From arcade machines to claw machines, the coin economy will also be accessed by mobile payments | big klik slot, grandslot88 rtp

With the expansion of people's demand for consumer entertainment, a street economy related to coins has long been formed.

After the level of the national economy improves, people’s attention shifts from food and clothing to “desires”. In terms of the pursuit of desire, consumers’ different experience needs such as environment, time, and operability have given rise to pan-entertainment high-consumption scenarios such as Internet cafes, VR game halls, and shopping mall game cities. At the same time, the low-consumption and playable street entertainment economy related to coins is quietly changing.

Arcade: the era of pure entertainment in the street economy

When you were young, you held the coins in your hands tightly, mustered up the courage to walk into the game hall, and started your arcade game journey. Players of arcade games such as "Contra", "Three Kingdoms", "Three Kingdoms", "King of Fighters", "Dino Combat", etc. are skillfully operating the handles, surrounded by several friends who are either amazed or "pointing out". This kind of scene is no stranger to most boys born in the 80s and 90s. It can be said to be a childhood classic and memory of this generation.

The rise of arcade games begins with the North American market. In 1982, the North American arcade game industry reached its golden age, with total revenue reaching US$8.9 billion. The rise of arcade games made game arcades the most desirable place for all teenagers in an era before the Internet was popularized. During the heyday of the global arcade game industry, game arcades in small towns in China were often full of game consoles, with a large number of players waiting in line holding coins in their hands. Japanese arcade games such as "Three Kingdoms" and "The King of Fighters" became the protagonists of game arcades.

Arcade games have become an important entertainment project for teenagers in the 1980s and 1990s. However, with the advent of the Internet era, the impact of online games has brought the market of traditional arcade games to a trough.

First of all, user experience needs have been upgraded, and the arcade game mode has lagged behind. In the new Internet era, game consumers' demand for game interaction is increasing day by day. Game development is also developing from FC games to PC games and MC mobile games, and the types of games are becoming more and more diverse. In this diversified game market, arcade games continue to maintain their original planning routes and do not bring differentiated gaming experiences to users.

Compared with arcade game halls and Internet cafes, which both make money by selling time, the games in arcade game halls can be obtained through the Internet in Internet cafes. However, the game content of arcade games has not changed much, and it is still mainly about fighting, racing and other content. In this diversified Internet era, arcade games that are only for entertainment purposes are gradually losing their appeal to gamers who have increasingly complex needs for material satisfaction and spiritual pleasure.

Secondly, the audience for arcade games tends to be younger, and the cultural content does not match the age of the players. The development of game projects should be based on the fundamental purpose of providing consumers with entertainment. However, in terms of game content, arcade games are full of blood, violence, gambling and other game elements, such as King of Fighters, Dinosaur Fight, horse racing machines, etc. andAnd in terms of the game environment, the noisy and chaotic environment of the game arcade has a major impact on the young players of these games during their enlightenment period, causing parents to label teenagers who enter the game arcade to play arcade games as "not good at learning". Arcade games have low recognition in the market due to game content issues, which is also one of the important reasons for their failure in the coin economy market.

After entering the 21st century, the emergence of online games has exposed the shortcomings of stand-alone games, and user diversion has become increasingly serious. In terms of differentiation, arcade machines have not maintained their original advantages, but have developed towards a younger age group. In addition, the fees are high, and compared with free mobile games, neither the experience cost nor the richness is as good as the latter.

In addition, arcade games lack Internet thinking and have poor user stickiness. The consumption of arcade games is usually a single consumption, and the connection between front and back is poor. Under the cultivation of Internet thinking, users' consumption behavior has become increasingly picky. Arcade games with lagging game experience, harsh environment, and obvious discontinuity naturally have difficulty in cultivating sticky users.

Claw machine: the era of consumer entertainment in the street economy

Today, as traditional game arcades are gradually declining, claw machine operators are trying to introduce claw machines into more consumption scenarios outside of game arcades. According to statistics, the number of claw machines is increasing by 20,000 to 30,000 units per year, and the claw machines are becoming the replacement of arcade game machines. The reason why claw machines are so popular is also related to the decline of the arcade era.

First of all, arcade machines have high fragmentation time flexibility and high time costs. In fact, the fragmentation time of arcade games is determined by the player's level. Players with average skill levels or those who are just getting started will spend less time per coin, while highly skilled players may be able to play for hours with just one coin. If the game time is too short, it will not improve the player retention rate, but if the game time is too long, the merchant will not be able to achieve profitability, and there may even be situations where the maintenance costs due to serious wear and tear of the machine are much higher than the revenue.

Different from arcade machines, claw machines shorten the fragmented entertainment time of the public and clearly limit the time for using the claw machine once (usually 15 seconds). The fragmentation time of claw machines is shortened, and consumers’ time selectivity and controllability are also increased. Mass consumers can get great fun and relaxation with just a few coins when they are tired of shopping, have pocket money, are in shopping malls, etc. It is more convenient for people to participate than arcade machines. In addition, the fragmentation time is shortened, the commercial value of the claw machine to merchants is higher, and the merchants' income has become more considerable.

