As a seasoned gamer with memories of the 16-bit era etched deeply into my mind, I find myself resonating profoundly with Rouse and his passion for preserving these timeless gaming experiences through Antstream Arcade. It’s not just about nostalgia; it’s about bridging the gap between generations and rekindling a shared love for games that have stood the test of time.
Even as technology advances, and continues to produce visually stunning video games such as 2022’s Horizon: Forbidden West and the more recent action-RPG Black Myth: Wukong, the demand for retro gaming is constant. Whether it’s down to nostalgia, a need for simpler gameplay and mechanics, or something else entirely, many gamers love nothing more than to play a game that in some cases may be much older than they are. Antstream Arcade, a streaming platform with a library of over 1300 games, aims to fuse this love of retro with modern consoles, granting players the best of both worlds.
In an interview with Game Rant, studio head Mike Rouse discussed his personal love of retro gaming. He talked about why he feels there is still such a demand for it, and also what the future holds for Antstream Arcade. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Antstream Arcade is Continuously Growing its Library
Q: What was the main motivation behind Antstream Arcade?
Translation: Our CEO’s original concept for our platform was inspired by the idea of providing a destination where you could experience games from their inception to the most recent releases. He noticed how platforms like Netflix and Spotify emerged for music, TV, and film enthusiasts, but nothing comparable existed for gamers. It seems odd that you can’t play the first game ever made, yet you can read the first book ever written. We aimed to create a platform that would bring gamers back to engage with this medium in a similar way they do with films, music, and literature.
Starting from small games, we recognized that as they grow in size (even reaching gigabytes and beyond) and complexity, the underlying technology must also expand. That’s why we chose to establish our foundation on a scalable platform like streaming. As we advance through generations, games become larger and more intricate, and so do the emulators. To accommodate this growth, it’s essential to have a technology that can scale accordingly. Therefore, we initiated our journey with streaming, aiming for a platform capable of hosting every game in our ambitious vision.
Q: What factors influence which games are in the collection?
In essence, Rouse explains that much of the work revolves around who we secured licenses with initially. We strive to acquire rights to as many games as possible, although achieving this completely is almost impossible due to some titles being lost over time or heavily protected. For instance, Nintendo might never grant us the rights to their IPs. However, we continuously search for developers who are open to licensing again. In certain cases, it takes us four to five years to discover who owns a game, locate the ROM, and so on. This process can be likened to an archaeological adventure similar to Indiana Jones, as we need to trace where these games have been hidden, who currently owns them, since some were owned by studios that went bankrupt, got sold to power companies, and then dissolved, eventually being acquired by banking institutions.
We trace these paths to discover their destinations, acting somewhat like investigators. We don’t specifically select certain games, but we do target the major ones, such as those developed by Namco, Square, Sega, and others. We maintain ongoing communication with these teams. However, our focus is on the first releases, particularly from established publishers who own significant intellectual properties. Some of these discussions have been ongoing for six years, and the licensing process can be intricate and lengthy, so our decisions are largely influenced by what becomes available first.
As a passionate enthusiast, I aim to cast a wide net. I seek out the blockbusters that everyone’s talking about, but I also delve into the lesser-known gems. You see, not every game appeals to everyone, but there’s a game out there for every taste. By curating a diverse collection, my hope is to introduce you to a game that either resonates deeply with you or sparks a newfound appreciation.
Q: Why is now the right time to bring the collection to PS5?
Initially, our goal has always been to appear on all gaming consoles as quickly as feasible. However, we’re a compact team consisting of approximately 30 members. Out of these, around 17 are active developers who manage live service, customer support, quality assurance, and other similar roles. Therefore, the decision about when to release on each platform was primarily based on timing and our capabilities at the moment. We opted for Xbox first because its architecture was similar to what we had. Once we completed work on Xbox in July, we immediately began development for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. A significant factor in this process was how long it took us to adapt the technology and create the engine suitable for the PlayStation architecture.
The primary reason was our compact team’s eagerness to be present across multiple platforms, but we’re constrained by the size of our workforce. Personally, having spent 12 years at Sony and contributing to PlayStation, I was deeply passionate about expanding it there. Additionally, my past experience with Xbox presents a dilemma. However, I believe the sequencing is primarily determined by the development process and how it organically unfolds. If I had the resources, I would launch it simultaneously on every device.
