Antstream Arcade strengthens exec team in move to be at the forefront of video game streaming

Antstream Arcade has made a new move to ‘put itself at the forefront of video game streaming’, welcoming the games industry veteran, Mike Rouse to lead its production team and help build out its internal studio.

The move comes during a period of record user growth for the company following its establishment as the world’s first free-to-play game streaming platform.

With over 20 years’ experience in the games industry, Rouse joins Antstream from 2K’s Brighton based Hangar 13, where he was head of production and responsible for developing and co-ordinating strategy across the studio’s four global locations and 400 employees. His career has seen him work in key roles at Microsoft where he oversaw the development of Microsoft Hololens, and at Sony.

With extensive experience in pushing the boundaries of how players interact with games, Rouse will be looking to put Antsream Arcade at the forefront of video game streaming, helping the company to build upon the slate of licensing partnerships it has already secured with the likes of Disney and Bandai as it eyes growth in the market.

Rouse said: “As a lifelong fan of what we now have to call “vintage” games, working at Antstream Arcade represents the perfect combination of my passion for retro gaming and changing how players interact with games themselves. I think it is very likely that we are nearing the end of physical consoles – with physical media losing relevance to the rise of cloud-based gaming, it is all but inevitable.

“As the first company to successfully launch a free-to-play platform with thousands of games, Antstream is well placed to be at the forefront of this change.”

Steve Cottam, CEO of Antstream, said: “Between our new licensing partnerships with the likes of Disney and Bandai, and our decision to adopt a free-to-play model, we’re in a period of immense change here at Antstream. Bringing on someone with Mike’s expertise and experience in altering how people play games is a huge boost for us as video game streaming continues to drive the game industry forward as a whole.

“We look forward to working with him in taking our library of iconic video games to the biggest audience possible.”

Mike’s love of retro gaming is on full display on his Retro Gamer Boy YouTube channel, where he posts weekly unique videos delving into his own extensive retro gaming collection, and discussing the best retro games and consoles ever made.

His retro gaming goal is to collect every SEGA Megadrive game, with only a few notable holdouts like Pirates of Darkwater standing between him and the holy grail of completionism.