AM Press: Chicago 1929 at IAAPA 2003

December 15, 2003 issue
Last updated on December 11, 2003

Special news

CSK transferred all of its holdings in Sega to Sammy, and Sammy became Sega's largest shareholder with 22%.

Taps, a Kansai amusement park manufacturer with an 85-year history, has filed for bankruptcy.

Overseas

At the IAAPA show in the US, Japanese manufacturers also exhibited, and Sammy's AW software "Chicago 1929" was also unveiled.

SCE "PS2" will be released in five major cities in China.

Domestic

Capcom held an exhibition of new products for the commercial version of “Hyper SF”, which will be released for home use first.

Namco's food theme park has expanded further, with the announcement of the "Tsugaru Ramen Road" plan.

News digest of December 15, 2003 issue

The photo is from the media unveiling of "Akashi Ramen Wharf." Above are (from left) Namco Chairman Masaya Nakamura, Akashi City Mayor Hiroto Kitaguchi, and president of business entity Mycal, Keiichi Enomoto, shaking hands. Below is the inside of the venue.

Main news from 10 years ago

Data East has filed a countersuit against Capcom, which filed a copyright lawsuit over "Fighters History." Namco announced that it will supply software for SCE's planned home video game console. Capcom has announced the establishment of a subsidiary in Mexico. VIP unveiled the new head office building and the new company name "ASMO". (December 15, 1993 issue).

Main news from 20 years ago

The government's tax system research committee has begun research on AM machines in order to expand the range of items subject to excise tax. The Metropolitan Police Department has requested the NAO to thoroughly implement self-regulation to prevent juvenile delinquency. Sigma has become the first casino gaming machine manufacturer to receive a license in the state of Nevada, USA. Konami Industries took a 5% stake in Century Corp., the licensee of the United States. NASA Trading went bankrupt. (December 15, 1983 issue).

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[News Digest]

1. On December 8, CSK announced that it had agreed to transfer all of the SEGA shares it owned, approximately 39.14 million shares (22.4% of the total), to Sammy on the same day. The transfer price is 45,334 million yen, and CSK expects that this will result in an extraordinary profit of approximately 17 billion yen in the current fiscal year's consolidated financial results. Sammy, who previously owned 100,000 shares of Sega, will increase his holdings to approximately 39.24 million shares, replacing CSK as Sega's largest shareholder, and Sega will become an equity method affiliate in Sammy's consolidated financial results. Sammy is focusing on the AM business (NEWS business) other than pachislot/pachinko, and expects this stock acquisition to advance that direction. At a press conference, Sammy's President Osamu Satomi expressed the possibility of acquiring additional shares in the future and making the company a subsidiary, and his intention to become an officer of Sega and participate in its management. Sammy has continued to have several business alliances with Sega, and Sega says there will be no major changes with this stock change. Sega and Sammy agreed to merge in February of this year, but the deal broke down in May. CSK had written down the Sega stock it owned, and had been in a position to sell it at any time since May, and had been in full-scale negotiations with Sammy since October.

2. Taps (Naniwa Ward, Osaka City, President: Teruko Doi) filed for personal bankruptcy at the Osaka District Court on November 28th. Debt is approximately 1.7 billion yen. The company was founded in 1918 by Doi Manzo Doi (1883-1965) to construct and operate amusement park facilities, and was incorporated in 1951. The company name was changed to Kansai Entertainment in 1959 and Taps in 1989. One of the company's most famous amusement facilities is the existing flying tower at Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park, which was built in 1929 and has a height of 40 meters and a diameter of 20 meters at the rotating part. Taps' sales bases include Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park, Ayame Pond Amusement Park, and Fushimi Momoyama Castle Castle Land, and at its peak annual sales were around 2 billion yen, but sales gradually declined to 485 million yen in the fiscal year ending February 2003, resulting in a deficit of 56 million yen. Traditional amusement parks continued to suffer from poor business, which worsened further when Fushimi Momoyama Castle Land closed in January 2003.

