AM Press: Ranger Mission at ATEI 2004

February 15, 2004 issue
Last updated on February 6, 2004

Special news

Sega announced its results for the April-December period, showing a significant increase in profits.

Taito announced strong results for the April-December period.

Overseas

In addition to local subsidiaries of Sega, Namco, Konami, and Sammy, Taito exhibited at the UK ATEI 04 for the first time in nine years.

Taito held a "25th Anniversary of Invaders" party in London.

Domestic

Cichie announced December financial results of increased sales and decreased profits. The April-December business results of Atlas, Adores, and Sugai have also been revealed.

It has been decided that Kintetsu Group's Ayame Pond Amusement Park will close in June.

News Digest of February 15, 2004 issue

The photo above is from a preview held by Taito at the Ebina Development Center, showing off the "Zoids Infinity" and other products. The photo below shows SNK Playmore's pachislot machine “Metal Slug” presentation.

Main news from 10 years ago

SNK has filed a lawsuit against Taiwan's Soonha Electronic Co., Ltd., which was copying NeoGeo software without permission, based on the U.S.-Taiwan copyright protection agreement, and Taiwanese investigative authorities have announced that the company has been prosecuted. Osaka City has decided to invite the American theme park “Universal Studios” to the city. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. announced that it will release a home video game console called “Real” based on “3DO” in March. Irem's president, Yoshiyuki Takashima, has retired and Noboru Ota has been appointed as president. (February 15, 1994 issue).

Main news from 20 years ago

Nintendo announced the commercial-use “VS System,” which is based on the “Famicom” hardware and allows two players to play against each other and has interchangeable ROMs. Atari Corporation of the United States announced organizational reforms, including the creation of a new Atari product division, and John Farrand, who was in charge of the commercial division, was promoted to president. At the NAO Show, it has been decided that gaming machines with credit increases of three digits or more will be prohibited from being exhibited. British Century Electronics went bankrupt. (February 15, 1984 issue).

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[News Digest]

1. The UK's ATEI/ICE04 (January 27-29, London), Europe's largest general exhibition of gaming machines, will feature ATEI, which focuses on AWP machines, and ICE, which specializes in casino gaming machines. was held at the same time, ATEI had 294 companies exhibiting at approximately 11,500 units, an increase of 7.6% from the previous year, and ICE had 166 companies exhibiting at 12,900 units, an increase of 12.9%. Registration is free for the exhibition, which is only open to businesses, but data such as the number of registered visitors has not yet been released. ATEI mainly focuses on British gambling machines and AWP machines, but since it is an international exhibition, AM machines such as TV game machines and flippers are also on display. Among the Japanese exhibitors, Sega AM Europe exhibited software such as “Ollie King”, Namco Europe and Brent Sales exhibited software for “Atomiswave” such as Gaelco's “Ring Riders”, Konami of Europe exhibited “Wartran Troopers” and Abranche's “Valve Limit”, and Sammy Europe exhibited software for “Atomiswave” such as “Ranger Mission”. Taito had not exhibited since 1996, but for the first time in nine years they set up their own booth and exhibited “Space Invaders/Qix.” At the booth of British company Electrocoin, which handles AM machines, a flipper called “The Lord of the Rings” by Stern Company of the United States was exhibited. OMI, KNT, and Toyo exhibited used machines.

2. On the first night of ATEI04, Taito held a “Space Invaders 25th Anniversary Party” at the St. Martin Lane Hotel in London, inviting press and others. First, five six-minute PR videos were introduced to the more than 100 participants. This is also shown on large screens in train stations in London, and its content is a re-examination of the “Space Invaders” craze. After the introduction of the PR video, a cocktail party took place in another room, where President Yasuo Nishigaki gave a short greeting, saying, “Please continue to support our cute invaders.” The commercial upright “Space Invader/Qix” was planned and manufactured by Namco/America, and was already released in the US in November 2003, and was released in Japan and Europe through Taito and Namco Europe in January of this year, respectively. In Europe, the game is being released for mobile phones first, and PS2 software is also scheduled to be released.

