One week ago, right as the site had some time out for a hosting transfer, DEAL Expo 2025 started up in Dubai. Although we don’t typically have first-hand coverage of it, we have covered this amusement and leisure-focused trade show from time to time here on AH, as most of the major arcade companies tend to have product there and post about it. This is usually via their Middle Eastern distributors, but also sometimes with small booths of their own. That can occasionally include new-new games as well (albeit not as often as IAAPA and AEI), so let’s take a look at what was on hand from the photos and videos shared.
Wahlap
First up, we have the one site advertiser who had their own booth there, Wahlap. They were kind enough to send over a photo of their small space, which consisted of an Asphalt Moto Blitz DX and a Getter Spin G from Taito. Note the “Distributed by Warehouse of Games” signs on these, as they are the company that sells all of their product in the Middle East (find more on them below). Wahlap were also keen to point out that, unsurprisingly, they will really be pulling out all the stops for their next Chinese trade show appearance at the AAA Expo in May – so stay tuned to the blog for more details on that…
Amusement Services International
Next is one of the region’s biggest and longest-standing distributors, Amusement Services International/ASI. Last year marked their 25th in business, and they have links to recognizable names like Sega, Bandai Namco and even Konami (DanceRush Stardom was interestingly sold by them not too long ago), among others. As a result ASI often tend to have the most new launches, and this time was no exception.
In terms of what was there, Sega Amusements took up a big spot with a row of back to back games on their booth, including an already-sold Alpha Ops VR Strike taking pride of place. As Amusement Expo still had a prototype, this was the first appearance of its updated cabinet design, with more dynamic lighting on the motion platform. The marquee does look much the same as before, but perhaps there’s been some under the hood changes to make it less weighty (or the final-final production version will have a different one).
For Bandai Namco’s product, only GoldStorm Pirates and some sports + redemption pieces like Pac-Man Roller were brought along, although the former didn’t have the neat golden guns seen on the cabinet at Amusement Expo last month. It and Alpha Ops should be shipping by sometime during May:
The surprise of the show however was something that ASI quietly had at the “social games” area of their space – a new Terminator VR piece. This is listed on their website now, but there’s a lot of uncertainty around it still… the cabinets at the expo went under the name of Terminator Uprising, whilst on the site it’s simply listed as “Terminator 2”, and the best shot of it out there is a screengrab from this video shared by ASI. It looks like it is being made by Oculeap, using the same VR Agent-like cabinet recently seen running Zombie Frenzy, but besides that game also being at DEAL near to it, there’s no 100% confirmation that it fully is them, or whether it has even been officially licensed (hopefully it is though?).
ASI also brought some pieces from Ace Amusement, Bay Tek and LAI Games, including Cyberpunk: Turf Wars, although there wasn’t anything else new or updated from the looks of the photos available.
UDC
UDC mainly operate out of the UK and Europe, but like a few companies there, they do market some product in the Middle East on the side. Here this included StepManiaX (whose 61st content update dropped in tandem with the show), some Playmore pushers, and a few more Ace games besides those that ASI had, among others. They are usually always good with posting out photos and video of their trade show appearances, so have this YouTube show reel from them to represent the full gamut:
Warehouse Of Games
Everything that ASI doesn’t take usually goes to this second big distributor, Warehouse of Games. As you can see from below, that most prominently means Raw Thrills’ produce, as well as the likes of Adrenaline Amusements, Andamiro, ICE, TouchMagix, Team Play and UNIS. From this year on, their portfolio also includes newcomer Blue Motion Games, who posted these photos over on Linkedin.
As a quick reminder, full footage from Amusement Expo of Blue Motion’s current two releases, Cannonball Jam and Desert Storm, is now up on the AH YouTube channel.
Others
There were a few other companies from the arcade side of things who attended DEAL, though like Wahlap they typically had small booths showing off just one or two pieces. These included SEA, whose Big Sea Fishing was already on hand via ASI and Sega Amusements, which meant that they could demonstrate a few different games including this Ice Crackers videmption shooter:
Yuto Games and Epark, two other Chinese manufacturers who we’ve noted for posting a lot online before (and doing some ‘high seas’ stuff), were also around, as well as a few remaining VR specialist companies from there like Skyfun. Besides them, that’s about it though – with most bigger Western companies being represented well by their distributors there is little need for them to have their own booths.
As an aside while they’re relevant, Yuto in particular has been pushing their new Crazy Drift DR1 racing game of late, posting a lot of media about it across various sites (and sending me some messages on WhatsApp about it). It doesn’t look like it was there with them at the show however.
That’s all for DEAL this year; next up in arcade trade shows is the AAA Expo in China next month, as mentioned earlier, and a new event at the end of April, the ARE Expo in Manchester, UK. Of those we know AAA will definitely have some more new product, and ARE has been confirmed to feature Sega Amusements and Bandai Namco as well, so keep an eye out for them. Until then though, which of these new games shown at DEAL Expo 2025 are you excited to see land in arcades this summer?
