BAFTA-nominated studio Team Cooper has moved into the arcade machine market.
The move may evoke memories of dark, smoky 1980s venues filled with flashing lights and clashing electronic noise, but the truth is somewhat more progressive.
Sheffield-based Team Cooper develops HTML5 games which allow brands to connect more intimately with their clients.
Those games, which can be either off-the-shelf or designed in bespoke fashion for clients, are now able to be hosted inside an old-school wooden arcade cabinet.
Following a demonstration at Prolific North Live in March, the firm sold its first machine to Manchester-based 34SP.com, which specialises in web hosting, servers and domain names.
34SP.com then used the machine on its stand at the Word Press conference WordCamp in London last month.
“We’d gone around other stands which were pitching VR and more modern games and found it wasn’t really our speed,” said Simon Foster, 34SP.com’s creative lead.
“Then we came across the Team Cooper stand and the arcade cabinet really drew us in. As a kid who grew up in 80s game arcades, that was a really good feeling, seeing a crowd gathering around a machine to watch as someone was doing really well.”
The game, a customised version of Team Cooper’s Conga game, featured the Word Press mascot Wapuu leading a party around an office.
34SP.com MD Dan Foster said: “We wanted something to drive footfall – and this 100 per cent worked.
“The arcade machine was eye-catching and worked really well at grabbing people’s attention, drawing them in to have a play and stick around for a chat.”
Tim Cooper, who founded Team Cooper in 2006, said: “This has been a dream of mine. I loved, and still do love, playing arcade machines.
“They bring a much more tactile experience to games and I really wanted to start putting our branded games into cabs to create that extra bit of magic for audiences.
“It’s been a real pleasure to see it turned into a reality and hear that it’s been such a success for 34SP.com.”