Antstream 1300

[AAA177]

Not sure where to place this precisely, but since it does include Atari games, I figure I would throw it here. 

 

Just wanted to ask if anyone has used this yet for PC, the Antstream 1300 game collection. Seems too good to be true! At least for someone who is not too adept at installing and figuring out emulators.

 

I wanted to confirm if this is true or not because as far as I see, I cannot get this info at the site unless I go through the buying process: for PC, according to articles at other sites, the one-time fee for lifetime membership is $80, which includes the ability to access more games as they become available? That seems impossible to me, especially the fact that as more games are added, one does not have to pay anything else. Maybe I am misunderstanding. (In fact, when I go to the promo page on the site, it says now there are over 1400 games available, if I am reading this correctly.)

 

Also: I believe I am using an Xbox 360 controller for Steam, and for most games, that works fine...however, will it work for Antstream?

 

I am very strongly considering buying this at the end of the month when I get some extra money...thanks for any info...

[Lord Mushroom]

I am pretty sure the $80 lifetime membership of Antstream Arcade is legit, but there is a high chance Antstream Arcade won´t continue to exist for many years. Anyway, I would definately recommend trying it out first before you commit to buying a lifetime membership. Many people are unhappy about it.

 

I think you can try it out for free on PC.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Lord Mushroom

[PowerDubs]

What are you talking about?  Non-sense.

 

Antstream has received many good reviews and continues to grow and expand.

 

A quick google search and read of the news from the last 6 months will show a stark contrast to your silly statements of - "there is a high chance Antstream Arcade won´t continue to exist for many years." and "Many people are unhappy about it."

 

Note the release on Xbox and Samsung.

 

Also note in the last 6 months- Atari has become a 10% owner of Antstream.

[Flyindrew]

While the content on Anstream is fantastic, the company itself really sucks. 2 years ago I purchased a subscription on the Atari VCS and works fine on PC and Android app. When I wanted to access Antstream on my Xbox, Im forced to pay a new subscription. In other words, you cant use your existing subscription on the Xbox app. When Ive reached out to customer support they basically said "too bad" and sent a smiley emoji.

This is the equivalent if you purchased a Netflix subscription and had to pay an extra subscription depending on the device your using.

[CapitanClassic]

@Flyindrew unfortunately this is due to the various online storefronts. If you buy a game on iOS, Apple gets their 30%. If you buy it from the Google play store, Google gets its 30%, from Microsoft then they get their 30%.

Unfortunate, but what can you do?

[Flyindrew]

1 minute ago, CapitanClassic said:

@Flyindrew unfortunately this is due to the various online storefronts. If you buy a game on iOS, Apple gets their 30%. If you buy it from the Google play store, Google gets its 30%, from Microsoft then they get their 30%.

Unfortunate, but what can you do?

Well its pretty damn stupid. I am a paid subscriber to Antstream. As a paying customer I should be able to stream the product on XBox and Android without having to pay for a new subscription. I can do this with Netflix, Paramount, Disney and Max. Why not Antstream?

[Flojomojo]

8 hours ago, AAA177 said:

Not sure where to place this precisely, but since it does include Atari games, I figure I would throw it here. 

 

Just wanted to ask if anyone has used this yet for PC, the Antstream 1300 game collection. Seems too good to be true! At least for someone who is not too adept at installing and figuring out emulators.

 

I wanted to confirm if this is true or not because as far as I see, I cannot get this info at the site unless I go through the buying process: for PC, according to articles at other sites, the one-time fee for lifetime membership is $80, which includes the ability to access more games as they become available? That seems impossible to me, especially the fact that as more games are added, one does not have to pay anything else. Maybe I am misunderstanding. (In fact, when I go to the promo page on the site, it says now there are over 1400 games available, if I am reading this correctly.)

 

Also: I believe I am using an Xbox 360 controller for Steam, and for most games, that works fine...however, will it work for Antstream?

 

I am very strongly considering buying this at the end of the month when I get some extra money...thanks for any info...

The Xbox version is separate from the PC/Mac/Web/Mobile version. If you poke around online, you might be able to find a special deal for the PC version. I got 12 months for $12 which seemed more than worthwhile. 

 

The "Lifetime" deal is only for the Xbox version, and it's for the "lifetime" of the service, not your lifetime. I don't expect it to last forever, but $80 is the cost of a single AAA game nowadays, so I happily paid it. I think the Xbox version is still a good deal, even at $80. 

 

The game selection is slightly different between the two different platforms. For example, there are no Namco games like Pac-Man in the Xbox version. I blame lawyers and licensing fees for this. Also, your points and progress are not shared between platforms. I used the same username for both and recently my Xbox profile started saying (Xbox) after it. Antstream has stated they are looking at/working on shared profiles and/or progress but it's unclear when anything will change. They are a small company and don't seem to move particularly quickly. 

 

You can use your Xbox 360 controller for the PC version of Antstream. The Xbox version is for Xbox One and Series X|S so I think you'd need the proper console controller for that one. 

