Arcade stick Interview with SGF: Running a Controller Business
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- It's interview time! Today we are sitting down with Matt and his primate Vtuber from SGF to talk all things related to his fightstick / all-button controller business. I want to document some of the behind-the-scenes perspective and decision-making that goes into running a business in our niche. So, big thanks to SGF devices for agreeing to come on and let me pick their brain.
*interview was edited down for time, not content
SGF webpage: sgfdevices.com/
SGF Twitter: @SGFDevices
If you found value in the content, consider subscribing: / @hushmysweet1
Twitter: @AFightstick
Thanks so much for having me! This was a blast and I'm always happy to talk shop with other FGC heads :)
And thanks for the candid answers! Always interesting to learn more about the lesser-seen business side of things!
I’m glad that we’re seeing more diversity in controllers used for fighting games beyond a standard arcade stick or controller. As long as it’s tournament legal and isn’t cheating, I’m interested in seeing the options people use!
100% agreed!
Fascinating stuff. Some of the technical details are surprising to me, like using snap-fit to speed up assembly.
Yeah, it was interesting how much time that freed up. Makes sense after I heard it, but maybe not something I would have considered in the thick of things. So good on them for having some foresight.
The snap fit was a big bet for me at the time. I think I provided some context that didn't make it to the final cut (I rambled a lot), but there was a point where the major bottleneck for getting more units available was me assembling them, and I timed myself with a stopwatch. Inserting the brass inserts was the longest step of the assembly process because it's very precise and can ruin the plastic if things go wrong. I took a few hours every night to prototype some snap fits and finally landed on a design that was durable enough and took practically no time to assemble, so that more than doubled the amount of units I was able to make every day for practically no tradeoff.
@@SGFDevices I didn't even think of inserts, I thought it was just about having to use a screwdriver n times per build.
The screws themselves were a factor, but very minor compared to the inserts, time-wise.
Wow that was an awesome interview
I need to reach out and see if I can get a product of theirs to review on my channel and hopefully help spread the word on their products
Great job on landing this interview it was a good one
Keep up the great work
Thank you so much for your amazing content Hush!
Thanks for the support, Dimz! Appreciate ya!
I love this twist. Keep going, Keep growing!
Thanks, dude! I appreciate the support, so big thanks for watching and weighing in with a comment!
More of these please! So much quality insight
On it! Thanks for watching!
Technology is truly amazing these days; we can literally talk to monkeys. Really good interview, with only one minor critique: like many people, I love to have videos playing in the background. Interviews are really great for this... unless I have to stop/rewind to read the interview question because it doesn't have any audio for the interviewer. I saw the disclaimer that it's edited for time; I get it. I just like the flow of having both voices, even if the interviewer is only asking questions without a back and forth or even follow-ups. (I didn't mention this with the JonyFraze interview because I was actively watching, and he was constantly pulling out fightsticks). I guess these are asynchronous interviews, huh? Still great content. Big thanks to SGFDevices for the work they're doing and taking the time for this interview!
I’m surprised HushMySweet didn’t narrate the questions either. I picked up on what they probably were based on the responses. But I agree, it was annoying listening to this audio-only.
These are all fair criticisms and I'll see if I can't work your notes into future interview-style vids if I continue with these (business interviews are like 9 levels deep into this niche so typically don't have as much engagement.) Both jony and SGF got back over 2 hours of content/answers back to me, but I feel I need to cut out the dead air and trim it down into something that could be more easily consumed so I try get something together that's about ~20 minutes of highlights. But maybe that's not the best, IDK. I don't listen to any podcasts so maybe I come to this with a different background. Still, I appreciate the feedback and it would be easy enough for me to at least ask the questions to help people who like to listen to these in the background. Thanks for watching, dude!
I'll learn for the future if I continue with these! Thank you for the honest feedback.
@@HushMySweet1 no worries! The 20 minute target works really well, imo. Two hours of content is a ton; you'll definitely get some drop-off if you go too long.
