Antstream Arcade is coming to PlayStation and Playstation is coming to Antstream Arcade

As part of the Antstream Connect stream today (I know, it was the first I heard of it too), the company announced that the retro game streaming service will finally be releasing on PlayStation consoles (PS4 and PS5). On top of that, PlayStation games will start arriving on the service, as well as Pico-8 games of all things. Announcements all around.

Antstream Arcade is a retro-focused streaming service. While it is primarily centered on arcade games, classic titles from other platforms have been added as well. Last year, it launched on Xbox, which is when I had a chance to review it (not on Xbox, I don’t own one). I found it to be a capable platform, but some of its limitations were a bit much for me. I have since logged in a few more times, but I haven’t stuck with it as much as I hoped I would. In retrospect, I probably could have saved a lot of money playing on there instead of buying Arcade Archives titles, but I also like the illusion of owning something.

Wait, I need to check something. Kaiser Knuckle… Nope. Maybe Global Champion… Still nope. I guess I’m still using my Taito Egret II Mini for that game.

Anyway, on top of the announcement that it’s coming to PS4 and PS5, they also announced that PS1 games will be coming to the platform. During the stream, they showed off O.D.T.: Escape… Or Die Trying, Tiger Shark, and MotorMash (and a couple others), none of which would really be my first choice, but it’s a start. They’re also adding Pico-8 games, which is an 8-bit “fantasy console.” It’s rad for people who like to experiment with building games in a more limited framework. I tried a while back and failed.

They also talked about their upcoming “Vision” update, which they were also talking about back when I reviewed the platform a year ago. The update is supposed to overhaul the platform’s interface, which it badly needs. They showed off a bit of it and hinted at a new beta, which will apparently arrive shortly before the full launch of the update.

For now, they’re at least adding control binding for each game, which is something else it badly needs.

The platform I’m most interested in, honestly, is Switch. That doesn’t have anything to do with the portability, though. It’s just where I play most of my arcade games since my 8BitDo arcade stick has a channel specifically for Switch.

There’s no announced date for when Antstream Arcade will be coming to PS4 and PS5.