They Create Worlds

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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

Wednesday May 01, 2024

Accolade Part 1

Wednesday May 01, 2024

TCW Podcast Episode 209 - Accolade Part 1

In part one of a two-part retrospective, we explore how the pressures of the North American video game crash combined with the desire to create more sophisticated products for home computer platforms led Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead to leave Activision and establish their own company, Accolade. Publishing a mix of internally developed and third-party product, Accolade finds success through several popular sports franchises, including Hardball, Jack Nicklaus Golf and, most significantly, Test Drive. By the beginning of the 1990s, the company remains small, but profitable, and is ready to parlay its success on computer platforms to still greater success in the rapidly growing 16-bit console market.

TCW 126 - Activision and Atari: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/activision-and-atari/

TCW 009 - History of Mediagenic Part 1: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/history-of-mediagenic-part-i/

TCW 010 - History of Mediagenic Part 2: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/history-of-mediagenic-part-ii/

TCW 172 - The Computer Price Wars Part 1: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-price-wars-part-1/

TCW 173 - The Computer Wars part 2: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-wars-part-2/

TCW 174 - The Computer Wars Part 3: https://podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/the-computer-wars-part-3/

Law of the West (C64): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrMk9RyCWKI

PSI-5 Trading Company (C64): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56E21gQq1TE

Hardball (C64): https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=jejblUhw3hU

High Noon Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9CR_tib0CA

Gunsmoke 1966 opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui-mzTCmZPE

Hardball (ZX Spectrum): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwuKr6sa0S8