Tokyo Gaming Mecca Akihabara Set to Lose Landmark Former Sega Arcade After 32 Years

Genda Gigo Entertainment announced connected July 15 that it volition adjacent the Akihabara Gigo 1 arcade astatine the extremity of August 2025. This was Sega’s flagship arcade and its reddish gathering has been a landmark of Tokyo’s electronics territory for 32 years, arsenic reported by IT Media.

Tokyo’s Akihabara, known for its anime, manga and game-related stores and plethora of tiny electronics shops, has been undergoing large changes successful the past fewer years. Many of the smaller, niche shops wherever you could find everything from obscure bishojo titles to circumstantial physics parts are being replaced by much mainstream and tourist-orientated stores. Arcades successful Japan person been deed hard implicit the past 5 years by factors specified arsenic the COVID pandemic restrictions and dwindling customers.

Located close extracurricular Akihabara Station, the Akihabara Gigo 1 arcade archetypal opened successful 1992 arsenic High Tech Land Sega Shintoku. It would aboriginal alteration its sanction to Club Sega Akihabara and past Sega Akihabara 1, but it remained the archetypal of Sega’s 5 numbered arcades successful the area, the agleam reddish walls of the buildings making them hard to miss.

The Akihabara Gigo 1 arcade was erstwhile Sega Akihabara 1. Photo by: VWPICS/Nano Calvo/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

In 2020, Sega started to propulsion retired of the arcade business, with Genda gradually buying up the shares. In 2022, Genda acquired the full of Sega’s arcade and amusement business, renaming it Genda Gigo Entertainment. This was erstwhile each of Sega’s arcades successful Japan got rebranded Gigo, but kept their iconic reddish walls and immoderate of the Sega-related attractions.

However, according to the authoritative announcement from Genda Gigo Entertainment, Akihabara Gigo 1 is closing down connected August 31, 2025 due to the fact that the fixed-term lease connected the gathering has expired. If you are getting deja vu, that’s due to the fact that this is not the archetypal clip specified a destiny has befallen erstwhile Sega arcades successful the area. Sega Akihabara 4 concisely got rebranded by Gigo earlier being unopen down by the institution successful 2022 arsenic the fixed-term lease expired (source: Sora News). With some buildings being truthful adjacent to a large station, it’s apt that the rental statement was deemed excessively costly to renew.

Ending its announcement of Akihabara Gigo 1’s closure connected a affirmative note, Gigo reminded arcade fans that the institution inactive has 3 remaining arcades successful Akihabara. Also, the Akihabara Gigo gathering is acceptable to beryllium turned into a caller amusement installation by Matahari Entertainment, which operates the Silk Hat concatenation of crippled centers. “Collaborating with Matahari Entertainment, we volition lend adjacent further to the improvement of Akihabara and Japan’s popular culture,” Genda Gigo Entertainment stated.

As a broadside note, Sega volition unfastened Sega Store Tokyo this month. The company’s archetypal authoritative retail store successful Japan volition merchantability exclusive merch featuring Sega and Atlus characters.

Verity Townsend is simply a Japan-based freelance writer who antecedently served arsenic editor, contributor and translator for the crippled quality tract Automaton West. She has besides written astir Japanese civilization and movies for assorted publications.