In Japan, survival games of amusement arcades called Game-centers have begun.  Large game-centers owned by major video game producers have transformed into family-oriented amusement parks with different types of games and attractions.  However, independent game-centers with limited financial capacity have had a difficult time finding the best possible ways to survive.

One of the best possible survival strategies is a niche strategy in which the game-centers will focus on a specific segment of game players to maximize operational efficiency and profits.  Such segments could be senior players, hardcore players, families, shoppers at shopping malls, young couples, and kids.

On the other hand, many independent game-centers have focused on a retro video game player segment to survive.  This strategic move has been so popular as they tend to have outdated video game machines due to limited financial capacities to update.  So, they can focus on the niche without spending so much money.  Even if they must put more retro video game machines, they may be able to do so as outdated game machines are very cheap.

In this paper, we studied the survival strategies of game-centers, which focused on the retro video game player segment to develop a general model of the niche strategy.  Then, we interviewed executives and core employees of one of the most successful game-centers, who focused on the segment to refine the general model.