DunDunDunpachi
Banned
Eric Chung, the CEO of exA-Arcadia, did an interview with French shmup website shmupemall.com. Some excerpts from the interview below:
– Can you introduce exA-Arcadia ?
Eric Chung: exA-Arcadia is a platform based on PC hardware; the specs are stronger than those of the PS4 Pro. I think we are more powerful than any existing consoles as of today. Our objective with exA-Arcadia is to make it easy for creators to make a game on our platform, since both console and arcade worlds tend to converge towards PC hardware. We could have made something like a FPGA system, but then no one would have developed games for us. That’s why we chose a PC-based system.
When you look at some places like South America, South East Asia or Middle East, some of these regions can’t afford the most expensive arcade games like Japan can. For example, the new Gundam game, Mobile Suit Gundam: Extreme Vs. 2, that will come out later this year will cost $55,000. There’s no way a small arcade, even in Japan, could afford this.
That’s the main reason why arcade owners want to have a modular system where you can switch between different games, and that’s why exA-Arcadia will support four games. We really hope to become the next NEOGEO.
– Could you give us a list of development studios that are ready to partake in the exA-Arcadia adventure and promote it?
Eric Chung: We will in due time announce each studio that is working with us, but you can be sure that every major Japanese arcade developer, outside of the big guys, will join us. As you have seen today, M2 has officially joined with exA-Arcadia.
And even in the west we have many developers ready to support exA-Arcadia with more “indie” but fairly famous games people already know. These games may have been crowd funded or popular on Steam or other platforms. We will announce them in the near future. There are over 35 companies ready to support exA-Arcadia.
– Have you been contacted by game centers such as Round One or others? Do you have plans regarding distribution in occident, a potential exportation network?
Eric Chung: In Japan we have been contacted by Round One and many major chains. We will also probably work with a very big distributor who networks with Round One, SEGA and Taito. We will probably make an announcement about that later this year. For other parts of the world like South-East Asia, we were contacted by the biggest local chain already; the same with Australia. For the United States, we already met with Dave & Buster’s. So for the US, Japan and South-East Asia, we have a pretty good coverage area already.
– Do you intend to create a « consolized » version of your arcade system, such as Neo Geo AES?
Eric Chung: At the moment, no, we are not considering making a consolized exA-Arcadia. We feel that if you are an arcade collector you probably already have the means to play this at home. Also, supporting a home version makes it a bit more difficult for the creators as well. It induces more overhead to make these things, and our aim is really to support arcade. So no, it’s not a priority right now.
– At what price do you intend to sell an exA-Arcadia kit? And what about games?
Eric Chung: We have not really announced a price yet, but you can expect one kit, motherboard plus game, to cost around US$2000. And then, depending on the game, around $1000 to $1500. We are still looking into this to see what the price will be. But as you know, a new CAVE shooting game was sold around $1800, so it’s more or less the standard price in Japan.
The interview is quite long. Please read the rest at shmupemall.com. Exciting times!
