Kevin Williams from the Stinger Report had an exclusive chat with NAMCO America executives recently at Amusement Expo 2013. The discussion centered on long held rumors and the game plan of NAMCO (US) regarding the US release of the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 game.
This is a rumor that has been making the rounds in the industry for a while now and during our own
interview with Namco Bandai Games earlier this year we asked the representatives about a US release for TTT2; at the time, the rumors were not confirmed, but not exactly denied with the executives claiming the game was not popular in arcades: "Tekken was good, but they like the console version more, so not many people came to the arcade to play the machine".
However, new evidence has come to light during the the Stinger Report's interview which seems to contradict this statement. NAMCO America held extensive tests of the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 in selected US locations in Hawaii, California and Texas during December 2011. Operators updated Japanese noir cabinets, installed and linked the game to the required 'TEKKEN.Net' infrastructure to evaluate what it would take to run a Western deployment of the game for the US trade.
The results of this test have been revealed in the exclusive interview by Kevin Williams. Williams writes in his report "[it] was revealed that during the test period every location collected about $800 per week (at $1 per play)." This is a phenomenal result which shows that there is a worthwhile opportunity in the Western market for these kinds of games to flourish and generate revenue.
It was also revealed in the report that plans for a TTT2 release in the US market has been confirmed, and that the arcade release (which will have to be connected to the TEKKEN.Net network in order to use it) will take place shortly after the home console release.
However, the biggest surprise so far with this confirmation is the fact that the game will be released as a JAMMA compatible, PCB kit. The kit includes the game and harness, a number of BANA Passport swipe cards, a card reader unit, and a NBLINE Router with 10, 000 operational points on it and ready to go. The kit release means TTT2 will be more readily available to more operators.
There is also a US website that has been specially designed for the TTT2 release which will add to the experience for players, with a unique territory ranking and the ability for customizable player characters. Stats and scores will be retained on the website and can be accessed by US players with registered Passport cards. This, however, "will be separate from the Japanese TEKKEN.Net in operation in the home islands, but will be the first time that a Japanese system will be fully deployed for Western consumers."
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News via the Stinger Report #882 by Kevin Williams.