2 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

Well its pretty damn stupid. I am a paid subscriber to Antstream. As a paying customer I should be able to stream the product on XBox and Android without having to pay for a new subscription. I can do this with Netflix, Paramount, Disney and Max. Why not Antstream?

That's a question for Antstream. I wouldn't expect an answer from them because their FAQ is like this. https://support.antstream.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360002032618-Will-Antstream-Arcade-be-available-on-PS4-Xbox-

I think it all comes down to, if you don't like the terms, don't sign up. Not to invoke FOMO, but that Lifetime Subscription deal might not be around forever. Apparently they had the same deal on the PC/mobile version early on, but not any longer. 

 

People crap on this service because it's a little bit ridiculous to stream gameplay of 32KB ROM files that could just download and run natively in an emulator. But it's easy to use and they seem to be good at getting licensing deals. I enjoy the idea of their little tournaments and challenges. It's also the most British of retro game services, with lots of weird Amiga and ZX Spectrum stuff you don't normally see on a platform like Xbox. 

[Lord Mushroom]

1 hour ago, PowerDubs said:

A quick google search and read of the news from the last 6 months will show a stark contrast to your silly statements of - "there is a high chance Antstream Arcade won´t continue to exist for many years." and "Many people are unhappy about it."

Many people were unhappy about it, but I googled a little bit (not much), and you seem to be right that people are generally happy with the service now.

 

But that doesn´t mean the service will keep on going. As late as in May, over $6 million was invested into the company. For what? Up front payments of licenses? I highly doubt it works that way. The logical explanation is that they are losing money, and that it is not due to investments. Unless that changes somehow soon, people will stop pouring money into it, and it will go out of business.

[Flojomojo]

Or maybe a big dog like Microsoft would buy them out or otherwise invest in them? I don't pretend to understand the economics, but from a "preservation" perspective, this is the biggest legally licensed collection of retro games in existence. 

[Lord Mushroom]

6 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Or maybe a big dog like Microsoft would buy them out

But what would there be to buy if it was failing? They have no IP. The brand would only be good for what it is currently doing, and in that situation, what it is doing is failing so badly that their existing owners have given up.

 

Tencent is already one of the owners.

 

8 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

I don't pretend to understand the economics, 

I do.

[Flojomojo]

1 hour ago, Lord Mushroom said:

But what would there be to buy if it was failing? They have no IP. The brand would only be good for what it is currently doing, and in that situation, what it is doing is failing so badly that their existing owners have given up.

 

Tencent is already one of the owners.

 

I do.

Well for one thing it would be nice for the “lifetime owners” to keep getting their retro fix on the Xbox platform 

 

I forgot about Tencent, they’ve got their mitts in lots of things like this. 

[Lord Mushroom]

36 minutes ago, Flojomojo said:

Well for one thing it would be nice for the “lifetime owners” to keep getting their retro fix on the Xbox platform

Once the lifetime members have paid their fee, they are freeloaders in they eyes of the current and any future owners of Antstream Arcade. But if Antstream Arcade was only mildly unprofitable, but very popular, it could have made sense for Microsoft to buy it and make it exclusive (at least for consoles) to the Xbox.

 

Another danger for lifetime members is the fact that they (at least currently) can´t switch to another platform. So if you buy a lifetime membership to Antstream on Xbox, and Microsoft stops making Xboxes, the support for Antstream on Xboxes will at some point disappear. But don´t worry, Antstream will be dead long before that.

 

Edit:

Even if Microsoft continues to make Xboxes forever, and Antstream keeps going forever, the support for Antstream on the Xbox you have it on will probably disappear at some point. So you will have a choice between getting a new Xbox or buying a lifetime membership on another platform.

Edited October 10, 2023 by Lord Mushroom

[AAA177]

Thanks for all these replies. Seems there is more to this than I thought. 

 

And I guess, as someone said, I cannot pay $80 for a lifetime membership. If I understand correctly, maybe I can sign up for less for a year and give it a go. 

 

I too am always interested in the economics as someone mentioned. I was wondering how on earth can the company license 1300 games...unless there are only a few licensees licensing whole libraries of games, in the same way a film studio will license a movie package to a cable channel. Multiple licensees would be a more complex situation. And do they require advances, or take a cut of minutes played (i.e., if a game is never played, it generates $0 for the licensee), in the same way an author will receive money for pages read on Amazon's Kindle unlimited program. And then there are similarities to the FAST model of content distribution (Pluto TV, Tubi, so forth). Speaking of which: if a company like this can collect licenses for 1300 games, why hasn't a concern such as NFLX figured out something like this? Or even YouTube...now that I think about it, the latter is way more of a mystery because of the implied synergy: watch videos of creators playing old games or talking about them (e.g., John Hancock), then playing the actual games (for some sort of fee, of course, or ad-supported). One would figure Alphabet/Google would be smart enough to figure out a model for something like this... 