@@vthegrigori9137 Hey, since I've got your here. What are your thoughts on the background footage I used as the backdrop for their Vtuber? Fine? Any other suggestions for that sort of stuff?
Great video! I’d love to see some more interviews with controller makers like JunkFood Arcades and Jonny Fraze
Good news then! The first one I did was with Jony. Feel free to check that out and let me know what you think. I'm still trying to find a good style/format for these interviews.
Oh, also: I suspect that one of the places that fightsticks are going next is non-fighting game applications. I've been working on a dual analogue build, and I've been seeing more and more other people do the same. I think a lot of us recognise that a fightstick is just a much more fun form factor to use, so why should fighting games have all the fun? Put a couple analogue sticks on a fightstick and suddenly it's a viable option for Rocket League or Elden Ring or whatever. I expect we're going to start seeing more and more options for easy-install thumbsticks, full analogue levers like the SASI, and other such "ecosystem" components making it possible to DIY a good analogue build.
Fingers crossed for a future with more fightsticks! It will be interesting to see which gaming genres assimilate them first.
love these guys and their products
They are a nice crew
You're too kind! Thank you for supporting us :)
Amazing interview, it was pretty cool to see the insight and logistics of someone working in the arcade controller industry.
I was wondering if you could somehow use your secret arcade stick influencer powers to interview JFA, the Train, and/or Haute?
I talked to TheTrain about one and he is likely down for one. I'll add the others to my short list for a potential future one. Thanks for watching! (And lol @ arcade stick influencer powers)
@@HushMySweet1 Thatd be sick. I feel like those 3 in particular have been so important towards whats happening in the modern controller landscape. It's really crazy stuff.
Also you can't try and hide it, I'm onto you!
Thanks for the interview, hopefully TheTrain will give one.
I sent him a DM. I try to give the people what they want! Thanks for watching!
Great interview!
Awesome, glad it found a few people who were interested in learning more about stickless business. Thank you for watching!
Definitely a good video have been enjoying the interviews and stuff :3
Glad you like them! These ones definitely don't appeal to as broad of an audience as typical fightstick vids, but still valuable to occasionally have these imo. The insight is cool and then I also think it helps make some of these people we see on discords and reddit just a bit more real. Like at the end of the day, we're all just dudes who enjoy fightstick / all-button content. /done rambling Thank you for watching and commenting, dude!
Seing some faces from Discord right here is really funny
These are the video topics that bring out the people super deep in the hobby. So seems appropriate a lot of those have made an appearance. Thanks for watching!
@@HushMySweet1 it's really good to see that this community is so engaged. Not just FGC, but the Open GP2040-CE and the r/Fightstick are really great places to be
What if this company designs a leverless controller that can swap to joystick easily/quickly? I would buy that in a heartbeat
Could be cool. There are some people who do modular cases, but they are all custom and not mass produced as far as I know. Thanks for watching!
I bought one a while ago it's great 👍
Which one did you get? I have been messing with the foot pedals on this Faust still. Pretty wild.
Also, thanks for watching!
@@HushMySweet1 I have the bridget mx
Which buttons and button caps are the lowest profile that you sell? I want to have the lowest profile, most quiet, most sensitive buttons possible.
Hey thanks for asking! The lowest profile we offer overall is our flat (flatbox-style) shape. If you're looking for drop-in buttons that replace a standard arcade button (like a Sanwa button), you'd want the MonKey B.U.T.T.s with a flat profile. If you have a premade PCB-based controller (like one of ours or a Haute or Granola, etc) then you just want the MonKeys button caps in the flat shape.
We also have some videos on our page that show off the different shapes :)
@@SGFDevices Are these lower than the Korean ones that have Cherry MX in them? They're about 1-2mm lower than Sanwa Buttons.
@@Ratel3000 as far as I'm aware, yes, they would be, but I don't have every button possible to compare with.
@@SGFDevices hi SGF I'm actually looking at buying a Faust but I'm confused about the differences between the Button options :)