The Madrid online game museum opens with a tribute to 30 years of PlayStation | Culture | EUROtoday

“When you play video games you are used to dreaming of the impossible.” This Monday, in Madrid’s Plaza del Callao, these phrases could possibly be heard within the mouth of Santiago Bustamante, cultural director of the OXO online game museum in Malaga. In this case, the dream is to switch the format of the profitable Andalusian museum to the middle of Madrid and, as if it have been a online game itself, we will say: mission achieved. At quantity 8 Postigo de San Martín avenue, the previous headquarters of the La Central bookstore, books have been changed by technological units. It is the signal of the instances.

“It is the best possible place to celebrate the pixel crazy people who have shaped today’s world,” stated Bustamante: “We have tried to defend the culture and art of video games by giving it the space it deserves.” The concept of ​​the brand new heart is to create a dwelling museum. Not a lot placing up arcades from the previous, however somewhat telling the historical past of the online game in an entertaining approach and proposing fixed talks and actions that make OXO a top-level cultural actor within the capital. The museum, which has greater than 1,600 m², has two flooring devoted to historiography and the alternative ways of enjoying, from essentially the most analog to essentially the most inventive, with all kinds of units and video games introduced from all around the world; and a 3rd flooring the place there might be short-term exhibitions. The first of those short-term exhibitions celebrates an anniversary that overlaps with the opening of OXO: the celebration of 30 years of the PlayStation console.

Three prodigious a long time

On December 3, 1994, the PlayStation console was born in Japan, marking a earlier than and after in video video games. The mixture of progressive 3D graphics, a CD participant and a different library attracted a various viewers and made the Sony firm a benchmark within the sector. “It is exciting to see how gaming has become another branch of culture, and how we have played an important role in this story,” stated Cristina Infante, head of selling for PlayStation Spain, at OXO, the place the primary short-term exhibition seeks to rejoice these three a long time of life.

“The first console transferred the experience arcade at home, and with the following ones we have evolved, breaking the barriers of technology,” stated Infante. Throughout these three a long time, Sony has launched 5 primary generations of PlayStation consoles. The unique PlayStation bought greater than 102 million models, and the PlayStation 2 exceeded expectations, reaching 155 million gross sales and changing into the best-selling console in historical past. Then would come the PlayStation 3, the PS4 and the PS5, launched in 2020 however which has already bought 40 million models. In addition to moveable consoles and every kind of profitable peripherals (and the occasional setback, such because the low gross sales of Virtual Reality glasses). Numbers apart, the true influence of the PlayStation ecosystem is emotional: characters like Lara Croft, from Tomb Raider; Crash Bandicoot; Kratos, from God of War; Nathan Drake, from Uncharted; Aloy, from Horizon Zero Dawn, or Ellie and Joel, from The Last of Usare common icons and a few of the most iconic figures in widespread tradition around the globe. “For PlaySation the important thing is the player. Technology is just a medium for content creators,” within the phrases of Infante.

All of those characters are current in OXO. Also essentially the most well-known Nintendo characters (Mario; Link, from The Legend of Zelda), from XBox (Master Chief, from Halo; Senua), from the most important corporations on this planet and the smallest, as a result of within the heart’s corridors guests can play with all of the consoles which have existed in historical past. “This is a space from which to build a cultural discourse that brings us closer to the rest of Europe,” stated Alberto González Lorca, president of the Spanish Video Game Association (AEVI), the employer’s affiliation (together with DEV, additionally current) of an business which final yr had a turnover of two.3 billion euros in Spain. “We are gradually conquering the place that belongs to us,” stated Cuenca, “but the collaboration of authorities is increasingly necessary.”

Support and future

The fact is that on the inauguration of the brand new heart there have been authorities of all colours, from the central authorities to the Community of Madrid, passing by means of the City Council, maybe an indication of the ecumenical spirit to which the video video games themselves continuously attraction. Carmen Paez, undersecretary of the Ministry of Culture, confused that the Government and the ministry are “firm defenders of the video game,” and that their position is to “accompany the video game as a cultural industry.” Luis Martín Izquierdo, Vice Minister of Culture of the Community, made a gloss on “an industry that has redefined entertainment and innovation,” and highlighted the constructing by which will probably be situated, a historic website that, as if it have been a online game, , has gained a brand new life. Ángel Niño, councilor for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of town, highlighted the work of selling tradition that the middle entails, and recalled the dedication that Madrid has been making for a number of years to create a cluster of video video games nationwide that seeks to advertise “an ecosystem for the interactive medium.” For his half, José Francisco Salado, president of the Malaga Provincial Council, which partly sponsors the middle, highlighted the large success of the Malaga museum, which in January marks two years, of which he stated that “it is the second most viewed museum of Malaga after the Picasso.” With round 120,000 guests final yr, the OXO in Malaga has been a revolution within the metropolis’s cultural panorama. Successful that now the administration group needs to copy in Madrid.

That administration group, Santiago Bustamante apart, has its core within the Kaiju firm, additionally from Malaga, directed by the Ramos brothers. “It is a museum not only for those who already love video games, but for those who know them firsthand, for those who want to enter this world,” stated Javier Ramos, CEO of Kaiju Group. Ramos, who inaugurated the museum, declared himself excited, remembering {that a} challenge like this “does not come from money, but from the enthusiasm of his entire team” and thanked his brothers, Miguel and Carlos, for his or her involvement.

Video video games are conquering increasingly more leisure house, but additionally of cultural significance. It will hit the market subsequent yr GTA VImaybe essentially the most anticipated sport in historical past, a meteorite with a price range of round 2,000 million euros. It might be a milestone, however on the identical time simply an instance inside an ever-growing business that’s extra hungry for achievement and cultural legitimacy. A museum just like the one in Madrid is a giant step, however, on the identical time, simply one other display screen. And the sport continues.