Sega: a legendary Japanese arcade will definitely close its doors

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The just as famous as massive room Sega from Ikebukuro in Tokyo, known as Sega Ikebukuro Gigo, will definitely close its doors on September 20th. The bad news is we can not more official since it has been Posted by Genda Sega Entertainment on the official Twitter account of the room.

The Sega Hall of Ikebukuro will therefore close its doors after 28 years of activity because its rental lease ends and the owner of the building wishes to carry out renovation work (which will take the place of this room N ' has not been revealed yet). If this announcement caused the sadness of players around the world, it also reacted within the industry. Ryosuke Horii, the director of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, for example split a tribute tweet:

Even if Sega Ikebukuro Gigo disappears, the DNA of Ikebukuro Gigo will not disappear because I grew up to Ikebukuro Gigo and I will continue to make new games and create souvenirs.

A monument becomes souvenir

Known for its tournaments and "tests" (phases during which new arcade games are tested under the conditions of the real) The Sega Ikebukuro room also had for several years to have its Takiyaki stand for several years ( Traditional Japanese pastry). Of course, the very popular UFO Catchers were also present in the room.

The "traditional" arcade sector has not been particularly concerned in Japan for several years and the sanitary crisis associated with the Pandemic of Covid-19 has only accelerated its decline (as a reminder, tourists can no longer return to Japanese territory for many months). But as indicated above, the drop in attendance and profitability of the Ikebukuro Sega room are not among the official reasons for this closure.

As a reminder, Sega, at the end of last year, rid of its arcade manager activity by selling 85% of Sega Entertainment shares in Genda Inc. A new company, called Genda Sega Entertainment is Born of this sale and it is the latter that now exploits all Sega rooms (which kept the branding of the publisher).

As part of the 2019 Tokyo Game Show Week, we were passed through the Ikebukuro Sega room, you can discover some pictures of the place in the VLOG available above (from 8min49).

What inspires you this news? Have you ever had the opportunity to visit Ikebukuro's Sega room? If so, what memories keep yourself? Do you think the arcade will finish by totally disappearing? Tell us everything in the comments below.