They Create Worlds

Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura wanted an RPG combining Ultima exploration and Wizardry combat. Torishima united the team: Toriyama designed characters, Shōnen Jump followed development, and Sugiyama composed the music. youtu.be/bExRebz0zlY #DragonQuest #JRPG #VideoGameHistory #Famicom

Before Dragon Quest, a manga editor brought together a rising artist, writer, and young programmer through Shōnen Jump, Enix, and a shared love of games. youtu.be/wLWILPMutzo #DragonQuest #DragonWarrior #YujiHorii #AkiraToriyama #KazuhikoTorishima #KoichiNakamura #JRPG #VideoGameHistory

Contrary to popular belief, the video game industry didn’t crash in 1983 because of E.T. and a glut of bad games. The real reason is both simpler and more complicated. @theycreateworlds.bsky.social explains:

Atari’s best-selling VCS games hold a few surprises. Sales records glimpsed in Once Upon Atari show what really sold and how the crash hit Atari. We dig into the stories behind these games and the people who made them. youtu.be/7Zj61ykgVk8 #Atari #AtariVCS #Atari2600 #VideoGameHistory #RetroGaming

Hasbro went from toys to a major force in video games. Tom Dusenberry made Win95 Monopoly the foundation of #HasbroInteractive, leading to Frogger #Atari #MicroProse Avalon Hill and #WotC before Hasbro sold the division to Infogrames. www.youtube.com/watch?v=whwe... #VideoGameHistory #RetroGaming

One of gaming’s greatest twists changed Star Wars forever. Explore how BioWare built Knights of the Old Republic, and how Obsidian’s rushed sequel reshaped its future. #KOTOR #StarWarsGames #VideoGameHistory www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og9W...

Howell Ivy turned familiar arcade ideas into something fresh, from his early work at Ramtek and Exidy to his later impact at SEGA. #ArcadeHistory #Ramtek #SEGA #Exidy #RetroGaming youtu.be/fHoRfn1uh3o

A one-inch CRT designed for aircraft instruments sparked the idea for a home console that had to bring its own screen. The Vectrex launched into the Video Game Crash and cost Milton Bradley $31.6 million before Hasbro bought what was left. youtu.be/VHSUP6FhJAU #Vectrex #VideoGameHistory

A British dev built a Game Boy prototype that could do something it was never supposed to do, caught Nintendo's attention at CES, and helped build a 3D chip for the SNES. The Super FX chip made Star Fox possible, but Argonaut walked away with little to show. y2u.be/0vwa2366H4w #StarFox #SNES

How does a Canadian liquor company end up owning Universal Studios and help create Activision Blizzard? Seagram, Vivendi, bad timing, and deceptive accounting. The full story is Messier than you think. 🎙️ youtu.be/PzHARV7hO7w #VideoGameHistory #Vivendi #ActivisionBlizzard

CUC International kept just beating estimates until Henry Silverman saw the books and uncovered fraud built on phantom subscriptions and merger money games. That scandal helped push its software division into Vivendi's orbit. TCW259: www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1k5... #AccountingFraud #Vivendi

Walter Forbes turned a phone-in shopping club into CUC International, spent $1.7B on software companies, then merged with HFS to form Cendant. How was this company always just barely beating estimates? 🎙️ TCW258: www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW... #VideoGameHistory #CorporateScandal #Cendant

Nine cartridges, a Sears rebrand, and clever sprite tricks that pushed a new console to its limits. The Atari VCS launch titles were modest, but their fingerprints are everywhere. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcws... #AtariVCS #Atari2600 #RetroGaming #VideoGameHistory

Jeffrey has to rush to get an episode done today! Learn about the nine launch titles of Atari! Also learn about how the podcast is made! #Atari #VideoGameHistory www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

Historian Alex Smith (author and host of They Create Worlds) joins us for the latest Video Game History Hour podcast to challenge the prevailing “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” narrative in the early '90s: https://gamehistory.org/episode-154-sega-in-the-90s-an-economic-post-mortem/

Bob Jacob wanted to put Hollywood into a game box and nearly pulled it off. Defender of the Crown, Wings, Rocket Ranger, and a football game that quietly inspired EA Sports, all from a studio that lasted five years. youtu.be/EN43CmoJpyc #Cinemaware #DefenderOfTheCrown #RetroGaming #GamingHistory

With the original creators gone and development stalled, a new Bethesda team inherited the Elder Scrolls. Todd Howard's Morrowind ditched procedural generation for a handcrafted world so rich it saved the studio from collapse. youtu.be/_9L1FIa4MoU #Morrowind #ElderScrolls #Bethesda

From sports sims to Elder Scrolls Arena: how Bethesda's Julian LeFay and Vijay Lakshman built the gladiator-to-RPG pivot, then LeFay's massive Daggerfall vision met Ted Peterson's intricate design and gray moral plots. youtu.be/vK5oo4mU-Xc #ElderScrolls #Daggerfall #Bethesda #Arena

Jeffrey is editing the podcast! Come check out how it is all made! www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

From “Dig Dug” tactics to “Xevious” secrets and “The Tower of Druaga” that helped shape Zelda, Masanobu Endō pioneered concepts that still resonate in games today, from hidden secrets to layering story into gameplay. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmKv... #MasanobuEndo #Xevious #TowerOfDruaga

Plastic guitars and living‑room stages: how a DDR third‑party peripheral maker teamed with Harmonix, won over Best Buy, and turned Guitar Hero into a fad that collapsed under its own weight. Watch the full story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-5... #GuitarHero #VideoGameHistory #RhythmGames

Plastic guitars and living‑room stages: how a DDR third‑party peripheral maker teamed with Harmonix, won over Best Buy, and turned Guitar Hero into a fad that collapsed under its own weight. Watch the full story: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU-5... #GuitarHero #VideoGameHistory #RhythmGames

How did Virgin go from music to games like Command and Conquer, The 7th Guest, Aladdin, and The Lion King? We explore the rise and fall of Virgin Games, from early development and European distribution to major licenses and corporate collapse. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEM3...

