A few days ago we told you about the premium reissue of a book dedicated to Japanese arcades, by Victor Alonso. The Spaniard takes us on a journey through 25 Japanese arcades in The Last Game Centers, with a series of photographs paying tribute to the very special atmosphere of these arcades.

This reissue has already had to replace one arcade with another due to closure. Today, a sad and symbolic news has been added to this phenomenon, accentuated by the health crisis:

This time it's the a-cho arcade in Kyoto, which will close its doors on 31 January 2025. A veritable institution in an iconic city that is home to Nintendo's head office, its closure is a major blow for the arcade in Japan. But this announcement is accompanied by other news that is just as worrying for fans of the arcade and the games it used to showcase.

Three YouTube channels linked to the arcade (a-cho GAME, a-cho battle movie and a-cho staff) are also intended to disappear. The current owners of the venue will lose their rights to these channels, which will most likely lead to their closure. This situation was announced on X (formerly Twitter):

"Regarding the YouTube channel, a-cho will be shutting down and the staff responsible for managing it will no longer have any authority over it. In addition, the rights to manage the video material owned by the manufacturers cannot be transferred to a third party."

These channels bring together thousands of hours of broadcasts and replays of matches played in the hall on iconic franchises such as Street Fighter or The King of Fighters. They also featured shoot'em ups, puzzle games like Tetris, and many other genres.

Beyond simple gameplay sessions, it's a real intangible heritage that risks disappearing. The a-cho room regularly hosted tournaments and famous guests from the Japanese arcade world.

As the tweet points out, the main reason for the decision lies in rights issues, which are extremely strict in Japan. As games are the property of their publishers, the distribution of their video content is protected. With the closure of the venue, the tolerance accorded to these videos will also cease to exist.

In the world of retrogaming, the right to remember is paramount. While a few closures of rooms, sites or channels may seem anecdotal, they reveal a much more alarming reality: rigid intellectual property rights and non-existent archiving often prevent the preservation of this heritage.

Source: Time Extension