Arcade1up Failed.

They created a whole new category but despite an impressive effort, the end of an era is here. Breaking down what went wrong.
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[@UnqualifiedCritics]

It's an end of an era but no matter what happens next, credit to Scott, John D and the rest of their team for delivering a home arcade lineup that a lot of us thought was impossible.

[@user-ro1vn7ch4c]

It failed. Miserably. They lost their vision.

[@renegamezjr8892]

​@@user-ro1vn7ch4cnot really. I have 5 cabs that I absolutely love and enjoy playing.

[@joerubi6249]

The fanbase revolted and the top dogs at A1Up are gone and more to come. It will likely be a matter of time before TasteMakers LLC is likely sold. Maybe, there is hope for A1Up with the new people who can REALLY listen to the fanbase instead of assuming of what we want!

[@crisbwilliams]

MyAracde went from a fun novelty $299 toy to a $999 real arcade. ($249 black friday deal even in their first year). I was big on them at $299 and collected many cabinets (7). But at $699 i haven't bought anymore cabinets. They were like the candy bar in the check out aisle. It was a cheap and fun pick up. At there current price its not a impulse buy anymore. So yeah it sucks ad I was hoping to get a Qbert Cabinet but that wont happen... Sucks.

[@elsquibbs]

Your candy bar analogy is perfect. That's exactly what it's like.

[@BenHeckHacks]

25 years from now these things are going to take up 95% of the space in Goodwill.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Dude I’m pretty sure I first saw you back in the screensavers days. Thanks for dropping by!

[@kevgret]

No one to blame but themselves. We tried to warn them to get their act together.

[@user-ro1vn7ch4c]

Rexer and you are the canaries in the coal mine.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

I really think the market opportunity isn't workable for 1ups model in the long run, regardless of their decisions

[@user-ro1vn7ch4c]

Does this mean no online play for any cab if they go out of business

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

They helped create a genre, or at the very least popularize it. I wish them all well. The super-fail of BLITZ, SIMPSONS, KI Pro and some other big name IPs doomed them though. A1up lost the vpin battle when the first gen ALP came out... and they've definitely lost the war now. Good to see you again!

[@gonagai1359]

Won in better product, evolution, and longevity

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

Yeah, but besides all that, not to mention 75,000 branded gen 2 ALPS in the next 3 years A1up totally won. Well, that and AtGames still has their original CEO and staff. But BESIDES that, A1up won.

[@gonagai1359]

@@evilgeniusentertainment #winning lol

[@joerubi6249]

One thing JDV is this: If A1Up is really done (maybe not but the people who ran it are), maybe the Namco license could go to AtGames (if they want it!). The Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man brands are too valuable to fall through the waistside. I would finally love to see a Jr. Pac-Man Pro Cab with 24 games that can last a long time with strong parts because I now feel that the people who were gone never really considered it. But then again, let's hope that A1Up can bounce back with new people that can REALLY listen to the fanbase.

[@evilgeniusentertainment]

I don't think A1up is finished yet! I think we'll see 20 games on a cab and the titles they have licenses for, but haven't put out yet (ROBOTRON finally sees the light of day).

[@RetroRalph]

Hey brother , nice to see you creating content again man! I hope all is well, let’s catch up soon, it’s been too long. ✊🏻

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Brotha! Good to hear from ya and agreed

[@SLAYERfan4life88]

Great to see you back. A1up has stagnated since 2020. Poor choices, confusing messaging, and improving competition. Time Crisis looks fine but I don't know about the price point. One step forward two steps back on nearly every decision, shame.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

That price point is just begging people to wait for a sale. Good to hear from ya 🤜🤛

[@SLAYERfan4life88]

@@UnqualifiedCritics Yep XL, and deluxe are great. But perhaps the hobby has moved past that into DIY? If Atgames sells wells maybe others will be forced to improve.

[@bonezmccoy]

I wish someone actually knew where all of this "news" is coming from. Scott Bachrach no longer at Tastemakers? Maybe, but where did that info come from? We've all just assumed that Jon D is no longer there, so I guess that's the case, but why has this never been verified? I find if hard to believe that his X account, which he posts to regularly, still lists him has working at A1Up, and his profile pic is him standing in front of an A1Up logo. If your company fired you, wouldn't you want to change that? It would be one thing if he didn't use the account anymore, but he does, and it's been months and months since people started saying he doesn't work there anymore. Not saying I think he does, just feels a bit odd. I think it's weird to say "Arcade 1Up" failed and that it's "the end of an era" just because a vocal minority doesn't really like the direction of the company anymore... they've sold millions of toy arcade cabinets. I'd hardly call that a failure. Arcade1Up probably sold more cabinets last week than AtGames sold all of last year.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Agree 1up was hugely successful, but their goal was to build a sustained business and they have been trying to do that for years, smartly. But their current obvious decline in sales (no more celebrated sales milestones, less retail shelf space, clearances on cabs with expensive licensing, no more shots seemingly to shoot other than going back to Pac Man). All that and we know they took out debt at the height of their momentum, Scott being out is super believable. AtGames is a bit player and will never see the success 1up saw, but they've found a way to build a sustainable company around the sales they do have. That's what 1up failed at.

[@FrogTony]

The other shoe will be dropping soon... trust the frog.

[@wyzguy8063]

I don’t know dude, $1500 for a vpin is out of reach for lot of people and just because it’s Adams Family doesn’t make it appealing to the masses.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Thats my point: this isnt for the masses. 1up was priced for the masses but seems to have failed. Maybe this is too small a market for mass pricing

[@joerubi6249]

$1500 for a vpin?? I don't care if its The Addams Family or The Munsters for me, a big NO!

[@retroworld1971]

One word … LAG

[@petermarasco1105]

Welcome back Dave, good to see you. Agreed, Addams Family is the first AtGames product I'm going to buy.

[@kennynunez6792]

When Arcade 1UP first came on the scene, I was genuinely excited, and the overall nostalgia was cool. The pandemic really propelled them; folks needed to spend that stimulus money. Over the years and many, many reviews, complaints and just at times frustration over their product, they are now making a decent machine: the Deluxe Cabinet. Maybe too little too late. I am also excited about the At Games 4K. Hopefully, the tables will be similar to the Steam offerings. But at least OTG can offer you another avenue to play the legit tables. I appreciate your vid: Thanks!

[@kevinmach730]

As someone who sat on the fence for a while and just never pulled the trigger, it just didn't wow me like I wanted it to. The screen looked washed out at 720p, looked very two dimensional, and I had heard all about the quality problems. Truth is, if you can afford to spend 600 on a pinball machine, you can likely afford to spend 1,000 or so for something a tad better- which I would have willingly paid for some that corrected some of the issues mentioned and made me feel like it was something I would play the hell out of for at least 3-6 months. It wasn't just margins that weren't there, they short changed the product by not making something a bit better and charging a little more. Just one guys opinion anyway. EDIT: Good point about their pricing strategy for walmarts and bestbuys, they weren't going to get them in there at 1000 bucks.

[@IRgEEK]

I'd love to see them just sell their remaining cabinets. I like the size as I don't have much display space. I ended up replacing everything but the full DMD. Used some old PC components from my box of crap to put in an ATX mobo with a decent GPU inside the cabinet and replaced static backglass with a real LCD monitor, and replaced the 24" stock playfield with a 32" LCD so now I can run all my pinball arcade/FX3/FX/VPX tables with Pinup Popper as a frontend. Loving it! I would absolutely buy some empty/near empty cabs from Arcade1up if I had the chance and just do the same again with PC components as bare cabinet kits from other vendors cost more than I paid for the full Arcade1UP product out of the box. No headaches or licensing issues on their part, just sell those cabinets. I'm not a giant, but at 6'2" I've been very pleased with feel and form factor of my Attack from Mars cab I modded. Thanks for the update on what's up.

[@DeputyVanHalen5150]

Good to see you again man. Sad to see A1up walking into the sunset. It was fun, especially at first. I worked for a few financial institutions in the past. One of those financial institutions had a hostile takeover and the CEO was ousted by the board. He was actually walked out of his top floor office in cuffs. The chips started to fall... Glad I wasn't involved, I ended up moving on. Nothing in this world lasts forever though.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Damn.

[@DeputyVanHalen5150]

@@UnqualifiedCritics Yup! 😕😎

[@cpet2000]

I’ve had two arcade1up pinball machines die in less than a year. They are providing new PCBs at $100 a pop. I don’t like paying for their design flaw.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Agreed but it can get worse: at some point they could stop selling the PCBs and we're stuck with paperweights.

[@Victor-it6bv]

Scotty B or Johnny D. If you reading this, i just want to say Thank you.

[@ThomasGrillo]

One aspect NOBODY seems to be addressing, with regards to home arcade cabinetry, is the patent licensing, and the registered mark licensing. Those two forms of licensures costs even more than the license for the use of the rom sets. The patent licensing covers the authorization to reproduce cabinets that look like the original, coin operated cabinet, beyond just slapping a sticker with registered marks all over the cabinet, and loading the licensed roms on it. This is the very reason why the Arcade1up cabinets first came out looking like shark fins. It was an ownable design, that didn't require a patent license to reproduce. Now, the cabinets are looking way more realistic, so there's a massive chunk of the pie being gobbled up from A1up's profit margins. I doubt they'll be able to sustain that much longer, as much as I'd LOVE to see that happen, unfortunately. I feel like we've been extremely lucky to have been able to get cabinets that not only play the roms, and sport the coin-operated cabinets' liveries, but actually to have them in the shape of the original coin-operated formfactors. Time will tell, but I think "that" gravy train will be leaving the station within the year, unfortunately. I think AtGames would loved to have produced authentic looking cabinets, but they well may've made the right decision to go with a multi-cade cabinet of an ownable formfactor, running licensed collections of roms, and other content. That A1up was able to make it this far, in the home arcade ecosystem is amazing, in and of it's self.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

It is amazing I agree. No one else has ever come close. That's why it's so unfortunate they seem to have not been able to build a sustainable business.

[@TheCornerCade]

David is back baby! We need our guy here on our show! 👊🏼

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Happy to join m8

[@zro2gon]

The home arcade market is dying. Even the Facebook groups have a lot less posts and interests. I havent bought any home arcade machines in a few years from any company.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

I haven’t tried selling but I hear it’s harder than ever to sell secondhand

[@zro2gon]

@UnqualifiedCritics yeah I've been trying to unload a bunch of cabs at $200 or less and no takers in my area.

[@joerubi6249]

Me neither.

[@joerubi6249]

You could always donate them to a Salvation Army and get tax deductions for them.@@zro2gon

[@terryxperry]

It dieing because of the price they are charging now. If they 300 to 400 bucks like they were when they frist came out

[@DJBB74]

Atgames cookie cutter pinball and arcade cabs are much more sustainable. Plus they've been around for a while and they managed to survive some failures along the way. Arcade1up has a lot of creative people like Scott Bachrach and John D. but clearly lacks people with management skills. Arcade1up needs to find a balance between creative people who take risks and people who can manage those riaks. Seeing the internal changes within Arcade1up is not surprising to me.

[@Victor-it6bv]

Im hoarding all the Arcade1ups if they go out of business

[@liljazzy4021]

These are the musings of a sane man. People really do be salty tho…

[@Rushlarz2112]

Seemed like A1up just had a frathouse type of management. They really need a shot in the arm. I am the ordinary customer looking at these...i am so on board with Pinball FX on these. I am a day 1 buyer of 4k ALP. Is it perfect no...is it going to give me the scratch to the itch of pinball that ive been searching for without a pc or other platform to get these games on. Good to see ya UC.

[@chaos120]

re: ALP. the playfield monitor is recessed. the other screens are active LCD displays.

[@GenXX1976]

Arcade 1Up just keeps putting out the same cabinets over and over and over… It’s a shame because i love the company and would love to see them succeed.