How did a budget software publisher become the foundation of SEGA Europe? We look at the rise and fall of Mastertronic and how a failed console push changed its fate. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXG_... #theycreateworlds #videogamehistory #segahistory #retrogaming #mastertronic

Quest logs, auto-mapping, and early RPG innovation helped define New World Computing. We trace the studio’s growth from Might and Magic through Heroes, the push for faster releases under 3DO, and how pressure and overextension led to its collapse. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS77...

From the SX 64 and Plus/4 to the C128 and the rise of the Amiga, Commodore entered a new era after Jack Tramiel’s departure. The Amiga 1000 and its bouncing ball demo marked a major shift as Commodore moved into the sixteen bit age. ▶ youtu.be/8agWMGOHObA

From the PET to the VIC-20 and C64, Commodore evolved from business machines to home computing powerhouses. Smart marketing, the SID chip, and low prices made the C64 a billion-dollar success of the 8-bit era. ▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNzn... #Commodore #PET #VIC20 #C64 #RetroComputing

From lamps and typewriters to computers, Jack Tramiel’s drive shaped Commodore’s rise. A Holocaust survivor turned entrepreneur, he led Commodore through scandal and calculators to computing with MOS Technology. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJl4... #Commodore #JackTramiel #VideoGameHistory

Join us for a day of recording the history of Commodore! LIVE! www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

Fumito Ueda entered games through art, not play. Influenced by Flashback and Another World, he created ICO’s hand-holding bonds and Shadow of the Colossus’s haunting battles. His style reshaped design and inspired creators worldwide. ▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgD-...

If you are at DragonCon our presentation is at 4:00 Eastern! The History of the NES l.core-apps.com/dragoncon25/... See you there!

Nintendogs and Brain Age proved Nintendo could reach new audiences. That idea carried into the Wii, with family-friendly controls and games anyone could play. It became Nintendo's best-selling console, leaving its rivals behind. ▶ www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XE... #Nintendo #Wii #TheyCreateWorlds

Two failed consoles. A power struggle. The rise of Satoru Iwata. This episode traces Nintendo’s path through internal upheaval and fading relevance on the way to the Wii. 🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K2U... #Nintendo #Iwata #Yamauchi #Wii #History #VideoGameHistory #TheyCreateWorlds

John Carmack set out to build full 3D, dynamic lighting, and client-server multiplayer in Quake. Michael Abrash left Microsoft to help. As development spanned a year, problems at ID became more apparent. 🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG3h... #Quake #IDSoftware #JohnCarmack #MichaelAbrash

Jordan Mechner drew on Castles of Dr. Creep, Robin Hood (1938), Raiders, and Thief of Bagdad (1924) to shape Prince of Persia. He rotoscoped his brother for animation. A re-release after Disney's Aladdin made it a hit. 🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G45... #JordanMechner #PrinceOfPersia

Before Karateka, Jordan Mechner’s journey began with his family fleeing Nazi Europe. At Yale, he blended arcade insight with film ambition—helped by his father, who unexpectedly shaped the game with ideas, movement, and music. 📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=zblm...

🎙️ New episode! We spotlight the lesser-known pioneers of Japan’s coin-op scene — the entrepreneurs behind Tecmo, IREM, Sammy & more. Discover how they got their start and shaped early arcade history. 🎧 podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/coin-op-le... #videogamehistory #arcadehistory #bizhistory #Japan

🎙️ Going live now! Editing episode 235 of They Create Worlds — The Coin-op Legends of Japan! Come hang out and chat while we work: www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

Yu Suzuki redefined arcades with rideable cabinets, sprite-scaling “3D” & the gyroscopic R360. With Shenmue, he coined “Quick Time Events” & delivered NPCs, detail & interactivity unheard of in 1999. 🎮 #YuSuzuki #SEGA #TheyCreateWorlds #VideoGameHistory youtu.be/4fXkwuMaOVU

What do 3 doctors, a dungeon master, a database programmer, and a writer have in common? They made Baldur’s Gate—an RPG often credited with reviving Western RPGs. Built on DirectX & the Infinity Engine, it launched #BioWare into legend. 🎲🎮 🔗 podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/baldurs-ga...

Street Fighter 2 brought smoother combos, an expanded roster, and arcade hype. Inspired by Bruce Lee, anime, and Final Fight, it became a classic. Which version was your favorite? 🕹️🔥 #StreetFighter2 #RetroGaming www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvuK...

🕹️ Explore Donkey Kong's origins! Thanks to @katewillaert.bsky.social & @gaminghistorian.bsky.social, we better understand the influences of this foundational game! 🎮 🎧 Listen: podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/donkey-kong/ #DonkeyKong #VideoGameHistory #Nintendo

Happy New Years! Start 2025 right with a look at Games by Apollo! A company with some flaws but put out some interesting third-party titles on the VCS! podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/games-by-a... #GamesByApollo #VideoGameHistory #Atari #VCS

Games by Apollo? Why yes, I need to edit that! www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

The third part of our live stream is ready for your listening pleasure! D&D & Video Games 3E! See how D&D influenced many early mainframe, and PC games! podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/dd-video-g...

In case you missed it, D&D & Video Games 2E is out for your listening pleasure! I hope to have the transcription done later today or tomorrow. podcast.theycreateworlds.com/e/dd-video-g... www.youtube.com/watch?v=njau...

Friday Editing with Jeffrey! www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast

I am doing some editing for a few hours! www.twitch.tv/tcwpodcast