| Antstream Ltd. | |
| Type: | Limited company |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
| Key People: | Steve Cottam[1] |
| Num Employees: | ca. 30 |
| Services: | Entertainment software |
Antstream is a British company that runs the gaming platform Antstream Arcade. The platform offers retro games from the 1970s to the 2000s.
According to IGN, Antstream Arcade is considered to be the "world's largest officially licensed retro gaming platform".[2] It focuses on games from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.[3] [4] The line-up of games consists of games for different consoles and home computers, for example the Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari 2600 and the PlayStation, and from different gaming companies.[5]
In his 2023 Eurogamer article, Ed Nightingale explains that new mini-games and challenges, like tournaments and high-score duels, can be added to the original games. The platform also offers online profiles, online high scores, cloud saves and resume play within the games. Furthermore, Antstream Arcade also contains new games for classic consoles by independent developers.
As of December 2023, the platform offers over 1,300 games, including Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Baraduke, Galaga, Dig Dug,, Metal Slug X, Street Racer,[6] Metal Slug, Bubble Bobble, and R-Type.[7] Will Greenwald writes in PCMag, that the platform is interesting as a history lesson of gaming. He praises the large number of available games, while criticising the TV-oriented interface that can't be operated with a PC mouse.
Antstream Arcade runs via an internet connection.[8] It operates on a subscription model, with monthly or yearly options available.[9]
The service is available on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Android TV, Fire TV, Samsung TV, and in browsers.[10] In July 2023, it became available for the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.[11] [12] Antstream was available on iOS through the App Store starting in June 2024.[13] In September 2024, Antstream was also available on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.[14]
Steve Cottam founded Antstream in 2013 after recognizing the lack of access to many older video games, which were often only obtainable through copyright infringement.[15] Along with a friend, Cottam developed the company as a streaming service for retro games, starting in 2013.[16]
By 2015, they had developed a prototype and got accepted into an accelerator fund with Microsoft and Ian Livingstone joined the company as chairman.[17] In June 2019, the streaming service Antstream Arcade was officially launched.[18] Also in 2019, Antstream received an investment from Tencent and was able to establish itself on various platforms. Antstream received a further investment of US$3.5 million from Atari, with a total of over US$20 million invested in Antstream as of 2021.[19]
In 2021, the platform achieved 3,200% growth in new players. In total, there were over 700,000 new players and over 200,000 active users per month. Also in 2021, over three million games were downloaded from the Antstream Arcade line-up. In December 2024, 80 games by the video game companies Namco and Bandai (which were merged under Bandai Namco Holdings in 2005) were licensed to Antstream Arcade, including Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug.