~2 minute readWhat about Atari 8-bits and the Commodore 64?
Here at The Status Line, we make it a practice to keep aware of what's going on in the computer industry in general, and in the minds of our customers in particular. One concern on a lot of people's minds is why Infocom seems to be ignoring the thousands of loyal fans who own Atari 8-bits and Commodore 64s. And since we have trouble answering all your letters sent by mail and by modem, we spent some time discussing the situation with Mike Dornbrook, our Director of Marketing.
TSL: Mike, why isn’t Beyond Zork available for the Commodore 64 and the Atari XL/XE?
Mike: Well, computer technology has been advancing by quantum leaps and the trend has only accelerated in the last few years. For instance, the original Zork had to be cut in thirds to be downloaded for personal computer use only seven years ago. Now AMFV and Beyond Zork are each bigger than the entire Zork Trilogy.
Consumers, to their credit are keeping up with technology. People are eager to buy every worthwhile new product that hardware manufacturers develop; and in general they're quite able to tell a rising star from a lemon. Considering the sales of new models in the last five years, consumers want new features and increased capacity in their computers.
This situation puts software companies in a difficult position. To not support new machines to the best of their technological capabilities spells a very short future for a software developer. To leave behind older machines breeds not only loss of customers' respect and loyalty, but also the destruction of the current sales base; this, too, puts a software company on the edge.
Infocom Game Sizes
In release date order
The route that we are following reflects the route that you are following. 80% of the sales of our smaller games—those that run on the C-64 and the Atari—are to people whose machines can support much larger games. Since we have the capability of doing that much more for those machines, we feel that to not do so would be shortchanging the vast majority of our constituents.
On the other hand, we don't want to turn our backs on those with less powerful machines, and we've made conscious —- and even painful —- efforts to continue to support those customers. Both Border Zone and Sherlock, the two releases after Beyond Zork, run on the Commodore 64. And it was an especially tough job getting Sherlock down to that size, but we made a commitment in both time and personnel to do just that. To get Sherlock to where it could run on the Atari, however, would require removing fully one third of the story -— an unrealistic compromise both artistically and structurally.
As for Beyond Zork, there was no way to put out a product for the lower-end machines that could do the things we wanted it to do. We apologize to those of you who feel disenfranchised.
We hope that you now understand our dilemma and that you don't hold it against us. We still love you.
TSL: Thanks, Mike. Unfortunately, there isn't time or space for my 37 other questions, but maybe I'll get back to you next issue.
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