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

Sep 15, 2026

The 10 Best Selling Atari Games

Sep 15, 2026

1 hr 53 min

TCW Podcast Episode 266 - The 10 Best Selling Atari Games

An internal Atari document visible in the background of the documentary Once Upon Atari provides a rare look at the company’s best-selling VCS games during the years leading up to, and just after, the video game crash. The Atari VCS was designed around just two player graphics, two missile graphics, and a ball, yet its most successful games pushed that limited hardware in new directions. These games were created by a diverse group of programmers who found new ways to expand what the system could do. By examining sales figures across multiple years, including the net sales of individual games, the document reveals both the titles that defined Atari’s commercial success and the real impact of the crash on the company. There are also surprises in the list, including a driving game, two takes on the Pac-Man concept, and the fact that Atari’s most successful game was not a failure.

Once Upon Atari: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389237/

Atari Archive: https://www.youtube.com/@AtariArchive/search

Super Breakout (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjpOaPxU0rs

Missile Command (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24vQuyrwTQ0

Vanguard (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQDKtc1i-4

Street Racer (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCSYY1kK9so

Yar's Revenge (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBHrU65JDF4

Video Olympics (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZOn9OIN_r4

Circus (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twnPnn_-Rm0

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLqi0F_wQcs

Air Sea Battle (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l0AQ5LuvQM

Bowling (Atari 2600): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrvEDIcMZnI