The Polycade Interview (Video Version)
A Visual Conversation with Tyler Bushnell. An Arcade Press x Arkhaives at Midnight Collaboration
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Watch the video version of our interview with Polycade CEO Tyler Bushnell.
Check out one of our frequent collaborators, Arkhaives at Midnight for more cool videos.
Let this video play while in the office or home. Very cool for setting the vibes for thinking about big ideas in gaming.
Great interview! I wanted to add to the cultural context as to why Japan's arcade scene managed to continue to thrive when the arcades in the US died out. I'd never heard of the salaryman "working late" theory before but I would guess that is part of it. I lived in Japan for 5 years and what I came to understand about the culture was that it was very rare for people to host friends at their homes. The home is a very family-focused and almost sacred environment so having friends over to throw down on some Street Fighter just wasn't really a thing like it was in the US. There is also a very strong work-ethic pressed upon the youth of Japan by their parents. As a kid, you would likely catch hell from your mom for playing video games at home after school so to avoid that (much like the salaryman theory), you would go and meet your friends at the arcade for a few hours and tell your mom you stayed late "studying" when you got home. It's incredibly nuanced in terms of why Japan's arcades were able to thrive in a time when America's were not and it's interesting that all it took was adding alcohol to the mix to reinvigorate the scene here now that the arcade generation is over 21. Lastly, I'd like to point out that Japan's sprawling train system makes the arcades super accessible to kids. You don't need a car to get anywhere so when you're too young to drive or afford a car, you can still get to the arcade without relying on a parent or older sibling to drive you. That's a big deal when you think back to being under 16 and without wheels begging mom or dad to drop you off at the mall with a roll of quarters. If you were growing up in Japan, you'd simply ride your bike to the station and ride a couple stops to the nearest game center whenever you wanted!