Japanese arcades suffer week-long blackout after Sega server hack

Some Japanese video game arcades went dark this week after a Sega server outage tied to ALL.net, according to ITMedia News as cited by Tom's Hardware. Bandai Namco titles on the network are set to resume trial operations, while Sega games remain offline and under maintenance. ALL.net said it suspended services after discovering unauthorized third-party access to its servers, while stating that personal and billing data were not on the compromised server.

Outage affects connected arcade machines

ALL.net, launched by Sega in 2004, supports online features for Sega and Bandai Namco arcade titles. Games including Initial D The Arcade, Maimai, and CHUNITHM rely on the network, as do Mario Kart Arcade GP DX and Gundam Extreme Vs. Classic offline machines, plus Taito and Konami's separate networks, were not affected.

Company response and partial restart

ALL.net and Sega Fave said in a November 2 blog post that services were suspended a day earlier after unauthorized third-party access was detected. They asked for more time to investigate and run safety checks. On November 3, ALL.net said Bandai Namco titles would gradually resume trial operations with online play and card use enabled, while Sega products stayed under maintenance.

Timeline remains unclear

There is currently no estimate for resolving the issue. A news bulletin is promised for November 10. The outage left rows of silent black screens at some venues, according to ITMedia News as cited by Tom's Hardware.

Sources: Tom's Hardware