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

5 days ago

The Shenanigans of CUC Software

5 days ago

TCW Podcast Episode 258 - The Shenanigans of CUC Software

Walter Forbes built CUC International from Comp-U-Card, a phone-in discount shopping club that cut out the middleman with a small markup and annual fee, not unlike a proto-Amazon Prime. As computer networks like CompuServe, Prodigy, and GEnie rose, CUC pivoted online and Forbes set his sights on the games business, joining the Sierra On-Line board and buying out Ken Williams and Davidson and Associates for a combined 1.7 billion dollars in stock swaps. Despite promises to Williams that he would not be secondary to a competitor, Bob Davidson of Davidson and Associates ended up running the software division, and when Davidson discovered something troubling enough to dump his stock and left. The cracks were beginning to show. Williams tried to take over, was not given the time of day, and eventually left. Forbes meanwhile pursued a merger with Henry Silverman's HFS, a hospitality giant owning Days Inn, Ramada, Howard Johnson, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, and Avis, forming the new conglomerate Cendant. The true depth of the shenanigans were only starting to show. How could a company consistently just barely beat analyst/market estimates?

Comp-U-Card News Brief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6H5mdSHyNQ

Credit Card Impression Machines: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S5c2mA1cnv4

New Innovations in Credit Cards (1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TBD8HTssRA

The Simpsons - The Truth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Nc88_ZEfxg

TCW 039 - On-Line Systems: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW039-on-line-systems

TCW 040 - Sierra On-Line: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW040-sierra-on-line

Word Attack (PC-DOS 1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJf13H9Wbnk

Math Blaster (PC-DOS 1983): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKi_g0g8EWQ

TCW 162 - Spinnaker Software: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW162-spinnaker-software

TCW 054 - Blizzard: Vikings and Warcraft: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW054-blizzard-vikings-and-warcraft

TCW 071 - A story of Brøderbund!: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW071-a-story-of-broderbund

TCW 072 - The MYSTeries of Brøderbund! - : https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW072-the-mysteries-of-broderbund