[@BigReecey]

When a company removes the founder/CEO you know shit has hit the fan

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

100%. I forgot to mention on the video but when investors do this too quickly, it can hurt that investor's reputation and ability to get future deals. It's big that they would pull this trigger.

[@billcook4768]

I once worked for a company that removed CEO/Founder. The company was in fine shape. He just got caught (1) giving his mistress a high paying executive job and (2) banging her on the corporate jet.

[@jenningsmills5398]

What ever home arcade company Puts out a 25 inch 4:3 lcd will win the business and will revive the arcade scene.

[@deathstrike]

That's why I gutted the two Arcade 1UP machines I had. I have a Pac Man and Asteroids. Got rid of the crap pcb's and controls and went to mini PC based hardware and arcade grade joysticks and buttons. FAR faster, FAR more reliable, and with MAME? FAR more games and options. It's night and day. I'm looking now for a broken Arcade 1UP to make an arcade driving game. As for Atgames? Save your money for now. There are still a lot of bugs to work out with Atgames and I really don't like how they treat their customers, especially when they tell you "Oh you want a better performing pinball? BUY our newest 4K unit for only $1099 if you preorder AND $100 shipping on top of it" umm really? Don't get me wrong, it looks like a nice machine, but their Arcade Legends Micro and Fullsize Pinball has only been out for what? 2 years? I really hope the industry isn't going to "Buy the next shiny object a year later" and your expensive purchases is now obsolete. I've had my Arcade Legends Micro Pinball (What's with the huge names?) for nearly a year and only after the September 15th update has it even worked well. Atgames is a pinball that while it looks great, it has a lot of gremlins to start. Now it's your money ,you do you, but wait until they work the inevitable bugs out of these 4K machines.

[@MrSteveonbroadway]

Great too see you, the market itself is changing covid kinda over.. and the alp 4k looks great glad you can turn that light off for that.. At least wont be glaring on glass now..

[@justhealth2002]

Finally someone talking about it I have been talking about arcade 1up cheap prices will not last with arcades

[@Madlou]

Well looks who back! Glad to see ya again!

[@sharonpeters7723]

Heeeey, girlfriend. 2 things, first of all, I absolutely love your channel, and secondly, I have a question. Who's your plastic surgeon? Seriously, your Botox looks so good. Joan Rivers would be proud.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

lmao if this is a bot I'll be disappointed

[@sharonpeters7723]

@@UnqualifiedCritics Girlfriend, how do you not know who I am? I'm only the Queen of the Retro Arcade community. If you don't believe me, just ask Konsole Fan Boy, Michael B, Pdubs, B Kong, etc.

[@isoftcxttoncandy9308]

Who didn't see this coming? They started off well enough but, they stagnated quality all while raising prices. 1st the iicade died now, its Arcade1ups turn. They have nobody to blame but, themselves.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

I actually don't think product quality was the issue. It was the mass market's lack of interest in expensive IPs like Blitz. Problem will only get worse as they move to 90s arcade staples that most of us on here love, but the masses seem to ignore.

[@isoftcxttoncandy9308]

@UnqualifiedCritics OH it was all you mentioned and more. When I mentioned quality, I was referring to the buttons, controls, the occasional screen issue, and wifi connectivity. All of that topped off with the fact that Arcade1up isn't big on parts. The prices didn't help either. They became less of a impulse buy, and more of a investment minus quality. Example: I have a brand new un opened Game Cube. I KNOW it will be worth something down the road. Anyone who bought and should decide to use it, KNOWS what they are going to get. With Arcade1up, sometimes it's like rolling dice.

[@1teamski]

I agree, this is the first Atgames machine I have really been interested in. Very interesting.

[@Excaidus-Metal]

Don't surprise me that changes are being made at A1Up. Some of those prices are ridiculous and being too greedy is probably causing problems. Addams Family is not a must have title for me. Good point that we don't need "4K" printed on the table. 4k has been around for awhile anyway, 8k will be the new standard very soon too.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Given how many units 1up sold yet how small their team was (80 employees at their peak, 45 or less now) I don’t think it was greed tbh. I think it was thin margins in a small market

[@Excaidus-Metal]

@UnqualifiedCritics There is definitely something going on with their "Yo Yo" prices. They got greedy and started asking $700 for these cabs while they crash to $299 sales destroying the market value of these cabs. I'm sure that had something to do with it.