Antstream Arcade on What Classifies as Retro
Q: What do you classify as retro, in terms of time period?
You might find it challenging to answer because I’m deeply involved in a large retro gaming community, specifically focusing on Sega Mega Drive and Genesis, which falls under the broader umbrella of retro gaming. Generally, people around that age group consider games up to the PlayStation 1 (PS1) as retro, while anything from the PlayStation 2 (PS2) era and beyond marks the beginning of modern gaming. However, if we were historians, we might draw a line between classic gaming ending with PS1 and modern gaming starting with PS2. Interestingly, my son and nephew, aged 9 and 15 respectively, view the PlayStation 3 (PS3) as a retro console, indicating that their perception of retro and classic gaming is significantly different from ours.
Q: What are the oldest and the newest games in the collection?
Rouse: A fantastic new feature is on its way with our major update, allowing you to search by release year! I found it fascinating when I checked my birthday and discovered games released then, so that’s pretty neat. One of our earliest releases dates back to 1972 – yes, Pom! We’re also looking forward to a PICO-8 game launching in 2024. We don’t just focus on big games; we’re interested in indie games too, those independently developed for the original consoles. There’s been a surge of Sega Genesis games this year, with at least 15 new releases already! Naturally, when we acquire these licenses, they’ll be listed as 2024 releases for the Genesis.
Our scope is quite expansive, and one intriguing area we’ve delved into is the imitation of mechanical devices, such as machines. Remember the game named Submarine, developed by Namco around 1974? It was a mechanically operated game that utilized lights, gears, springs, and other mechanical components. A thought that’s been circulating among us is how exciting it would be to resurrect emulated or recreated versions of these mechanical games so that people could relive the experience and grasp what it was like back then. Of course, the original versions wouldn’t be available due to their mechanical nature, but if we could find a way to reproduce them, they wouldn’t disappear with time; instead, they would endure.
Antstream Arcade Has More PlayStation Games on the Way
A: Does the game collection get refreshed every week? Is there a possibility that new PlayStation games might be added to the collection, given that it’s currently available on PS5?
Currently, we already have numerous PlayStation games that are licensed. We consider which games are released in each week and strive to distribute them evenly across various platforms, genres, and user preferences. If the community is demanding more PlayStation games, we’ll focus on providing more content for those platforms. As it stands, we have approximately 50 more licensed PlayStation games waiting, with new ones being licensed regularly. However, releasing multiple installments of a game like Actua Soccer one after the other might not be well-received by the community as they may feel that they’ve had enough of that particular series.
We frequently rearrange our game catalog as new releases become available, with a focus on when each title is set to be launched. Currently, we’ve licensed approximately 2000 PlayStation games, which we’re diligently working through. Given our small team size, the release of PlayStation titles will hopefully allow us to expand and speed up the pace at which we add more games to our catalog. In essence, there’s a massive collection of games now available. If a highly anticipated AAA game comes our way, it would be given top priority. Our experts carefully consider the genres, popularity, and potential appeal of games, taking into account whether they might be undiscovered gems or favorites that some players may not have encountered in the past. They then prioritize their list accordingly.
Q: There are currently over 1300 games in your library, do you foresee that number growing?
Rouse: Yes, I believe it will continue to expand. Currently, there are over 1300 games on the platform, but due to our licensing model, some titles may occasionally disappear and then reappear. This can happen when a publisher sells a game to someone else who doesn’t wish to renew the license or when a new version of a game in a series is released and the publisher decides not to license it. So, we are somewhat dependent on the licensing agreements.
As an enthusiast, I appreciate the long-term licensing agreements we have for our platform. However, it’s not uncommon for games to temporarily disappear from our service. What’s fantastic is that many of these games return to our platform over time. We maintain strong relationships with game publishers and owners, ensuring that even if a game leaves the platform today, there’s always a chance it might come back in the future. So, whether it’s six months or a year down the line, we could potentially renegotiate the licensing deal for those games once more.
Q: Could there be any changes to how regularly the collection is updated?
