Fugu said:
The way they're trying to push it is that the platform will be useful for multiple titles. So, say you have 10 cabinets each with the 190,000 yen Nesica client. You'd only need one 89,000 yen server to get them all running.
In addition to the other devs that will be releasing titles exclusively for Nesica, they're going to do "classic game packs". For example, they were showing a "fighting game pack" at the AM Show in Tokyo a couple of months back which included Samurai Spirits Sen and some old KOF titles.
Anyway, the scariest thing about this is that there's a fee to download the software on top of all of this, and there is no indication on whether the small "patches" or updates will incur additional fees for the operator. I would certainly hope that most of the patches will come free when they're earning 31.5% of your income.
190,000 + 89,000 yen is around $3,000, which is pretty standard fare for a fighting game upgrade--but in most situations, the operator would earn 100% for the lifespan of the game. The 31.5 yen per play is what really makes it ludicrous, and the reason many Japanese arcades will not be purchasing the CS2 upgrade.
Remember what happened to Virtua Fighter after VF5? Expect something very similar to happen to Blazblue unless Arcsys withdraws from the Nesica platform.
At least the console version will eventually get the balance patch (probably not for several months, though).