The End of The Era and The Aftermath
See also: Arcade game: HistoryThe golden age cooled around the mid-1980s as copies of popular games began to saturate the arcades. Arcade video game revenues in the United States had declined from $8 billion in 1981 and $7 billion in 1982 to $5 billion in 1983, reaching a low of $4 billion in 1986. Despite this, arcades would remain commonplace through to the early 1990s as there were still new genres being explored. In 1987, arcades experienced a short resurgence with Double Dragon, which started the golden age of beat 'em up games, a genre that would peak in popularity with Final Fight two years later. In 1988, arcade game revenues in the United States rose back up to $6.4 billion, largely due to the rising popularity of violent action games in the beat 'em up and run and gun shooter genres. After yet another relative decline, US arcade video game revenues had fallen to $2.1 billion by 1991, by which time the sales of arcade machines had declined, with 4000 unit sales being considered a hit at the time.
One of the causes of decline was new generations of personal computers and video game consoles that sapped interest from arcades. In the early 1990s, the Sega Mega Drive (Sega Genesis in North America) and Super Nintendo Entertainment System greatly improved home play and some of the technology was even integrated into a few video arcade machines.
Read more about this topic: Golden Age Of Arcade Video Games
Famous quotes containing the words the end of, the end, the, era and/or aftermath:
“At the end of the row
I stepped on the toe
Of an unemployed hoe.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“I’m the end of the line; absurd and appalling as it may seem, serious New York theater has died in my lifetime.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“For myself I found that the occupation of a day-laborer was the most independent of any, especially as it required only thirty or forty days in a year to support one. The laborer’s day ends with the going down of the sun, and he is then free to devote himself to his chosen pursuit, independent of his labor; but his employer, who speculates from month to month, has no respite from one end of the year to the other.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The era of long parades past an official podium filled with cold faces is gone. Celebrating is now a right, not a duty.”
—Lothar De Maizière (b. 1940)
“The aftermath of joy is not usually more joy.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)