TOKYO — Masaya Nakamura, chairman of Namco Ltd., struggled for years to win respect for the video game industry in Japan, including protection for game software and a better image for once-sleazy game parlors.
One of his tactics, he said in a recent interview, was to lecture arcade operators to run their businesses "in such a way that if their own children came into the arcade, they would be proud to say to them, 'This is the work your father does.' "
The efforts of Nakamura, who founded Namco in 1955, have paid off by helping to create a positive image for game centers in Japan. That in turn has helped many video game companies maintain growing revenues in the midst of recession, and laid the groundwork for expansion into related fields such as operation of high-technology amusement parks.
According to a survey of Japan's public firms for The Times, Namco and video game maker Sega Enterprises, respectively, had the highest average profit and revenue growth for the 1992-1993 two-year period.
But the leisure industry in general, including makers of recreational vehicles and camping equipment, is currently enjoying a boom in Japan, riding a wave of changing lifestyles.
"The general environment has provided additional free time to seek leisure," said Nakamura, who served as chairman of the Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturers Assn. from 1981 to 1992. "Many companies have instituted five-day weeks. The national government has increased the number of holidays. . . . (Young people) have tended to move away from just pure materialistic amusement, and they are looking for more satisfaction from the games that they play."
For entertainment firms, Nakamura said, this creates constant pressure to upgrade the quality of games and the environment in which they are used. Namco and other firms such as Sega have sought to meet this demand by producing ever-more-complicated and technically sophisticated games that can be enjoyed in a theme-park atmosphere.
Brightly lit, attractive game centers are now so ubiquitous in Japanese cities that some critics say people are forgetting how to have fun on their own.
"All over the city there are too many ready-made entertainment places run by big companies," complained Shinobu Omiya, 31, a publishing company employee.
Most of these places present passive entertainment, she said, explaining that she prefers more participatory activities. However, Omiya admitted that she is not immune to the lure of electronic amusement centers.