3. On February 5th, SEGA announced its consolidated results for the three quarters (April-December period) ending in the third quarter, and sales decreased by 14.1% year on year to ¥144,511 due to the narrowing down of household use. However, due to strong commercial sales, ordinary income increased by 19.8% to 12,504 million yen, and net income increased by 92.3% to 7,655 million yen, resulting in a significant recovery in profits. Although specific figures are not provided for each division, sales for commercial use exceeded plans in Japan and were roughly in line with plans overseas. Game center operations remained steady, with an increase of 18 stores and a decrease of 28 stores (488 stores at the end of December). Sales for household use were mostly in line with plan in Japan, but were below plan in the US and Europe. The sales forecast for the end of March has been revised slightly downward in response to the downward revision by Sega Toys, but profit has not been revised. Although interest-bearing debt is being reduced, total assets have decreased by about 23.2 billion yen, but net cash at the end of December was a plus of 11.1 billion yen.

4. On January 23, Taito announced its non-consolidated business results for the three quarters (April-December period) ending in the third quarter, showing strong sales of 61,861 million yen, an increase of 15.3% year-on-year, and ordinary income of 3,971 million yen, an increase of 18.5%. Net income decreased by 18.0% to 2,480 million yen, after applying the regular tax rate since the loss carried forward was eliminated by the previous fiscal year. Of the sales, game hall operations increased by 8.8% to 33,581 million yen, and sales of arcade game machines increased by 51.8% to 10,543 million yen, resulting in the addition of 10 stores during this quarter. The strong sales are thought to be due to the recovery in the game arcade field, including those of other companies, centered on large stores. Sales for home use increased by 30.1% to 5,541 million yen, commercial karaoke sales increased by 118.4% to 1,201 million yen, karaoke rental sales decreased by 11.8% to 3,058 million yen, and content services for mobile phones increased by 1.6% to 6,647 million yen.

5. On January 30th, Citié announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending December 2003, with sales increasing 6.9% from the same period last year to 10,636 million yen, ordinary income decreasing 4.3% to 1,756 million yen, and net income decreasing 2.0% to 909 million yen. Of the sales by department, CD/DVD rentals decreased by 7.7% to 5,581 million yen, and game arcade sales increased by 28.7% to 4,809 million yen. Now, regarding the third quarter results for March, it is easy to get confused because the "three quarters up to the third quarter" are included, but Atlas' sales up to the third quarter (April-December period) were 12,126 million yen, of which 4,870 million yen was from game arcades, 3,938 million yen was from commercial sales, and 3,318 million yen was from home sales. Adores performed well in the third quarter (October-December period) with sales increasing 19.3% to 6,051 million yen, ordinary income decreasing 7.9% to 577 million yen, and net income increasing 25.4% to 300 million yen. In addition, Sugai Entertainment's sales through the third quarter (April-December period) increased by 9.0% to 4,932 million yen, of which sales at game arcades increased by 11.9% to 4,157 million yen.

6. It has been revealed that the game software assets of the bankrupt Data East have been purchased by G-mode, which distributes game content for mobile phones. G-mode announced this on February 3, as the intellectual property rights transfer agreement has been completed, and the consideration is said to be less than 100 million yen. The target game software includes more than 100 titles, including commercial-use “Burger Time” (hamburger), “Karate”, and “Magical Drop,” and G-mode says it will be able to meet new demand by producing and distributing games in categories that the company has not previously had. Data East is an arcade TV game machine manufacturer established in April 1976, and expanded into home consoles, but withdrew from arcade consoles in December 1997, and filed for a peace agreement in November 1999. Although the settlement was approved in July 2000, he filed for bankruptcy in April 2003 and was declared bankrupt in June, so his assets were being disposed of under a bankruptcy trustee.

7. Kintetsu Ayame Pond Amusement Park (located in Nara City, managed by Kintetsu Entertainment) will close on June 6th, parent company Kinki Nippon Railway announced on January 23rd. The amusement park is a traditional amusement park that opened in June 1926. At its peak in 1975, it attracted 1.24 million visitors, but the number dropped to 520,000 in 2002. The park had been in the red for the past few years, amounting to 200 million to 300 million yen, so it was decided to close after 78 years. Kinki Nippon Railway has decided to reorganize its leisure business, which has been in the red, with subsidiary Kintetsu Leisure Service becoming the group's main leisure business, Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park will also be transferred to Kintetsu Leisure Service on July 1, and Kintetsu Entertainment will be liquidated.

◎ 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.