Everyone just convinced themselves that bust was upon us and everyone decided, “Oh,
we’re all going to die, so let’s just die.” The underlying forces had not changed by much.
So things were able to pick
up. Unfortunately, the recovery
surprised everybody by its
shape. The initial collapse dis-
credited video games, but not
really computer games as much.
Unfortunately, at the time, most
computer games were just cop-
ies of video games. Hence, many
computer game companies that
were deriving all of their sales
from video games collapsed. It
was really bad for a while there. I
couldn’t get a job, I couldn’t get
anything. There were two new things for me:Balance of Powerand the Macintosh. I had
some serious discussions with the people at Amiga as to whether I wanted to do soft-
ware evangelism for them. And really this boiled down to a choice between platforms.
Which platform am I going to run with — the Mac or the Amiga? I gave that a lot of
thought, because I realized you hitch your star to a platform. I chose the Macintosh,
which turned out to be the right decision.
I went to work onBalance of Power. My big hope then was that we could maybe
rebuild the industry along more rational lines. And, you know, there was a real chance
there. That was the crucial moment of truth for the computer games industry, the
period from ’85 through ’87. And it took the wrong turn. Actually, 1990 was when the
fate of the industry was sealed. And if anything sealed it, it was Chris Roberts’Wing
Commander. But we had a real opening there for a while; it looked like we might pull it
off.
How do you thinkWing Commandersealed the fate of the industry?
The big question for the industry in 1985 was what, if anything, will sell? Nobody
seemed to know for sure, but there were a few strands. The fact thatBalance of Power
was a huge hit suggested to people that perhaps serious games might have a future, or
at least games that weren’t video games. And there was a lot of excitement about
exploring some of those ideas. The other games that were a big success back then were
the whole series of Infocom games, which continued to do well right through the crash.
Because they were clearly different from video games.
Yes. And you put those two together, and it pointed strongly in one direction. So there
was a lot of effort in that direction. The industry was still torn because it was so much
easier to design the video games, and they did seem to sell to a group of people who
weren’t affected by the crash. We really teetered on that fence: which way are we going
to go — video games or a broad range of game possibilities? What sealed it wasWing
Commander, for two reasons. The main thing thatWing Commanderdid that doomed
Chapter 14: Interview: Chris Crawford 263
Balance of Power