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Co-founder and managing director Ben Georget talks about Bespoke Arcades’ recent launches and the impact of the retro gaming trend on the firm’s business.
Tell us about your company for those who are unfamiliar with your work.
Bespoke Arcades has proudly been making hand-crafted, fully-custom arcade machines for the last 11 years. We’re considered world leaders in what we do and ship our arcades all over the world. We also run a subsidiary business called A-Game which works with publishers and retailers to create custom displays and gaming pods for marketing, press or display purposes. We sell our machines to royalty, and sport, music and film stars, but mostly to real honest gamers who value quality and the thrill that only a real arcade can give you.
What successes have you seen recently?
We’re enjoying our busiest and most successful year ever. We’re fresh off a busy autumn exhibiting at Legends of Gaming Live and EGX where gamers have been more receptive than ever to our arcade machines. We’ve also just held a press launch for the King-Pin, our brand new virtual pinball machine which offers a unique, modern twist on classic pinball gaming. King-Pin is already proving incredibly popular with our customers and we’re working hard to keep up with demand to fulfill all orders before Christmas.
What are the biggest trends in the games industry affecting you right now?
I think the ongoing hunger for retro gaming is only aiding our business. The buzz around Nintendo’s re-release of the NES this year is proof positive that there is a huge appetite for classic gaming. At Bespoke Arcades, we’re all hardcore gamers but today’s titles are simply too involving and complex for many who yearn for a simpler time and the instant thrill that a great shooter or fighting game can deliver with little commitment. It’s amazing watching the current generation of gamers discover the classics that their parents knew like the back of their hands and we only see demand growing in the years ahead.
What are you looking forward to in games over the next 12 months?
There’s an enormous amount to look forward to in the year ahead. I think the Nintendo Switch has a great opportunity to forge its own path and do something different from Sony and Microsoft. It will be interesting to see how the Scorpio from Microsoft fares against the new PlayStation Pro, but more importantly, we have a whole range of new ideas and innovations which we’re planning to introduce in 2017. King-Pin was certainly not the first but we’re working on some incredible projects which we think both consumers and trade will find irrisistable.
