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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.
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

Friday Jan 01, 2021
The Crash That Almost Was
Friday Jan 01, 2021
Friday Jan 01, 2021
TCW Podcast Episode 129 - The Crash That Almost Was
We look at the crash that almost was. Most people do not realize that in the mid nineties we came very close to another video game market crash. A difficult transition was at hand as companies tried to figure out how and if they embrace the third dimension in video games. Coupled with a declining arcade market. New hardware costing twice as much, if not more than current systems many companies were on the edge. The market forces between Japan and the US with currency exchanges ate into profit margins. It lead to the deaths or decline of a few prominent companies. Most notably SEGA, and Acclaim. However because not just one major company was baring this the industry survived and continues to move forward to the present day!
Castlevania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOTUVXrAOE8
Super Castlevania IV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jd7P7niYimk
Super C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-z8xXA_v8k
Contra III The Alien Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJ5XbYWMpA
Super Mario Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6JjK04Pas0
Super Mario Brothers 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2LTcQwmOV4
Street Fighter II Turbo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPC3_bL-4Y
Super Street Fighter II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezoa6sVVP7U
Final Fight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKDNUKa68NI
Final Fight 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHk5JJ56v2Q
Castlevania X: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGQcMr2JGE0
New episodes on the 1st and 15th of every month!
TCW Email: feedback@theycreateworlds.com
Twitter: @tcwpodcast
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theycreateworlds
Alex's Video Game History Blog: http://videogamehistorian.wordpress.com
Alex's book is available for preorder and should be released through CRC Press in December 2019: http://bit.ly/TCWBOOK1
Intro Music: Josh Woodward - Airplane Mode - Music - "Airplane Mode" by Josh Woodward. Free download:http://joshwoodward.com/song/AirplaneMode
Outro Music: RolemMusic - Bacterial Love - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Rolemusic/Pop_Singles_Compilation_2014/01_rolemusic_-_bacterial_love
Copyright: Attribution: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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