Secondly, from arcade machines to claw machines, the consumer market audience is expanding. In the era of consumer entertainment in arcade game halls, because game types tend to be masculine, consumers in the game market are mostly teenagers, and the consumer group is relatively single. The claw machine attracts consumers of different age groups by launching different products, and the consumer market is naturally larger than the arcade machine market. At the same time, in the era of irrational consumption, the setting of the claw machine has captured the consumer psychology of the public. Cute and fluffy dolls are becoming more and more popular among the public, and such products are irresistible to the two irrational groups of women and children. Greed and jealousy prevent them from giving up easily, thus stimulating the development of the claw machine industry.

Finally, the doll-catching machine can not only satisfy consumers’ spiritual desires for entertainment, but also satisfy their material desires. The emergence of arcade games meets the entertainment and spiritual needs of teenagers in the non-Internet era. However, the spiritual satisfaction brought by the game will be fleeting after the game is over, and consumers are prone to feeling guilty.The emergence of the claw machine not only meets the entertainment needs of mass consumers, but also allows consumers to obtain dolls as material rewards through their own "technology + luck", thus gaining a greater sense of accomplishment.

Mobile payment: the digital era of street economy?

The claw machine market quickly took over the coin economy market after the decline of arcade games. However, with the development of the economy, the depreciation of the currency has put the market position of one-yuan coins in jeopardy. At the same time, the emergence and popularity of mobile payments have caused the coin economy to face considerable challenges. So, with the advent of mobile payments, will the digital street economy replace coins?

Let’s first talk about the favorable conditions for mobile payment to replace coin consumption. In the digital era, the introduction of mobile payment and online claw machines has ushered in the dawn of the digital era for the claw machine industry. First, the convenience and efficiency brought by mobile payment. In traditional game arcades, consumers have consumer demand for claw machines, but they need to exchange corresponding coins at the service desk for consumption. However, with the popularity of mobile payment, claw machines are slowly developing towards unattended services. Being unattended helps merchants save a lot of labor costs, and if mobile payment can be used to replace coin operations, it may be able to further save investment costs for merchants.

Firstly, mobile payment replaces coin payment and can improve the utilization of machine space. Whether it is a traditional no-scan code payment claw machine or an unattended claw machine currently on the market, these machines require a coin collection system. The space occupied by the coin collection system on the machine reduces the space that the claw machine can accommodate dolls. However, if mobile payment is used to replace the coin operation system, the storage space of the dolls will increase, and the profits of the merchants may also increase.

Secondly, mobile payment replaces coin payment, which can reduce the operation and maintenance costs of merchants placing machines. After placing the doll machine, the merchant must not only replenish the dolls from time to time, but also clean the coins stored in the doll machine and put them into the coin vending machine. Using mobile payment instead of coins can not only save merchants the cost of coin vending machines, but also reduce the operation and maintenance costs of the doll machine due to the weight of coins. It can also improve the work efficiency of staff such as doll maintenance and supplies.

Secondly, catching dolls online has become a new trend in the claw machine industry. Mobile payment services have promoted the development of many online consumer industries in the era of lazy economy, and have also stimulated the development of the online claw machine industry. In August 2017, the online doll-catching industry began to boom, and a large number of online doll-catching APPs came into being. Compared with unattended doll machines in major shopping malls, online doll machines directly save equipment costs. Consumers can make online payments, catch dolls and other operations through the APP, thus expanding the business hours of the doll catching industry to unlimited.

However, the problem of mobile payment replacing coin consumption still exists. The continuous improvement of mobile payment technology has gradually moved the claw machine industry online. However, from the perspective of consumer experience, mobile payment still has experience deficiencies compared to coin consumption, that is, mobile payment lacks the sense of fulfillment and satisfaction when holding coins in hand. In the era of consumption upgrading, consumers have gradually formed a "fast food" consumption culture that makes their souls increasingly empty. Coin consumption, as the only remaining consumption behavior with extremely low loss rate, allows consumers to hear the sound of coins colliding in their hands during the consumption process, thus enriching and satisfying their souls. As for the claw machine industry, which is becoming more and more profit-oriented, if it goes online, the industry prospects may no longer exist.

In short, for food consumption and other streetAs far as the border economy is concerned, the digital era brought about by mobile payment may be the best future for these industries. For consumer economic industries that are close to entertainment, although mobile payment is superior to coin consumption in terms of convenience, consumers pay more attention to spiritual experience during entertainment consumption, which is the so-called emotional consumption. And if one day people's feelings for coin consumption dissipate, then the tens of billions of coin economic markets brought by coins may become a piece of sand.

[Source: Tencent Technology Author: Liu Kuang]