The Short, Happy Life of Infocom

July 28, 2006 5:37 AM

Remember Infocom? What makes a small, beloved, and wildly successful developer of interactive fiction decide to sideline the games and venture into building database software instead? While the knowledge that they were bought out and shuttered is pretty common, it isn't until relatively recently that all the details have come to light.
posted by smith186 (10 comments total)

"About six months after the merger, Bruce Davis replaced Jim Levy as the CEO of Activision. Bruce Davis worked at Activision before the merger, and was always against the Infocom deal. According to several Infocom employees, once he became CEO, Davis worked to dismantle Infocom in whatever way he could."

---> So that is the man we can blame for the final loss of Infocom games. .....well, he was a CEO in the 80's...maybe he died broke already!!!
posted by das_2099 at 5:55 AM on July 28, 2006

A hollow voice says, "Fool."
posted by Spatch at 6:11 AM on July 28, 2006

I love this kind of case study story. Thanks!
posted by GuyZero at 6:12 AM on July 28, 2006

oh my, the hours wasted on Zork and Deadline and Suspended. Sigh...those were good times.
posted by Dantien at 6:21 AM on July 28, 2006

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by Activision.
posted by Pendragon at 6:43 AM on July 28, 2006

That's a ten-four on the self link, roger.
posted by sohcahtoa at 6:57 AM on July 28, 2006

it isn't until relatively recently that all the details have come to light.

Yeah, I guess 2000 is kinda recent.
posted by Deathalicious at 7:09 AM on July 28, 2006

Sorry guys, feel free to delete/move it if it's inappropriate. I do some programming for the site, not the content, and I only posted it because I thought it was really interesting. I didn't think it was a personal promotion, and I'm not some secret marketing shill - I just happen to read MeFi.

Reading the article reminded me how great Infocom was, so since I spent the time looking up the other links (especially the online Java versions) for my personal entertainment, I thought I'd share. As the deep investigation shows, I'm not really trying to be sneaky here.

I apologize if I offended anyone.
posted by smith186 at 7:13 AM on July 28, 2006

Hello, Sailor!
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:15 AM on July 28, 2006

smith186 writes "I do some programming for the site, not the content, and I only posted it because I thought it was really interesting. I didn't think it was a personal promotion, and I'm not some secret marketing shill - I just happen to read MeFi."

The reason for the self link ban is because anyone invloved with a project, even just programming, can't be trusted to determine if something is "really interesting".
posted by Mitheral at 7:29 AM on July 28, 2006