Era · 1980–1983
The US arcade industry generated an estimated $8 billion in revenue in 1982 — more than the US film industry's box office and record industry combined that year — representing the absolute peak of coin-op gaming before home consoles absorbed the audience.
The early 1980s arcade boom was driven by a series of breakthrough titles — Space Invaders (1978), Asteroids (1979), Pac-Man (1980), Donkey Kong (1981), and Galaga (1981) — that created entirely new social spaces around gaming machines. At the peak in 1982 the United States had an estimated 1.5 million arcade machines generating approximately $8 billion in quarters annually. Pac-Man alone was estimated to have generated $1 billion in its first year. Arcades were located in shopping malls, convenience stores, laundromats, and dedicated game rooms, making gaming a part of everyday American commercial life. The home console boom that followed — initially a complement to arcade gaming, as home ports of arcade titles were major console sellers — eventually displaced the arcade by providing equivalent or superior experiences without the cost per play. By 1985 the US arcade market had declined to approximately $2.8 billion.