Summary
Xboxsubscription service Antstream Arcade has added 27 games from Bandai Namco to its retro gaming catalog. This development further extendsAntstream Arcade’s gigantic library of classic retro gameson Microsoft’s consoles.
Antstream Arcade is a streaming service for retro games offering both freemium and premium tiers, depending on the platform. It originally launched in 2019 following a successful Kickstarter campaign that saw it raise the equivalent of nearly $90,000 from 861 backers.Antstream Arcade has been available on Xboxsince July 2023, when it first brought over 1,300 retro games to the last two generations of Microsoft’s consoles.
Less than a month afterAntstream Arcade dropped 27 games, its library expanded to include another 27 titles. And while the outgoings from November were all Warner Bros. properties, the December arrivals come from the Bandai Namco archives. Specifically, classics likeGalaga,Rally-X, andMetro Crosscan now be played via the service, as can the likes ofDig DugandSplatterhouse. The latest Antstream Arcade expansion also includes threePac-Mangames: the 1980 original,Pac-Mania, andSuper Pac-Man.
New Bandai Namco Games on Antstream Arcade in December 2023
The arrival of Bandai Namco’s catalog to Antstream Arcade was originally confirmed back when the service ended its partnership with Warner Bros. in November. On that occasion, the company revealed that around 70 more titles are also planned to be added to its streaming catalog in the near future, although it is currently unclear whether those arrivals will reach all of its target platforms. For example, this new wave of Bandai Namco content is exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, whereAntstream Arcade is priced at $29.99per year. Alternatively, Xbox console owners can also shell out $79.99 for a lifetime subscription.
Antstream Arcade is commemorating this expansion with a week’s worth of global Bandai Namco Entertainment tournaments featuring the majority of the newly added titles. For reference, tournaments are a built-in feature of the platform that allows players to partake in casual eSports events combining retro games with online leaderboards. Enrolling in one such competition is as simple as clicking the large Tournament banner in theXboxapp.
The Xbox version of the service has already undergone several notable catalog expansions since its mid-2023 debut. Thanks to its never-ending content licensing efforts,Xbox gamers can nowadays even play a bunch of classic PS1 titles, on top of games for iconic systems such as the Atari 2600, Amiga, Game Boy, Genesis, MSX, and NES. Since Antstream Arcade has historically been adding new titles on a monthly basis, it likely won’t be long before the streaming service announces yet another library expansion.
