Gaming
Games
Art, music, TV, physical cartridges – iam8bit has done it all. We speak to the two geniuses behind gaming's first pop culture provocateur
With decades of history behind it, the games industry has become an intrinsic part of popular culture, to the point where merchandise and associated products are almost as popular with consumers as the games themselves.
Companies like Nintendo, Sega, Capcom and Konami are leveraging the fame of their creations in new and interesting ways, connecting with past fans as well as attracting the attention of entirely new ones via a series of unique licensing opportunities, including music, artwork and other related, must-have merch. One of the companies at the forefront of this pop culture revolution is Los Angeles-based iam8bit, founded by Jon Gibson.
"I started writing about video games for a local newsweekly in Detroit called The Metro Times when I was 15," he says. "Then magazines, when people actually bought magazines. Then I got into animation, writing for Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It was a merger of nerd love for games and meeting lots of young artists who had the same fondness.
"When I moved to Los Angeles at 18, some friends started inviting me to a weekly game night, where we'd play lots of old-school stuff. They just so happened to be artists in animation. We'd have LAN parties at Warner Bros after hours, with ethernet cables stretching above cubicle walls, with a bazillion Xboxes networked. Halo was big then. We were dorky. We all loved art. iam8bit, while a new thing then, was a part of everyone's natural lifeblood already. I just gave it a name."
iam8bit the company actually takes its name from iam8bit the art show, an event founded by Gibson in 2004. "Back then, the art scene wasn't like it is today," he says. "Galleries were stodgy, upscale establishments – well-lit places for rich people to hang out in to shop for wall furniture. Meanwhile, there was this beautiful, burgeoning talent pool of teens and twenty-somethings trying to get their foot in the door. The kind of art that this generation – my dumb, ambitious, crazy friends – were making didn't have a real home. The best showcase they could get was one-night only warehouse parties in derelict buildings around L.A.
"Basically, after going to enough of these underground, totally illegal art parties, the notion behind iam8bit was born: to provide these young, hungry, talented artists an assignment – a theme to create around – and then, of course, a forum for presenting their art to an eager audience. Before iam8bit, it was just random, do-whatever-you-want art. The idea was to provide artists a platform to tell a story, something nostalgic and familiar, giving them an outlet to exercise their personal style and fanfare for Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Mega Man, Samus and all the classics. iam8bit was the world's first pop culture art show."
From these chaotic origins, the company version of iam8bit was born and Gibson admits that he was initially taken aback by the speed at which things developed. "iam8bit got a lot of attention very quickly and with barely a chance to breathe, companies like Capcom, Nintendo, Disney, Warner Bros, Interscope all started asked if we did marketing," he says. "Suddenly, iam8bit was a marketing agency, but it was just me trying to run a company and it was quickly careening out of control. Luckily, at the exact right moment, I met Amanda, who quite literally rescued iam8bit from the fatal wound of my delinquency. We are each one-half of the iam8bit whole – creatively, functionally a company, only together... like Voltron!"
Amanda White recounts how she and Gibson crossed paths, an event which took the firm to an entirely new level. "Jon and I met on a hike," she explains. "Our mutual friend, actor Daniel Francese, introduced us. We became fast friends and started hanging out. I could see that Jon needed some help with his business and fortunately my producing skills, gleaned in the feature film and documentary producing worlds, were an exact match for his needs. Together, we Voltron-ed and iam8bit became a legit company."
Given the backgrounds of iam8bit's two key personnel, it should come as no great shock to learn that video gaming culture remains the key focus to this day. "I'm a Nintendo kid," admits Gibson. "I had older brothers rocking everything from Commodore 64 to Sega Master System, but it was The Legend of Zelda on NES that stole my heart piece... and it was BurgerTime in the arcades that drenched it in ketchup! Then Super Nintendo! Don't even get me started."
White's memories are just as potent. "I used to walk a couple of miles down the train tracks with my best friend. We'd see who could walk for the longest time without falling off of the skinny rails," she recalls. "Along the tracks was a strip mall, with an arcade. We'd go and spend quarters, playing PacMan, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, Q-Bert and Space Invaders. At home, we had a Commodore 64. I didn't play much in high school, but jumped back into it a bit after University, playing PaRappa the Rapper and a few fighting and car racing games that I don't remember specifics about."
While art was the first creative outlet for Gibson, the arrival of White triggered a slight change of direction and as a result, iam8bit is perhaps most famous today for its video game soundtracks, published on vinyl. "Amanda is the one that got me into vinyl," says Gibson. "All those interpretive rock albums; how records really weren't just about music, but the whole package. We released our first video game soundtrack on vinyl in 2010, for Tron Evolution. It was a promotional mailer with Disney Interactive, sent out to a couple hundred tastemakers as a piece of swag.
"That was nearly eight years ago, and if it weren't for the PR guy at the time being a diehard music fan himself – and trusting us – it would have never happened. Video game music on vinyl wasn't considered hip then; no one was doing it. Now there are nearly two dozen labels dedicated exclusively to it. We actively sought to grow the marketplace from the beginning so early on, a lot of publishers thought that we were crazy. A really well-known developer once questioned, very sincerely, 'People actually buy this?' Yes, they do."
The process for creating these unique albums isn't as straightforward as you might imagine. "We draw on our extensive relationships with artists to find exactly the right creative match for each vinyl we produce," explains White. "Jon and I love collaborating with artists of all kinds to expand upon the mythos created by license holders. Key art can feel a bit stiff sometimes and we've found that fans go absolutely bonkers for something that reaches back to its origins while, at the same time, pushing forward into new ways of thinking about those same origins.
"We've found that across the board, fans really love the idea of progress and evolution, as it relates to the games they play. We try to dive into their imaginations and pull out ideas that inspire and at the same time, we do our darndest to pay respectful homage to each brand we have the opportunity to work with. We aim to amplify fan opinions to even higher heights with the products we lovingly craft. So far so good."
Just as iam8bit evolved from art to music, the company is taking another step into the world of TV and movie production – a realm in which both Gibson and White have previous experience. "Amanda and I met when she was producing movies, so it's part of our DNA," Gibson elaborates. "We're actually developing a project called You've Got Game Show! We've done it live at conventions for several years, but its home is really on TV. It's one of our most favorite things we've produced. The first time was at Game Developer's Conference a few years back. Who doesn't dream of being on a game show, especially about video games?"
Games remain a key focus for the company however, and it recently moved into the arena of producing physical special editions of retro gaming classics. "For several years, we've secretly been developing a new brand called the Legacy Cartridge Collection, which is essentially the Criterion Collection for analog video games," Gibson says. "We've teamed up with the best engineers and nerdy geniuses to kickstart '80s and '90s era manufacturing of actual, working cartridges for NES, SNES and so on. Our first release was Street Fighter II for SNES on its 30th anniversary and you can bet that there's other insanely cool releases in the works."
That should keep iam8bit busy for the near future, but where will the company be in five years time?
"We work really hard every day and love the non-stop pace," answers White. "That said, I'm hopeful that in five years, while we continue to produce products that resonate with fans, that we're both able to take a little more time for ourselves to rest and rejuvenate. That might be tough considering a couple of goals we have at the top of our minds right now – opening physical stores in Europe and Japan and landing those illusive IP's we both so dearly want to make records and physical games for."
