Home Arcade Market Size

[Purple Lemon]

Hello,

I am a graduate student who has lurked here for awhile... 

I'm doing a study on the home arcade market.  I know there are a few companies that specialize in home arcade players, but what my study needs is some sort of 'number' on how many people have are interested in playing arcade games at home.

The forum stats are a very good place to start, but even as popular as Arcade Controls is, there are probably other home arcade players out there....
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=stats

Would anyone have any references or guesses on how I could find this information?

Any help you could give me would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Purple Lemon

[AlanS17]

Maybe the people down at Gameroom Magazine have an idea. I would think it's their business to know.

http://www.gameroommagazine.com

[CheffoJeffo]

Also depends on how you define the market. Most collectors don't hang out here.

Other spots to check would be the forums at KLOV, RGVAC and I think that GameRoomMagazine.com is a good source.

Cheers

[leapinlew]

Not to be nit-picky, but I think it depends on how you define an arcade. Consoles prove how popular games can be, and with the quality of console and pc games... some people see no need for a dedicated game room. (If that is what you meant by arcade)

Also, price plays a factor. Nearly everyone who comes to my house loves playing on my arcade games and I am always (literally always) asked if I could help them acquire an arcade game. Once they find out the costs involved - they usually shy away.

So, while the market may be full of people who are interested in playing arcade games at home - it's also full of people who don't want to spend the kind of money necessary to do so.

[Buddabing]

Obviously there is a market (a crowded one IMO) because Costco and Frys are selling cabinets and there are quite a few other vendors selling cabinets, control panels, and kits.

But how do you estimate the size of a market? I dunno.

[fatfingers]

But how do you estimate the size of a market? I dunno.

I believe the standard way of determining this in the business world is to hire a ton of marketing people to find out how big the market is only to have them determine they don't know.  When that experiment is over I believe the next step is to pay the IDC a ton of money to define a new market segment for your products (even though your products are the same as everyone else's) so that you can claim you are the industry leader in that market and then spend a ton more marketing dollars saying that market is huge so you better buy my stock!

[RayB]

And to add to FatFingers' great advice: It doesn't matter how big the market is, so long as you make it "Web 2.0" and get Venture Capitalists to fund you!

[Purple Lemon]

Thank you all for your responses.

...as you make it "Web 2.0" and get Venture Capitalists to fund you!

Web 2.0 smells like an answer in search of a problem.  The engineers have this neat technology, but they have no idea of why people want it nor how to make money.  Didn't we learn that lesson in Web 1.0?

I believe the standard way of determining this in the business world is to hire a ton of marketing people to find out how big the market is only to have them determine they don't know.

Yeah, Gardner reports work this way.  They're vastly overpriced for the 4 page summary of what you pay for.  The data only says what has happened, and doesn't predict market growth.  Still, any numbers are better than no numbers at this point, but the mainstream marketing research companies don't address markets this small.

Obviously there is a market (a crowded one IMO) because Costco and Frys are selling cabinets and there are quite a few other vendors selling cabinets, control panels, and kits.

Quasimoto Interactive (from what I can tell) seems to be making the biggest push to expand their products to the mainstream market, such as Best Buy, Sams Club, etc.  They're not a public company, however, so their data isn't readily available.

Yeah, the market is crowded because anyone can make a cabinet.  The business term they use in our class is 'low barrier to entry'.

Maybe the people down at Gameroom Magazine have an idea. I would think it's their business to know.

http://www.gameroommagazine.com

Yeah, I thought of that.  I'll try asking them, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't overlooking something obvious.

Thanks for all your help!

[releasedtruth]

It may be a low barrier to entry market, but the intellectual capital and design expertise do limit the quality market a great degree. I've seen cabinet makers come and go, but few make it the long haul without investment, a good business sense, and marketing time/dollars. Capturing the BYOAC market generally won't do it, you need the outrageous cash inflow of folks who'd rather buy a solution rather than a kit, or further down still, advice. We're a strange sub-market of sorts because the process is so elemental to our craft. Some are in it for the journey, some for the destination.

GT