Mike Saxton, the owner of the Portland-based FreePlay Gaming Arcade, has decided to shutter the arcade after just six months of business. Turns out, the business model simply doesn’t work. The arcade needs to make £500 per day each weekend to reach the break-even point, yet it’s making less than half that. Some weekdays he makes zero.

Sadly, I think the retro arcade craze has definitely peaked and is waning. People have full access to games on handhelds, home consoles, and even their phones. Nostalgia runs in waves, and it seems the revival of 80’s and 90’s arcade games has peaked and is now subsiding.