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

Monday Dec 01, 2025

The History of Commodore Pt 4

Monday Dec 01, 2025

TCW Podcast Episode 247 - The History of Commodore Pt 4

The final chapter of our Commodore series covers the company’s chaotic decline. After early success with the Amiga line, internal conflict grew under President Tom Rattigan, who wanted to focus on the low end with the Amiga 500 while Irving Gould pushed for high end systems like the Amiga 2000. Missed deadlines and a failed boardroom challenge led to Rattigan’s firing and Gould taking direct control. When IRS tax issues forced Gould to step back, Mahdi Ali became President and began reorganizing engineering. Ali hired Bill Sydnes from the IBM PC team, who also had a hand in the failure of the PC Jr, to evaluate and streamline development. Gould continued to cycle executives in pursuit of short term stock gains, which weakened Commodore as it chased conflicting markets. Cost cutting turned the popular Amiga 500 into the poorly received A600, though the later A1200 fared better. Ali moved manufacturing to the Philippines after shutting down facilities in Hong Kong and Germany, but production was disrupted by the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption. Commodore finally collapsed and went bankrupt in 1994, ending one of the most turbulent stories in personal computing.

Pepsi Challenge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPjteYv4YI

Pepsi Challenge 1978: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEXEdibXSak

New Coke Conspiracy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HJ_6wewbDjk

Amiga 1000 & Sidecar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPfArIhoy0s

Amiga 2000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he_p8A7A1aU

Amiga 2000 HD Professional Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keG2KdQHC6s

Amiga 500 Bundles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc5gpyA6SjQ

Amiga 500 Batman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM2SCzt73s0

Amiga 500 Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVZrL4k1los

Commodore C65: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoHxDe3Gc9E

Leonard Nimoy Laserdisc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ5msrmf5Tw

Amiga 3000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzA5AhH1mbw