Monetizing MAME on new retro consoles like the My Arcade Gamestation Pro

[frny4x]

So, I am an old timer OG Atari player from the 80s.  

 

For a few months, I have been looking at various options to take another look at the games from my youth.  I watched the whole new Atari VCS journey over the past few years, and eventually found all the GenXGrownup videos about all the My Arcade offerings. 

 

I just purchased the My Arcade Gamestation Pro - under the guise of getting it for a couple of children who are now regularly spending time in the household on weekends.    

 

I have to say that, while I Loved my Atari back in the day, I find those games today really underwhelming.  Still, I am enjoying my favorite from the past - Berzerk - while looking out for other games that these children might enjoy. 

The Atari 2600 games are looking pretty lame in 2024.  Isn't there some way to create consoles that support MAME - like the GSP - while incentivizing folks to create new MAME content for purchase?  I don't want to download old illegitimate ROMs.  I want to Purchase new legit ROMs that I can play on a console like the GSP.  

Isn't this a viable market?  

[RodLightning]

Interesting idea. There were certainly other software (ROMs) available for classic arcade boards.  Mostly enhancements to existing games.  Pacman Plus comes to mind, as a slightly reimagined conversion for tired old Pacman machines, maybe not taking in as many quarters as they used to.  I think there was a ROMset to convert a Galaxian machine to PacMan, but the audio still sounded like Galaxian due to the hardware.  I read on here a couple of years ago about a new Donkey Kong ROM with updated levels.  You could buy those ROM chips to install in your actual Donkey Kong arcade machine.  These are just a few examples.  I'm sure there are more.

 

As for selling new game software to run on any of MAME's emulated hardware, there are undoubtedly still legal considerations with the arcade boards.  Newly written games would have to be written to target one of the popular arcade boards.   I suspect that licensing the hardware would be a big obstacle.

 

Marketing any kind of ROM software on sd card or to download and use with a MAME capable console would be possible.  Doing it "above board" and legally turning a profit would be the real challenge.

[frny4x]

I think we need an initiative where a MAME like box is defined - that has the best of the various emulations - and then call that an open platform - that content creators are encouraged to develop for.   I see a Ton of energy being spent - not monetized at all.  And, frankly, a big part of it is - not really legal / ethical.   And while many couldn't care less, that is a problem for me. 

I think a virtual, open MAME box, along with new content, can be a legit monetized channel - for console creators and game/content creators. 

 

All the ROM downloads are, frankly, dirty and not right.  And, no one is generating revenue from it.  Seems like there would be an easy way to create a lower tier gaming platform - lower than what Microsoft and Sony are doing - that can yield fun and revenue.   Easily.   

Edited March 16 by frny4x

[Giles N]

16 minutes ago, frny4x said:

I think we need an initiative where a MAME like box is defined - that has the best of the various emulations - and then call that an open platform - that content creators are encouraged to develop for. 

I think what would need to happen for this to happen (if a main-venue would be legal payable access to old games), would be something akin to Spotify or the iTunes-store, just for video games and arcades, not music.

 

That would involve some bigger (!!!) investments and alot of paperwork for getting as many companies onboard as possible.

 

Who or what company would have the money, means and interest to try to make money on such a project is not someone I can come to think of. They would have to build it so they could make money on it, while providing a very, very broad range of games. 
Games just aren’t as universally used as music. Antstream have some stuff, but compared to some conceptual univeral legal access to every old game, through pay per ROM or subscription, with space for new games, it’s just tiny slice of that.

 

[jhd]

There are multiple officially published compilations of arcade game collections, including Midway, Atari, Taito, Namco, Sega, and the Neo Geo. These are (for the most part) running original arcade ROMS. Of course not everything is available -- there is nothing from Stern, for example, so no officially licensed Bezerk or Moon Patrol is available. The other option is to just not play those specific games. 

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 3/16/2024 at 4:23 PM, frny4x said:

The Atari 2600 games are looking pretty lame in 2024.

Perhaps another platform would better suit your gaming tastes; the 2600 is unlikely to change to suit them.

On 3/16/2024 at 5:04 PM, frny4x said:

I think a virtual, open MAME box, along with new content, can be a legit monetized channel - for console creators and game/content creators.

You do understand that what you have described is effectively how homebrew development works, yes?  It even allows an author to select how they monetise - or not - their software.

 

MAME is an open project, and the last time I checked its licence allowed for use in commercial projects.  You effectively have a green light to build exactly what it is that you're describing, so go for it.  What you'll end up with will basically be a Retropie.  Note that manufacturing this sort of device has been tried before and there is no appreciable market for it.

On 3/16/2024 at 5:04 PM, frny4x said:

All the ROM downloads are, frankly, dirty and not right.  And, no one is generating revenue from it.

Sorry, but you can't have it both ways.  Would it be better if people were profiting from ROM downloads of IP that they don't have rights to?

 

About the only way to do this in a workable manner is basically the model that Amazon uses for movies: rent at a lower price, or buy at a higher one.  Now create the backend and licensing infrastructure to support that.  It isn't free - not by a long shot - and Google Drive frowns on being used as a CDN for this sort of thing.

On 3/16/2024 at 5:04 PM, frny4x said:

Seems like there would be an easy way to create a lower tier gaming platform - lower than what Microsoft and Sony are doing - that can yield fun and revenue.   Easily. 

That would be the Nintendo Switch.  It's an exceptionally well-thought-out piece of kit, from the hardware to the online components.

 

What you are proposing is neither new nor workable.  This has been debated for decades at this point, and whenever it's been put into practice (with very rare exceptions) it inevitably flops.  However, I would suggest not taking only my word for it and researching on your own to see why I'm presenting the points that I am.

 

Incidentally, in what ways do you think that monetisation would help?  I'm far from being opposed to profit, but am curious as to where the value propositions are that would make someone open their wallet and dump out money for something that they can effectively have for free.

[Domeshtan]

I download roms but I go out of my way to own them in some form. I don't shovel-ware thousands of roms on to a system. I look all over and buy stuff like old compelation CDs for Xbox, PS2, Wii, PSP,  PC, etc. In my opinion this is at least "ethical". I went out of my way to own the games I play. How I play them I don't care. I have plenty of discs where I bought the same content over and over because one version would have a few different games that another one doesn't. Games usually wind up costing anywhere from 7 cents a piece to maybe a $1.25 in many cases. Same thing with mini consoles. I like having some all in one solutions as an option. Games on mini systems are way cheaper than cartridges in most cases. I don't feel guilty running games I download because I own them. It would be nice to have a service where you can download and keep just about any game out there at an affordable price. Until then this is my solution.

Edited April 1 by Domeshtan

[rra]

There are several MAME ROMs that are totally legal to download and use.  The original copyright owners have given MAME the right to use them.  Download and use them with no guilt!

https://www.mamedev.org/roms/

 

There have been very few homebrew games that run on arcade hardware supported by MAME - and it is kind of surprising.   There are hundreds of games supported by HBMAME (homebrew MAME), but almost all of them are hacks of copyrighted ROMS.  One modern arcade-type game that I can think of that was written from scratch and runs on old hardware is Battle Zone II.  This runs on Battle Zone hardware and therefore could potentially be supported in MAME, but I think the programmer is trying to sell boards for the arcade cabinets instead of selling ROMs for the home emulator community.

 

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

38 minutes ago, rra said:

There have been very few homebrew games that run on arcade hardware supported by MAME - and it is kind of surprising.

 

Take a look at HBMAME.  It's basically the fork of MAME intended for things like homebrew games, hacks, games that don't fit MAME's requirements for inclusion, etc.