[Giles N]

18 hours ago, AAA177 said:

Just wanted to ask if anyone has used this yet for PC, the Antstream 1300 game collection. Seems too good to be true!

Not for PC. Sorry cannot inform on details of quality there.

 

For XBox S/X, yes there are ups and downs (wouldn’t be surprised if there are overlaps).

 

Pros: huge library, representing several decades of games on many platforms (Arcade, Atari 8 bit, Spectrum, C64, Amstrad, Amiga, 7800, Lynx and others). The titles obtained/available span from more obscure ones to top-titles like R Type, New Zealand Story, Mortal Kombat and many others.

 

Cons: (this one could be different on PC, check reviews or youtube-users). Quite a lot of lag, sometimes so bad it really reduces the gaming session quality significantly. One thing is a little lag now and then, then to get fairly even framerate. Another thing is when old, quite simple games, yet tough-as-nails-to-beat, lags, and even the lagging is uneven and unpredictable.

I hope they’ll fix this, either by getting better servers or temporary partial downloads.

 

On Discord one can come with input to the Antstream-team (suggest new games, feedback on things, compare scores etc).

[Mockduck]

Antstream Arcade has been fantastic since at least 2021 and offers a lot of gaming for a low cost. The cloud gaming aspect of it works great for me at least, and the Atari VCS version is cross-platform with mobile and PC. Note the Epic Games Store version and Xbox version are both walled gardens where your accounts and subscriptions don't carry over to the cross-platform versions, meaning dunno on whether I'd recommend them, def not the Epic one at least. $80 for a lifetime on Xbox might be worth it if you like digging into more obscure arcade and 80's PC games and don't mind that it won't carry over to PC or your VCS. 

 

I happened to get an email today where they are promoting the 7th year of Old School Gamer magazine through their new Kickstarter, and the $160 tier also includes a lifetime subscription to Antstream for PC, which is awesome. Honestly, don't mind spending the $40/year on the VCS, whether it's worth the $160 including a year of Old School Gamer print and digital is up to you. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanburger/old-school-gamer-our-7th-year-retro-gaming-and-computing

[Lord Mushroom]

4 hours ago, AAA177 said:

I was wondering how on earth can the company license 1300 games...unless there are only a few licensees licensing whole libraries of games, 

It seems there are many licensees each licensing many games (on average).

 

5 hours ago, AAA177 said:

Or even YouTube...now that I think about it, the latter is way more of a mystery because of the implied synergy: watch videos of creators playing old games or talking about them (e.g., John Hancock), then playing the actual games (for some sort of fee, of course, or ad-supported). One would figure Alphabet/Google would be smart enough to figure out a model for something like this... 

They would have needed to create a whole new streaming service for games to do that. They can´t just stream it on You Tube like they they are currently offering movies for a price. They could of course have a link directly to the relevant game in their game streaming service, if they had one. If Stadia, their attempt at a game streaming service, had succeed they might have done something like what you are suggesting. 

[Mockduck]

I will also say Antstream has some pretty good Leaderboards activity and ability to challenge friends and such. It also lets you mark Favorites to essentially create your own best of. 

[AAA177]

Hey, I am back at the thread. I have subscribed for a year to Antstream after considering everything here. So far, things have been fun. But I do have one problem, so I will ask here: Is there any way to adjust mouse sensitivity on the service (while keeping my normal setting elsewhere)? I don't see a way, and if that is the case, then the Lucasfilm games cannot be played. A bit of a disappointment, but as was mentioned above, there are some bugs here and there (as far as I can tell, I cannot use the controller to move the point)

 

And just want to quickly say to Lord M thanks for additional color on the YouTube notion. I suspect you are correct. 

 

For those interested, the game I was blown away to see : Law of the West by Accolade! Now that brings back memories. Vampire's Empire I used to have for the ST but could never figure it out, but that might be a close second. 

 

I find the inclusion/exclusion of certain games odd. The SNES Indiana Jones title is there, but not the Atari 2600, or the arcade Temple of Doom? And why not Defenders of Dynatron City? The three Star Wars arcade games, but not Willow. I'm surprised Disney just doesn't say, pay a little more and get everything, all the licensed games we ever did (would love to see that Ned's Nightmare title). And I wish one of my favorite arcade games Congo Bongo was included. I'll have to find a suggestion form on the site...

 

Thanks again for all the help...

[AAA177]

Okay, I actually will have to alter the game that blew me away honor: you've got to be kidding me...I was searching to see how many versions of The Immortal were on the service (three, it turns out) and for some reason, the following came up: a game called Lee, as the fourth result. I said to myself, it can't be...but it is! Bruce Lee! Presumably called this for licensing reasons! Wow. Wish it was the Atari version, but perhaps there is no difference with the C64 (although I find that hard to believe, C64 always was a bit different on some games). Will have to try this later tonight. (And I hope I find Zorro too, perhaps renamed!). I've always wanted to see older games renamed to avoid the licensing issue...