While studying in Europe - disconnected from our devices - we dedicated our game time to researching how we could revive thand establish a stronger sense of community between gamers using different devices in different parts of the world.
We began to construct a digital platform for competition, collaboration, and networking that would grow with the expansion of cloud gaming and the improvement of cross-platform capabilities.
After interviewing friends and strangers, we returned to the US to begin building. Early in the development phase we found that while there was a significant gap in the market, our concept would not address the problems we aimed to solve. We believed what we were building was too similar to other platforms such as Discord and Twitch and we did not want to waste time and resources re-inventing the wheel. We knew we wanted to keep working for the gaming community but we needed to develop our own skills and spend more time observing people, games, technology, and the world around us. So that's what we did...
Though our core team lived in various places in the world throughout the past five years, we are once again together in Brooklyn, New York.
We considered opening a physical arcade, building a streaming device, creating gaming hardware, and much more. However, the main problem we found - and the main thing we wanted to address - was related to the development of community. We found that most people spend most time inside, especially gamers. We recognized that many people have been struggling to find community following the pandemic of Covid-19 and the increase in remote work. We also recognized that a physical arcade would mean stepping away from at-home gaming setups. While gaming communication platforms do exist, we wanted something that would enable a more direct connection with others, while allowing for the opportunity to meet new people and form new relationships.
We had used Gather in the past and found that it would be a great starting place for the community. Using gather as a our primary arcade allows us to collaborate with the Gather team and help them expand their platform, while we focus on gamers and the development of a community specifically for them.
Aircade is a community. It is not a place nor is it a company but rather a collective of gamers seeking exploration and companionship. In the future we may use alternatives to Gather, we may create new tools, we may adapt our style. But as we move through time, we aim to stay keenly focused on people and relationships because we believe that is the main reason to wake up and keep breathing. We look forward to meeting you and are grateful for your involvement with and support of Aircade.