[@billcook4768]

Keep the ball, I’ve got a whole bucket full.

[@rushmore3927]

A1Up sounds about done, beyond sterile retail releases with minimal effort.

[@joerubi6249]

Arcade 1Up: RIP 2018-2024?

[@stuartreid4228]

if you could get Blitz, Ridge Racer , T2 for $299 in Canada and other markets they would make a lot of money, but really the company is too focused on only servicing the American Market, with Canada as an afterthought. Yes the American market is big, but the rest of the world may be bigger

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Even in usa, $699 for t2 is bonkers imo

[@mikehawk-hertz8668]

More importantly, Welcome back!

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

lmao your name always gets me and thanks!

[@JeffYPbPr]

Yooo!!! Welcome back!!

[@chrisscruggs2545]

Good to see you back man. Get that game room set up! Haha

[@jordanbisasky4586]

I know i posted this in the past but they definitely had pandemic purchases. Good call how they never figured out monetization.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Yup. I think their biggest mistake was not building those initial 2m cabs sold into a marketplace of connected cabs they could continue monetizing

[@jollygreen9377]

Good to see you back.

[@cwescrab]

Arcade1up made stupid mistakes. They could have spent a small amount more on production with better buttons and speakers. Ones that are still cheap but better than the junk ones they included. Their scanlines filter looks bad too.

[@JeffMercedesC]

It was an awesome home arcade fun filled 5 years of collecting! I own 16 arcade cabinets, including 2 full-size arcade cabinets all in brand new condition. I patiently waited for the official announcement of the Time Crisis arcade cabinet and pre-ordered it. I'm strongly looking forward to receiving it 😎🤘

[@gargamel3966]

Atgames Has a surround sound add on too!

[@michael9877]

I don't think Arcade1up died yet. Arcade1up4life

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Not dead but their original vision failed

[@FrogTony]

The Frog abides

[@vcblaze1]

Long time no vid!

[@rushmore3927]

I bet AtGames revises the 1080p ALP and offer as entry level.

[@greghornbacher8079]

The new Atgames 4K Vpin isn't that great. they need to do better. 60hz monitor is terrible. 120hz is the way to go.. not surprised at all A1up going under. would rather have a multi arcade machine then 1 machine with 1 game on it

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Id rather have 1080 120 for pinball but I imagine having that 4k badge sells more units

[@alkohallick2901]

By CEO I hope you mean John D. He's such a freakin liar it's sickening.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

No, John D has been out for a while; the CEO is allegedly also out now as of this week.

[@billcook4768]

The home arcade biz was doomed from the start. There’s only so many “classic” arcade games with the nostalgia factor. Once you’ve sold through those (and they have) then what? Sell pac man again? Sell obscure titles? There’s only so much demand for home arcades, and that need has been met.

[@joerubi6249]

At this point, I might as well get the home arcade version of Pac-Man's Pixel Bash and part with my A1Up stuff. At least, I would be getting the real McCoy!

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Definitely true and their 2020 debt deal was probably predicated on continued growth. Hence the game table and efforts to get beyond the core home arcade market.

[@AdamMontgomery1]

I've been saying this for years... if they don't even think Q*Bert will sell well enough to actually make one, that says a lot about how few marketable options are actually out there.

[@SoulforSale]

Who is this strange guy?

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

Sheeeeit

[@PaulXMann]

I wonder how much AtGames paid for this infomercial.

[@UnqualifiedCritics]

I don’t even like AG outside of this pinball looking really interesting. Nice comment tho

[@liljazzy4021]

Salty

[@cwescrab]

Yeah, dumb comment. He’s just being honest about Arcade1up.

[@terryxperry]

At games will soon die with there prices they are sell at

[@maxwelloakland9064]

😕 "PromoSM"