Arcade1Up is resurrecting NFL Blitz and giving it online multiplayer

digitaltrends.com:

“I hate to say it this way, but it’s good bragging rights,” said Scott Bachrach. “This is by far the best thing we’ve ever delivered in so many different ways.”

Bachrach, joined on a Google Meets video call by four (count ’em!) PR helpers, is having a superstar athlete moment. His company, Arcade1Up, which builds and sells ¾-scale retro arcade cabinets for the home market, is doing a victory lap. Having started with modest ambitions in 2018, Arcade1Up has today sold upwards of 3 million units. “We control 96.5% of the marketplace that’s out there,” he told Digital Trends.

The news that has Bachrach buzzing today, which explains the “We’re going to Disney World” gridiron swagger, is that Arcade1Up is announcing the debut of NFL Blitz, a game Bachrach says his team has been begging for since day one.

NFL Blitz, which originally debuted in arcades in late 1997, isn’t the biggest arcade game of all time. (Arcade1Up already manufactures home versions of the real heavy hitters like Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Super Street Fighter II). However, the fact that Bachrach’s company has managed to win the support of the NFL, one of the most powerful sports organizations in the world, is serious cause for celebration.

“For us to go to the NFL to begin with, we had to prove ourselves out for a while first,” Bachrach said. “[But] on the heels of [the kind of success we experienced], those dialogues started to take place.”

And, while NFL Blitz may not have broken financial records, it did do pretty great business at a time when arcades were already on their way out of the popular consciousness.

“In the year it came out, [NFL Blitz generated $650 million – in 1997 money,” Bachrach continued. “I think that’s a testament to the quality of