At the OXO Video Game Museum in Malaga, or how to understand our favorite medium in three tangible ways –

At Gamereactor, we were looking forward to visiting the OXO Video Game Museum in Málaga since it opened its doors earlier this year, but it wasn’t until the new temporary exhibition was recently inaugurated that we got the chance to do so. The new showcase is an official collaboration with Square Enix as it is entirely dedicated to the Final Fantasy series, replacing the original exhibitions featuring Animal Crossing, Call of Duty and God of War.

But aside from collecting old and new pieces, OXO was built as a live, interactive experience with an educational goal in mind, and we took the opportunity to talk with cultural director Santiago Bustamante. The following video includes both the full interview and an exclusive tour of the building’s three floors/themes:

“From the beginning we thought about building a live concept of a museum of video games,” Bustamante explains, “not only living from the nostalgic vision of the history of video games, but also communicating the present and future of video games.”

This idea makes more sense when you enter the place – which is actually in the very historic center of Málaga, right behind the cathedral – and see how the second floor houses a more traditional retro showcase, the second is updated twice a year with temporary exhibitions around sagas, and then the third floor presents more experimental, futuristic, and alternative experiences.

“I was scared, as you were, in our opening, about how our visitors’ behavior might be with the special pieces we have in this museum,” agrees the director as we were shocked that you can touch and try almost anything, including Sharp’s Twin Famicom with its discs or the beloved Vectrex. “I think the visitors feel the great effort on our part, and we want to share our passion for video games, and we want to share the knowledge in this museum, and I think visitors accept that role of, ok, we’re very respectful of video games, we also love video games like you do, so since the beginning, until now, there hasn’t been any problem with that, and I’m really proud of our visitors in this case.”

“It’s the very first time we’ve had an official exhibition [zoals deze] on a museum here in Europe,” he then continued about the Final Fantasy space, which is also introduced in the museum’s spectacular 360-degree immersive space by producer Naoki Yoshida, as seen in the video. “I love exploring the history, the legacy of Final Fantasy, which is such an iconic video game, and you can explore not only the latest item, but also since the beginning ” because virtually every item in the series is available to play on the original format.

The FF area is then complemented by the private collection of fan Juanjo “Viento” Asensio, who borrowed quite unique pieces for this particular showcase.

Finally, third “is a floor where we work in real time and we try to provide a global view of video games and its frontiers,” and it includes ideas such as Robin Baumgarte’s Line Wobbler, XR innovations, regular cultural conversations and more.

Play the full video to learn why they are called OXO, how families and tourists are enjoying the experience as a new mandatory stop in the so-called City of Museums, or what may come next in terms of future exhibitions and initiatives at OXO.