A look at why the release of The Legend of Zelda proved to be the tipping point in the battle between home consoles and arcades.
(Arcade, Atari, Nintendo, Retro, The Legend of Zelda)
I agree that the 'deeper experience' was a big factor. But I also think that the rising costs of arcade play was just as important. Which in turn points the finger at the makers of the arcade machines themselves in my opinion. When a new arcade machine costs the owner $10K-$20K, it takes forever, even at 50 cents a game to break even on your investment. Add in electricity, rent, and constant repair costs and it's even worse. Just like we've been finding out with console gaming this past decade, rising costs/going from simple and cheap to too elaborate and expensive brings a lot of death with it.
Shame on those Arcade game manufacturers though. No way they should have been charging THAT much money per machine. Tech goes down in price over time, but an individual now can pretty much own and play any and every arcade game from pre-Y2K in their own home, on their own T.V., for less than the cost of say for instance one single Killer Instinct 2 or Marvel Super Heroes arcade machine costed in the 90's. No way the cost has gone down that much. Arcade owners were gouged, and lost their audience trying to make up the costs.
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Shame on those Arcade game manufacturers though. No way they should have been charging THAT much money per machine. Tech goes down in price over time, but an individual now can pretty much own and play any and every arcade game from pre-Y2K in their own home, on their own T.V., for less than the cost of say for instance one single Killer Instinct 2 or Marvel Super Heroes arcade machine costed in the 90's. No way the cost has gone down that much. Arcade owners were gouged, and lost their audience trying to make up the costs.