Classic Arcades A Big Draw At CES 2020
Photo: Norris Howard
The Consumer Electronics Show is know for being the hot bed of all things new when it comes to tech. But there was a copious amount of space given to classic arcade games on the show floor this year. One such vendor was Arcade 1Up, a branch of the company Tastemakers, that’s been releasing stand up retro arcade cabinets of classic games since 2018. They were a bit hard to miss at CES considering their massive 20 foot, totally playable, NBA Jam machine.
Photo: Norris Howard/CES
In the past year and a half, the retro gaming scene has exploded on the back of the releases of NES, SNES and PSOne classic systems. Arcade 1Up took it even further recreating and in some cases even redeveloping classic games for the current market. Arcade 1Up is one of the brands leading the charge with a multitude of cabinets and over 30 games in their current catalog. And there’s some heavy hitters in there too like Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and Pac-Man. They’ve also partnered with some of the biggest retailers in the world like Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Amazon. Even with the classic gaming space becoming more fierce, in less than 24 months Arcade 1Up’s space was one of the busiest in the south hall of CES.
Video: Norris Howard/CES
We got to talk to Tastemakers Director of Marketing, David McIntosh, on the show floor all about Arcade 1Up and how they’ve turned a passion project into a winning brand. Check it out below!