AM Press: AOU 2005

March 15, 2005 issue
Last updated on March 9, 2005

Special news

Many new TV games were introduced at AOU Expo 05.

Sega's “The Quiz Show” will be introduced as an attraction at Tokyo Joypolis.

Overseas

Sammy's American and European commercial subsidiaries were reorganized under Sega.

Two new companies have been established by former Midway commercial developers.

Domestic

Atlas has revised its full-year forecast downward due to worsening performance.

Aruze and Seta also revised their full-year forecasts downward.

News digest of March 15, 2005 issue

The photo was taken at AOU Expo 05, with the top photo showing them trying out Namco's “Mario Kart Arcade GP,” and the bottom photo showing them trying out Subaru Customization Workshop's “Tsuhashiri Meijin.”

Main news from 10 years ago

The full extent of the damage to game halls caused by the Great Hanshin Earthquake has been revealed. Konami moved its development center from Kobe to Osaka. Taito has announced the 32-bit CG board "JC System". At the company's New Year's party, Sega President Hayao Nakayama said that the Saturn would take the lead in home use. Coin Journal, which reprinted the article without permission, was prosecuted and fined. (March 15, 1995 issue)

Main news from 20 years ago

At the 4th NAO Show, held on the day the new Entertainment Business Act came into effect, a declaration was posted stating, “Legally, young people can play slot machines, etc., but according to social norms, there are some places where they should refrain from doing so.” 44 SC location operators established the Japan SC Amusement Park Association (NSA) and petitioned for exemption from the Amusement Business Act. Taito unveiled the dual-screen “Wyvern F0.” (March 15, 1985 issue)

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[News Digest]

1. At AOU Expo 05, in addition to new products that have already attracted attention at private shows such as Sega's "Sangokushi Taisen", Namco's "The Idolmaster", and Taito's "Harikiri Online Professional Baseball", Sega's "Net Select Horse Racing Victory Furlong" and SNK Play TV games such as More's “Neo Geo Battle Coliseum” and Dimps' “Rumble Fish 2”, Namco's “Mario Kart Arcade GP” and “Taiko no Tatsujin 7”, Taito's “Akuma” by Avalanche, and Konami's music game “Dance 86.4” were shown. Among the traditional board types, Taito's ``Type

2. Subaru Customization Workshop, which was exhibiting at AOU Expo for the first time, is a subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries, and exhibited a crane game machine that uses magnets, “Tsukuke Meijin,” and a simulation system, “Tsuhashiri Meijin.” Since the company has flight simulator development technology, it created a prototype car racing simulator using the home PS2 software “Gran Turismo 4 Prologue” and it was well received, so it is said that they decided to commercialize the simulator system for amusement machines. The exhibited “Tsuhashiri Meijin” uses Genki's PS2 game software “Kaido Battle” and will be sold by operators Keiyo Lease and Goodhill.

3. Sega announced on March 8th that it will introduce “The Quiz Show” as an attraction at Tokyo Joypolis starting from the 19th. “The Quiz Show” was first unveiled at the AOU Expo in February 2004, and was also introduced in a private show.It is a virtual quiz show where players act as answerers and challenge quizzes of various genres with other participants. A lighthearted emcee is needed, not an automatic machine, and the level of excitement will vary depending on the skill of the emcee. For this reason, Sega has decided to continue developing attractions at Tokyo Joypolis for the time being. The usage fee is 300 yen once. It is not clear whether it will be sold.

4. Sega Sammy Holdings announced on February 25 that it has decided to transfer Sammy USA, Inc. to Sega Holdings, Inc. (headquartered in San Francisco, president: Hisao Oguchi), the holding company for Sega Corporation in the United States, and to transfer Sammy Europe, Inc. to SEGA Europe, Inc. (headquartered in the suburbs of London, president: Naoya Tsurumi), which manages SEGA's commercial and home-use operations in Europe, making it a subsidiary of SEGA Corporation from that day forward. This is in line with the reorganization by business field, and Sammy's commercial subsidiaries in the US and Europe have been reorganized to center around Sega's US and European subsidiaries. Sega Sammy Holdings also announced on February 28 that it will sell Sammy Holdings, Inc. (President John Lowe), the parent company of American home game software developer and manufacturer Sammy Studios Inc., to a new company invested and established by President John Lowe.

5. It has been revealed that two new manufacturers have been established, led by Ken Fedesna, a former executive vice president of Williams/Midway in the US, and Cashbox Games, an electronic game machine company, and White Rabbit, a TV game machine company. Midway Games withdrew from the Flipper business in 1999 and from the arcade TV game business in 2001, so the developers established this company on their own, following in the footsteps of Low Thrill Inc., which was run by Gene Jarvis and others. Both companies are based in the Chicago area and say they will create unprecedented arcade game machines based on their own ideas.

6. On March 7, Atlas announced a downward revision to its full-year earnings forecast due to deteriorating business performance. As a result, sales for the fiscal year ending March 2005 are expected to be 18 billion yen (previously forecast in May of last year was 21.2 billion yen), ordinary profit is expected to be 90 million yen (740 million yen), and net profit is expected to be zero (250 million yen). Atlus said the reasons for this were: “Sales of home game software were significantly lower than planned;” “A: Sales of photo sticker machines for commercial use other than ``Beauty Rules” were poor; sales of large medal game machines were also lower than expected; “B: The release of a new type of gaming machine, ``Parrot,” was postponed. As a result, the company will record an extraordinary profit of approximately 700 million yen, including a 545 million yen gain on the sale of securities, but will also record extraordinary losses, including a 120 million yen loss on the removal of fixed assets due to the closure of the unprofitable Noda store, a 91 million yen loss on the valuation of home game software inventories and a 432 million yen loss on disposal, and a 230 million yen loss on the valuation of shares in UK Photostar.

7. On February 25, Aruze announced a summary of its third-quarter results and revised its full-year forecast downward. Sales for the nine-month period were 61,067 million yen, down 37.2% from the same period of the previous year, ordinary income was 3,768 million yen (data for the same period last year not available), and net loss was 4,924 million yen, resulting in a significant decline in sales and a deficit. Of the sales, pachinko and pachislot machines accounted for 41,736 million yen, and Adores' game hall operations accounted for 12,271 million yen. Regarding the full-year results, sales have been revised to 79.7 billion yen (previous forecast from October last year was 104 billion yen), ordinary profit to 6.6 billion yen (13.2 billion yen), and net profit to 460 million yen (400 million yen). We expect an extraordinary profit of 7 billion yen and an extraordinary loss of 2 billion yen related to Wynn Resorts, Inc., but this is due to pachinko and pachislot machines being lower than the previous forecast and the performance of subsidiaries being weak. On the same day, subsidiary Seta also significantly revised its full-year results downward to sales of approximately 3.3 billion yen (previous forecast in November was approximately 3.6 billion yen), ordinary income of approximately 200 million yen (approximately 300 million yen), and net income of 35 million yen (232 million yen). This is due to the postponement of OEM supply of IC card systems to next fiscal year, a 77 million yen valuation loss due to inventory adjustment of arcade game machine boards, and a 95 million yen inventory valuation loss related to magnetic card systems.

◎ Since 1974, the industry magazine "Game Machine" has been reporting industry news on commercial amusement machines, including TV game machines, amusement facilities, etc. twice a month, but the print publication was discontinued at the end of June 2002.