There has been much talk about the emergence of what has been called the digital out-of-home entertainment (DOE) industry – but what exactly does DOE represent and what has it to offer the traditional video amusement trade?
The traditional video amusement industry has celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first full production video coin-operated arcade machine, Computer Space by Nutting Associates (1971); though it would not be until Atari’s Pong was released the following year that the true financial power of video amusement was revealed. Over the 40 years since that point, video gaming has grown, defining an industry and creating a new genre. But for amusement the torch has dimmed - where once video amusement dominated machine sales, operators today see these machines as only 40 per cent of their overall revenue generation. Those factories depending on the new video amusement releases have reduced production and imported titles from Japan have been drying up year-on-year.
But just because the Japanese amusement factories are not leading the charge, does not mean that the interactive digital entertainment experience has come to an end. Moving away from the traditional video amusement model of big black boxes replaced every nine months, the new and growing DOE sector builds on the foundation of the pay-to-play model embracing the sophistication of experience expected from an audience that has become more familiar with the latest digital entertainment media than the traditional amusement trade that hopes to serve it.
The modern market talks to a ‘digital native’ audience – a customer base born of the digital age and expecting a high-level of connectivity from their leisure time. The application of ‘gamification’ in all aspects of modern life is equally expected from their entertainment. For the traditional amusement sector, this level of digital application has proven an anathema, with many unable to comprehend the needs of this new audience. The delay in embracing this approach allowed others to benefit and eventually the traditional amusement approach was superseded by the home arcade and consumer console games industry. But it has been the out-of-home (commercial) sector that has proven the crucible for the application of the leisure entertainment application of digital entertainment – and though a shadow of the industry of the Golden Age, arcade is set for a new rebirth.
This article can be read in full in the October issue of InterGame.
