THE FUTURE OF EVERCADE

Evercade’s product director Andy Byatt has big plans for the handheld

How do you secure licences?

I deal with most of the licensing arrangements which is equal parts exciting and frustrating. Usually, we approach IP owners to show them the product and get them interested. They will either supply us a list of games they own, or we give them a wishlist of games we think they own. Sometimes licensors say they do not own games which nobody else claims rights to, so they get lost in time. We then get an agreed game list to an agreed number of titles and sign the deal.

Does a company, like Interplay, choose the games or do you? Interplay had an initial list of about 18 games, but some were tied up in red tape and some were not as interesting as the ones chosen. We spent time playing them and then made a proposal.

How does it feel seeing owners discover new games? We love it. We had the same experience when we started out acquiring the licences for these collections. Someone in the office would turn to me and say something like, ‘You know what, Claymates is an awesome little game, I really like it.’ It is a joy, to be honest.

Why obtain obscure games like Mappy Kids?

We asked for Mappy Kids because it was a game that would be interesting. It was a nice one because many people know Mappy, but will discover this through our console. We think our core audience wants these kind of games alongside bigger names, and we intend to continue delivering this.

Would you consider localising more Japanese-exclusive games for Evercade?

We have one being worked on now. It is not an easy process due to character sizes and space, but we would love to do more for the future.

Will more handheld games appear on Evercade?

We have lots of plans to get more formats on the system. Handhelds are a natural fit for sure, but we do not want to limit it too much.

Do current retro prices influence your decisions when acquiring new titles?

We had an eye on rarity when talking to licensors so this did figure at some level, but its not really a driver as such. We are looking for games that give us something different or inspire nostalgia.

We’ve enjoyed seeing systems like the Atari 7800 and Lynx on the Evercade. Can we expect similar for other less popular consoles? The 7800 games are great because 2600 classics have been seen quite a lot in various guises, whereas [the] 7800 does not get as much love. I’m a massive fan of the Lynx and had one growing up, so it was a real joy to get Lynx games onto the system. We would love to get all sorts on there.

How will you continue Evercade’s momentum?

We will continue to add games like Xeno Crisis, Tanglewood and the Oliver twins collections, building up 50-plus cartridges in the next few years [as well as] engagement with our community and striving to build a better product. We are working hard on improving the experience every day and with such a vibrant community, we want to deliver the best possible product. There is a lot more to come and we are enjoying the ride.