation outside of consumer VR, as well as the issues of having to address music property licenses used in the consumer game for commercial deployment. The untimely discontinuation of the game left a negative impact on many arcade VR operators who were reliant on one of the strongest revenue generators they had seen, with less-recognised copycat titles soon popping up to try and take its place. This would not be the last time a strongly represented product in the music genre would be removed from usage, with hardly any public reasoning behind the move. Overall, the loss of Beat Saber Arcade stained any operation of music games in the VR scene, much like what happened with ASCAP pulling the rug out from ops on Guitar Hero Arcade.

The Future Of Rhythm Out West

In the face of this litany of issues regarding Western deployment, things may still be about to change in the fortunes of the music game genre in global amusement. The Stinger Report reached out to the amusement trade associations regarding the positioning of music licenses and members protection in running music games on the market. The American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) commented that they had just started research into this situation, gathering data on the scope of the issue. This includes impact assessments in regards to licensing fees on game music that operators may need support with.

There have been concerns that the possible re-adoption of music games imported from the successful Japanese market have been hindered by concerns from Western distributors. Previous complaints about build-quality of Western versions of popular music games aside, there is the issue of some LocTest’s being “hampered” by outside influences which have been mentioned – vested interests who are not keen to have to undertake the responsibility of running converted Japanese machines in their catalogue, and incorporating unique tournament networks needing player cards. There is also the continued spectre of music licensing fees, an ever-relevant bone of contention to those who would rather simply sell no-fuss redemption and conventional amusement pieces from their warehouses and partners.

But no matter the concerns, the growing popularity of these games means that some major amusement manufacturers will be pushing a music narrative for representation at the 2024 IAAPA convention in Orlando. We can expect to see (at least) three amusement rhythm games vying for competition on the show floor. At the same time, the established rhythm game genres will be in the midst of being relaunched onto the Western market through exclusive limited partnerships with venue operators such as Round1USA.

Can the ghost of previous failed deployments of this genre be eradicated, and will the next few months see a return to the charts for the music amusement piece?

About the Author – Kevin Williams is a widely-respected specialist on entertainment and technology assisting international clients in developing immersive and interactive entertainment technology and facilities. Kevin is Founder of KWP, a lead specialist in immersive Out-of-Home Entertainment for retail destinations and beyond. Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of The Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions, and entertainment industry. Kevin is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panellist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities”, the only book on this aspect of the market, the second edition is scheduled for release soon.

Kevin can be reached at kwp@thestingerreport.com

END