Former Sega Arcade In Akihabara Closed For Good

Update (Mon 26th Sep, 2022 10:21 BST):

GiGO Akihabara Arcade Building 4 officially closed over the weekend. A group of fans gathered to mark the occasion, with the event featuring music and a countdown held outside its doors.

Following the event, the official GiGO Akihara building No.4 Twitter account wrote:

"Thank you very much for coming to the end! We were able to celebrate our grand finale surrounded by so many of you! We can't thank you all enough for supporting us this far! Building 4 is now closed, but we hope you will continue to visit buildings 1, 3, and 5!"

Original article (Mon 15th Aug, 2022 12:00 BST):

Genda GiGO Entertainment, Inc. will close the formerly Sega-owned GiGO Akihabara Arcade Building 4 on Sunday 25th September, 2022 at 8pm JST, the company has announced via a press release (as spotted by GameWatch and SoraNews).

The building, which has operated for 12 years, is located south of Akihabara train station, making it an important fixture of the Akihabara arcade scene. It is not only home to an arcade, but a cafe that hosted several partnership events with popular game franchises like Persona.

It is the third former Sega arcade in the last three years to close in the month of August, following Sega Ahikibara 2, which was shut down in 2020, and Sega Ikebukuro GiGO, which closed in 2021. Though, similar to Sega Ikebukuro GiGO, it appears the closure is not a reflection on the health of the amusement business, but instead due to the end of a fixed-term lease and the inability to come to a new agreement.

Genda chairman Takashi Kataoka posted his thoughts about the closure on Twitter, writing, "It's been a long time since I've felt this regret. GiGO Akihabara Building 4 will be closed."

Meanwhile, the official GiGO Akihabara Building No.4 account put out the following message to fans: "GiGO Akihabara Building No. 4 Closed! I hate it! I don't want to close!"

The news come only a few months after Genda announced that the old Sega arcades were finally started turning a profit via its most recent financial reports. This was credited at the time as being the result of some clever accounting, as opposed to an overwhelming uptick in the demand for amusement experiences, but was good news nevertheless. This most recent announcement, however, will definitely be a blow to arcade fans.