Arcade Paradise dev explains the origin of the game's laundromat setting

Arcade Paradise is a sim game in which you manage your very own arcade… but you also have to worry about running the family laundromat. It’s a key part of the game, but it turns out this wasn’t always the plan, as other types of boring jobs were initially discussed. In a new interview with Eurogamer, Arcade Paradise’s designer Andreas Firnigl explains how the development team finally landed on the laundromat setting.

The first setting proposed for the game was a VHS video rental store, but Firnigl explains that this was too much of an “aspirational job”, and it needed to be changed to something less desirable. Next, they tried a pizzeria, but working in the kitchen was “super stressful”, and didn’t provide enough boredom or downtime.

At last, they stumbled upon a free graphics asset pack featuring a laundromat. “I saw the King Wash asset pack and I was like, ‘That - that could work,’” Firnigl says. As it happens, that was the perfect blend of boredom and mundanity to make room for the arcade business blooming in the back!

Click here to read more about the development of Arcade Paradise, which is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop.