Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Operator Interface for July, part ii

What is your strategy for investing in new equipment?

Phone queries have revealed that some operators devote 30% of their revenue to new games, while others borrow generously and buy year round. Some have seen investment suffer in the past three years, while others believe the peaks and valleys in spending have averaged out.

What are your tricks of the trade? What product categories do you invest in the most? the least?

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

E3 Sound-Off

Did you attend Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles? What struck your eye as noteworthy in light of today's coin-op amusement industry?

Newsweek's review of the show's buzz product was, "Nintendo's Wii: a hit for both kids and Grandma. Xbox 360: perfect for the dorm room. PS3: for movie lovers with a trust fund." Is this a realistic evaluation? How does affordable, family-focused fun register on the radar?

A discussion on E3 began in a former post, with an attendee commenting the show "was interesting in that there was little media focus or attention on the violent home titles. There was more interest on new hardware (Sony's Playstation 3 and Nintendo's Wii) as well as mobile phone software. It was also nice to see coin-op equipment on the floor, but why were they pieces not available to us operators yet (Time Crisis 4 and DDR Supernova)?"

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Operator Interface for July

Are you systematic in reinvesting in your operation? What percentage of your gross revenues do you normally re-invest in your business each year? Does that percentage remain the same or vary from year to year? Where does that investment money go, toward new games, other equipment like computers, vehicles, etc.?