They Create Worlds

https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/feed.xml

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The games we love reveal something true about who we are, and about the world that made them. They Create Worlds is a podcast about the people, technology, and forces that built the video game industry.

Through video game history, the show looks at how culture, business, and technology shaped what we play, tracing the choices and circumstances that led to the games so many people around the world enjoy.

Each episode digs into where games came from, who made them, and why they were made the way they were. Business decisions, technological shifts, and creative choices all shaped what ended up on screen, and the show covers all of it together, not just one piece in isolation.

Hosted by Alex Smith and Jeffrey Daum, They Create Worlds grew out of long conversations about the strange corners of the industry and the patterns that only show up when you look across companies, platforms, and decades. That conversational feel remains, built on careful research, clear structure and editing that makes even the deepest topics easy to listen to.

History turns out to be less settled than it looks. New documents surface, memories conflict, and the clean stories about why things happened the way they did rarely survive contact with the evidence. The show digs into all of that, following the creative and business forces that pushed and pulled on each other, and uncovering the human stories that lie beneath the games so many people around the world enjoy.

New episodes are released twice a month.

Episodes

Sunday Feb 15, 2026

A Guitar Hero

Sunday Feb 15, 2026

TCW Podcast Episode 252 - A Guitar Hero

The rise and fall of the Guitar Hero franchise and the rhythm game craze of the mid to late 2000s. Red Octane got its start making Dance Dance Revolution pads, but a partnership with Harmonix Music Systems, a studio building technology that let people interact with music without learning an instrument, led to the creation of Guitar Hero. Major retailers refused to carry it until Best Buy set up in-store demo units that sent sales skyrocketing, and Red Octane could barely keep up with demand. The franchise's success drew corporate attention: Activision acquired Red Octane, MTV Networks acquired Harmonix, and a lingering dispute between Activision and Viacom over the Star Trek license split the partnership in two, giving Activision Guitar Hero and Harmonix Rock Band. Both landed blockbuster bands from Aerosmith to the Beatles, but an endless flood of sequels and add-ons saturated the market, and what once felt like a cultural phenomenon burned out almost as fast as it arrived.

TCW 167 - Activision and Kotick Part 1: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/activision-and-kotick-part-1/

TCW 168 - Activision and Kotick Part 2: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/activision-and-kotick-part-2/

TCW 169 - Activision and Kotick Part 3: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/activision-and-kotick-part-3/

Dance Dance Revolution (PSX): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2IammLWeNE

TCW 052 - The Many Faces of Konami: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-many-faces-of-konami/
Guitar Freaks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-gDC1VXqqM

PaRappa The Rapper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3SI4Grases

Tribe on Conan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLrA00pKRHo

Bimini Run (Genesis): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1QdtG3YOE

System Shock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1QdtG3YOE
Thief - The Dark Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH_6ER0-voQ

Simpsons - I can See the Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyNtUpMeBTE

Frequency (PS2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z7n36dozeY

Amplitude (PS2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goH4ygJ48_c