3. Capcom will release “Hyper Street Fighter U” for home use (for PS2) on December 18th, which brings together 17 distinctive characters (65 types) that appeared in the “Street Fighter U” series and allows you to fight against them based on “Street Fighter UX.” Along with this, the game's commercial board will be released in February 2004, and was introduced at a preview held at the Osaka headquarters on November 25th. The commercial version is still under development, but sales volume will likely be limited as it will use the company's remaining system board "CPS2." Capcom released the commercial game “Street Fighter” in August 1987 and it became a hit, but since the home version was released the following year, this year marks 15 years since the home game was released, so they are holding a “15th Anniversary” event, and “Hyper Street Fighter U” is said to have been planned as part of that event. A preview was held at the Tokyo branch on November 27th.

4. At IAAPA 2003 (November 19-22, Orlando, USA), a global exhibition related to amusement parks, 1,253 companies, slightly fewer than last year's 1,295 companies, exhibited in approximately 49,000 square meters of the new convention center, and 30,062 vendors from 87 countries registered and entered, slightly more than last year's 29,427. Although this was not as high as the previous high of 33,146 in 1997, it was the second-highest number on record. 20.9% of visitors were from outside the United States. Japanese exhibitors include American subsidiaries of Sega, Namco, and Sammy for arcade game machines, KNT and OMI for used machines, and Okamoto Seisakusho for amusement facilities, but it was impressive that Sega of the United States had a small booth this time. Intamin's “Dragster” won the IAAPA Award in the category of new product for amusement facilities. The only new TV game consoles were Sega's “Olly King” and Sammy's driving game “Chicago 1929” for the Atomiswave. IAAPA has partnered with EAASI, the European amusement facility manufacturer association, to expand its activities to Europe.

5. Namco opened Jiyugaoka Sweets Forest, the seventh store in Team Nanja's food theme park, on November 21st, and then opened its eighth store, Akashi Ramen Hatoba, in Okubo, Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, on December 5th. Following these efforts, on February 27, 2004, the company announced on November 27 that it would open “Tsugaru Ramen Kaido” in Goshogawara City, Aomori Prefecture. “Tsugaru Ramen Kaido” is a gathering of six famous ramen shops on the second floor of “Elm no Machi SC”, which is run by Goshogawara Machizukuri (President Hideki Kasai), on an approximately 870-meter space, and the business is run by Goshogawara Machizukuri. This will be a food theme park in a local city, following Akashi Ramen Wharf. In addition to this, Naniwa Gyoza Stadium (Umeda, Osaka) is being planned in a major metropolitan area, but the plan was to open in the spring of 2004, which has now become more concrete to open around February. “Naniwa Gyoza Stadium” is scheduled to be built on the 3rd floor of the OS Building, along with a Namco-managed game field on the 1st and 2nd floors, and is expected to be quite a masterpiece.

6. Sony's Chinese subsidiary, Sony China, will release the PlayStation 2 (PS2) in five major cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou, starting December 20th. The price of the main set is 1,988 yuan (approximately 26,000 yen). At the same time, the Chinese versions of “Sargetchu 2” and “Ico” will be released for 168 RMB (approximately 2,200 yen) each. In addition to those developed by Sony, game software for the Chinese market will be supplied by eight other companies, including Capcom, Konami, Namco, Sega, and Taito, but Sony China will release them through local sales companies. Regarding the unauthorized copying that is rampant in China, it was determined that the PS2's copy prevention technology has improved and that the Chinese government's cooperation can be obtained in terms of copyright protection. However, attention is being focused on whether this will lead to measures against unauthorized copying.

7. In addition to the previously reported results, Banpresto's consolidated sales increased by 4.3% from the same period of the previous year to 13,928 million yen, ordinary income decreased by 50.7% to 403 million yen, and interim profit decreased by 62.1% to 97 million yen. By division, AM business sales decreased by 5.9% to 8,006 million yen, operating income decreased by 28.6% to 543 million yen, household sales increased by 5.3% to 3,344 million yen, and operating income decreased by 49.0% to 238 million yen. Arisaka's sales increased by 19.7% to 2,517 million yen, ordinary income increased by 28.6% to 191 million yen, and interim profit decreased by 1.5% to 78 million yen. There have been increases and decreases, including the opening of a large store at Daiei SC in Kobe Harborland in July, and as of the end of September there were 34 stores.

8. Sega announced on November 26th that it will establish Sega R&D Holdings (Headquarters: 1-2-12 Haneda, Ota-ku, Tokyo; President: Satoru Kanno) as an intermediate holding company on December 1st as part of the reorganization of its development subsidiary. Becomes a 100% subsidiary of SEGA.

◎ 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.