What?

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Help us show Sony (but also other major manufacturers and publishers) that video game players are capable of mobilizing to defend a legacy of video games, namely arcade type games, and to fight to make it accessible to the greatest number.

This petition concerns the porting to PC of the following Housemarque games :

- Resogun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=709wLa2SMhU

- Super Stardust Ultra (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJz50UkyHE

- Dead Nation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giY0hnJpqzY

- Alienation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYuezRropSs

- Matterfall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZxGMgORge8

Who?

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You and us!

Aigwrai and I (Spher), are regular players on different systems (PS4, PC...) ! We are also, as volunteers, community moderators of the Official Housemarque Discord and have the chance to rub shoulders with a great community. We specify that we have no link with Housemarque, except that of a player who likes the work done by an independent studio.

You can find us on the HMQ discord, come and discuss this petition with us! You are most welcome!

Why?

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Why this petition now? Mainly for two reasons. The first is that, as community moderators of the HMQ discord, we regularly see requests from players and fans for hypothetical PC porting of HMQ games. Unfortunately, HMQ is not in a position to rule on these porting since the publishing rights belong solely to Sony. The second, to echo the annotation made during the RebootDevelop conference [7] and show them that we, the players, still want arcade type games which are interesting, fun and innovative!



With the unexpected announcement of Housemarque's withdrawal from the world of Arcade on November 1, 2017, a great void is now to be deplored in the world of video games. This announcement follows the observation that Nex Machina did not succeed in reaching its public[1]. However, we don't think this is due to a lack of audience, nor to the fact that the Arcade genre is in its infancy or even dead, as we can see every day on the official HMQ Discord and the continuing demands to even bring their games to PC. We think this is due to a lack of recognition of HMQ as a video game studio in the PC community, due to the editing choices made by Sony with previous HMQ titles. With this petition, we want to show Sony that a large community of players is present and that this community is asking Sony to allow the porting of the games listed above.

But why Housemarque in particular? With Aigwrai, we rediscovered the world of the Arcade thanks to Housemarque on PS4. We consider, as many do, that this studio is one of the major representatives of this kind of games.



Indeed, contrary to what some information channels have been able to affirm [2], Housemarque did not try to keep the Arcade genre alive for three more years, but, on the contrary, allowed it to be enriched and rethought further than it was possible to imagine (e.g. Resogun). Indeed, the community around arcade games is very real and active. This community is around 40M PC copies for Shoot'Em Up[3], of which Resogun or Super Stardust are representatives, and 13M PC copies for Twin Stick Shooter[4], of which Alienation or Dead Nation are also representatives. Generally speaking, the Arcade genre has sold more than 74M copies[5].



Paradoxically, these genres have little or no flagships. One can quote for example as notable game in the category of Twin Stick Shooter The Binding of Isaac, strong of these 3M holders[6], released on PC 4 years ago. For this reason, we think that allowing Housemarque games to be ported to PC could allow players to have access to games capable of grouping these different communities, be it Twin Stick Shooter or Shoot'Em Up around a common ground: Arcade.

Where?

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Worldwide and systems wide! We want to give everyone the chance to enjoy these great PC games!

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Come on, players! Help us get 200,000 signatures so we can get Sony to port these games - and a part of the Arcade - on PC! Give PC players the opportunity to enjoy these great games and pay tribute to the world of Arcade!

However, please note that there is a possibility that even if we reach the 200,000 signatures mark, Sony will not consider this petition and players around the world. If this is the case, we will then increase the amount of signature required to have even more weight!



To help us and take part in this adventure, share this petition a maximum on social networks, and let it be known that #arcadeisnotdead !



#arcade #arcadeisnotdead #gamers #pcgamers #ps4 #hmqfan



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Thank you for taking the time to read this petition and for your interest <3

Best regards,



P. "Aigwrai" L. (PSN: https://psnprofiles.com/Aigwrai Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198060568139 Discord: Aigwrai#1097), the one who published this petition!

A. "Spher" L. (PSN: https://psnprofiles.com/Spher_VII Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198052469691/ Discord: Spher#4178), the one who wrote this text!

*Petition imagine made by @Rfgame (thanks for this art!)

References

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[1] http://www.housemarque.com/arcade-is-dead/

[2] https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-11-01-arcade-is-dead-but-housemarque-kept-it-alive-for-three-brilliant-games

[3] http://steamspy.com/tag/Shoot+%27Em+Up

[4] http://steamspy.com/tag/Twin+Stick+Shooter

[5] http://steamspy.com/tag/Arcade

[6] http://steamspy.com/app/250900

[7] https://www.twitch.tv/videos/252773470