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 Jun 15, 2026

Vivendi Electric Boogaloo

Monday Jun 15, 2026

TCW Podcast Episode 260 - Vivendi Electric Boogaloo

How does a Canadian liquor company end up owning Universal Studios and, eventually, help create Activision Blizzard? Seagram chased diversification as liquor sales softened, tried to take over Conoco, and instead wound up with a 25% stake in DuPont that generated most of its earnings. Edgar Bronfman Jr. sold that stake to buy MCA from Matsushita, inheriting a mismanaged Universal. He then doubled down on music with a $10.6 billion PolyGram deal just as Napster, the dot com bubble, and changing listening habits blew up the old record business model. With media stocks riding high, the rest of the Bronfman family wanted out, and Jean-Marie Messier at Vivendi stepped in, using Canal+ and an all‑stock transaction to fold Seagram into Vivendi and create Vivendi Universal. On the games side, Havas Interactive and the former CUC and Cendant software assets were combined with Universal’s own games business, including the franchises of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, under a new label: Vivendi Universal Games. Then the bubble burst, Vivendi’s debt and deceptive cash accounting caught up with Messier, and he was forced out, leaving his successors to sell assets and manage the fallout. Inside the games group, Blizzard’s success defined the division, culminating in World of Warcraft’s launch and the later decision to combine Vivendi’s games business with Activision. That deal created Activision Blizzard, gave Vivendi a way to tap cash when its telecom business went bad, and set the stage for Activision Blizzard's eventual separation from Vivendi. Vivendi made one last, mostly unsuccessful push into games through moves on Ubisoft and the takeover of Gameloft.

TCW 064 - Rise and Fall of Infogrames Part 1: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW064-rise-and-fall-of-infogrames-part-1
TCW 065 - Rise and Fall of Infogrames Part 2: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW065-the-rise-and-fall-of-infogrames-part-2

TCW 114 - The Wizards of Sir-Tech: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW114-the-wizards-of-sir-tech

TCW 115 - The Return of the Sdraziw of Sir Tech: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW115-the-return-of-the-sdraziw-of-sir-tech

TCW 251 - Virgin Games: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW251-virgin-games

TCW 184 - A Very Naughty Dog Pt 1: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW184-a-very-naughty-dog-pt-1

TCW 185 - A Very Naughty Dog Pt 2: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW185-a-very-naughty-dog-pt-2

Spyro the Dragon (PSX): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrVKjNR0-SE

Crash Bandicoot (PSX): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HtPF0ers1w

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

TCW 221 - North to Hellgate London: https://www.theycreateworlds.com/episodes/TCW221-north-to-hellgate-london