Tokyo is about to lose another site of game otaku history.

It’s been a tumultuous couple of years for the arcade industry in Japan. Not even the otaku mecca of the Akihabara neighborhood is completely buffered, as it’s been announced that one of the Tokyo neighborhood’s oldest “game centers,” as arcades are called in Japanese, will be closing and very soon.

Back in the early ‘90s, Sega was riding high, as a developer of not just video game software, but hardware too, producing home consoles, handheld systems, and arcade machines. In 1992, it opened High-tech Land Sega Shintoku on a corner of Chuo-dori, the main street of Akihabara. The entire multi-story building was one huge arcade, eventually changing its name to Club Sega Akihabara and then Sega Akihabara Building 1.

Sega’s fortunes later faded and the company made the decision to pare back its operations and focus on software production and publishing, stepping out of the home hardware arena in 2001 and finally selling off its arcade management business at the end of 2021. That didn’t result in the shuttering of all of its arcades, however, as new owner Genda has continued operating many of them under its GiGO brand, including the former Sega Akihabara Building 1, now called GiGO Akihabara Building 1, which had the distinction of being Sega’s longest-operating whole-building sized arcade at the time of its sale.

▼ GiGO Akihabara Building 1

But now the end is coming for GiGO Akihabara Building 1, and it’s coming very quickly. On Tuesday, Genda announced that the landmark arcade will be closing down permanently at the end of the summer.

In its press release, Genda says the reason for the arcade’s closure is that its lease is expiring. No details have been given over whether negotiating for a new lease was an option or not, but the company says that after GiGO vacates the building the company Matahari Entertainment will be coming in to set up an “amusement facility.” Matahari is also involved in arcade management, but its chain, called Silk Hat, closed one of its most well-known arcades not too long ago. Taking that into consideration, Matahari might be moving in with its Baa@se brand of karaoke/darts bar/Internet cafe facilities instead, or perhaps is developing a new concept specifically for the Akihabara location.

Regardless of what comes next, though, GiGO Akihabara Building 1’s last day will be August 31.

Source: PR Times, Matahari Entertainment
Top image: PR Times
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