Rouse: Currently, we publish new content every seven days without plans for more frequent updates. Instead, we plan to enhance the quantity of games released on each launch day. This means we’ll ensure a minimum of one tournament each week. Additionally, we release weekly challenges, mini-games designed to offer enjoyable gameplay experiences from popular games, and new full games every week. To boost this output, we may increase it from our current rate of two or three games per week. If we expand our team, we could potentially release up to 15 games a week, thereby making our existing collection more accessible to the public.
Question: Do you plan on organizing events with awards or prizes involved?
Sure thing! There are significant advancements on our timeline, including eSports and leagues where you can participate. Although they’re a bit off in the distance, with these additions, you could potentially join an eSports team and engage in games from your personal space – which will be quite exciting. Towards the end of this year, we have a major update coming up, focusing on revamping our entire tournament system to provide more opportunities for victory. Currently, it’s available worldwide, but we’re also incorporating ranked divisions so you can compete in specific leagues.
In addition to our friends division, there’s another option called Missions, where you can gather rewards simply by accomplishing specific tasks during the tournament. For example, if you manage to rank among the top 100, you’ll receive a small reward. Or, if you participate in the tournament six times within a week, you’ll get a bonus too. This is ideal for those who enjoy completing missions but prefer not to compete on leaderboards.
Retro Gaming Never Loses its Appeal
A: What makes you think that classic video games are still popular? In your view, why do you believe this is the case?
I believe what makes a game exceptional is timeless, similar to how good music never goes out of style. The Beatles are still popular today because they created great music that people continue to appreciate. Similarly, movies can have this lasting impact. My children recently watched Back to the Future for the first time and were amazed by it, despite the movie being nearly 3 decades old. I believe this applies across all forms of entertainment. People tend to enjoy well-crafted games, films, music, and more, regardless of their age.
From my perspective, the 16-bit era holds a unique charm for me, more like an artistic expression than a hardware constraint. This aesthetic continues to inspire modern developers who create retro-style games with pixel art. I find it truly remarkable how games can endure over time. With Antstream, we’re offering users the opportunity to relive these memorable experiences. As for the games that might not have been on your radar, we transform them into engaging challenges and make them enjoyable in their own right.
Although I usually don’t enjoy ZX Spectrum games due to their visuals or age, these challenges encourage me to play games that I would normally avoid. Once you start playing a challenge, it becomes a competition against others, and you find yourself repeating a small segment of gameplay. To keep games interesting for preservation purposes, we’ve designed these challenges to make the game more appealing to users by creating a sense of competition. I believe this is essential when trying to preserve games, as accessibility alone is not enough; they must also be relevant and engaging for modern audiences.
Q: what are the long-term plans for Antstream Arcade?
Mark Rouse shared that our plans are brimming with upcoming projects, primarily focusing on creating additional games. He also mentioned exploring emulation technology to support more contemporary games in a retro style, as well as delving into the graphics processing unit (GPU) technology from the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Gamecube era. Essentially, we have an extensive backlog of titles to work through, and there are numerous features to be added. He briefly mentioned the improved tournament system and how Antstream has undergone a complete overhaul in the past year. Although it set us back due to the PlayStation launch, this major update will revamp the entire interface, address navigation issues, and include new functions.
One of the things that I’ve been working on is a feature called Badges. I’m kind of making a system that rewards players with badges similar to trophies but for the retro gaming collection as well. There’s a massive amount of stuff that we’ve got on the horizon, and that’s just for the next 12 months, there’s plenty more beyond that like leagues, eSports, etc. More consoles are coming online, more modern arcade machines are coming online, and again, it just makes them more relevant for people and increases the audience. It becomes more appealing as people kind of remember the games that they used to love, but also get opportunities to interact with these games in new ways, with our kind of new challenge system and game modes.
There’s a lot on the horizon there. I think the best way to describe it is that we’re trying to create a PlayStation or Xbox in the cloud. It’s like a second-generation gaming platform where you don’t need hardware anymore. You’ve just got access to these games. And what this will mean for gamers is at the moment, when you’ve got hardware, when you leave your hardware behind, you leave your games catalog behind. When you sell your PS4, all those downloadable games have gone. What you’re able to do with Antstream is take your collection with you, for every generation of gaming platform. It’s always there. If there’s a PS6, the same login details just work with the PS6, and you’ve got the same stuff, high scores, save data, it’s all there. We see it as a second-generation gaming platform, and that’s exciting.
[END]
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2024-09-19 15:34