Evercade and discovered what they’re up to and I just thought it was brilliant. …One thing led to another and they said, ‘Hey, would you be interested?’ Now, of course, I’ve still got my Catalis hat and I’ve taken a little bit of a backseat there, but given that my work was done to some extent, I had some time on my hands and said, ‘Yeah, why not!’ So that’s how it happened. It was just an introduction, really.
Andrew Byatt: From our perspective, Dominic is someone who is very well known in the industry and has an amazing pedigree, who has loads of experience in all sorts of areas of our business, whether it’s licensing, whether it’s marketing, or whether it’s in helping us with the finance side. So it seemed to be a great opportunity and it was amazing to get him on board and as part of Blaze.
MCV: Why does it exist? Dominic: What these guys had done was go back to the drawing board and produced three hardware types. One is of course a classic console (Evercade VS) you stick under the telly and you put your cartridge in and off it goes. The handheld (Evercade EXP), which is my personal favourite, has got great form factor, and again, cartridge in the back and off you go. Then finally the pocket version, which is just a small screen that you can literally put in the back pocket of your jeans. And the same games work on all three. The idea is terrific.
MCV: Does the appointment represent a change in strategy? Andrew: Dominic’s not here to change the game in that sense. More it’s helping us step up in various areas and helping us with contacts and distribution arrangements and agreements. We’ve done pretty well from the get-go to come up with a concept in terms of why Evercade exists and that isn’t changing.
Andrew: For me, it was always about recreating that original gaming experience. That’s partially a physical thing. So you’ve got manuals and you’ve got cartridges - and you can blow on those cartridges before you put them in - so it’s not just like a download and then you play the game, which does deliver nostalgia, of course, but for us it was all about what it was like. On top of the nostalgia thing it’s about discovery,
“I looked into Evercade and discovered what they’re up to and I just thought it was brilliant. The idea is terrific”
Dominic Wheatley, chairman Blaze Entertainment
so people that perhaps weren’t there get to discover these games and I think that is what attracted Dominic to the business - why it mattered, why it worked, recreating that experience and delivering to people that weren’t there.
Dominic: I think there are two aspects. One is that, of course, you have
August/September 2024 MCV/DEVELOP | 17
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