You may have heard of the iconic RPG series, Ultima, which soared to success in the ’80s and ’90s, propelling its creator, Richard Garriott, to remarkable heights—both literally and figuratively. His achievements included ventures to the ocean’s depths and a journey to the International Space Station. A significant contributor to the success of his game studio, Origin Systems, was his brother, Robert Garriott, who later ascended to the role of vice president at EA and managed the US branch of NCSoft during the launch of popular MMOs like City of Heroes.
Reflections from 1989
Before these milestones, Robert Garriott made a notable appearance at the 1989 Computer Game Developers Conference, where he represented Origin Systems as the business strategist. During a panel discussion alongside prominent publishers such as EA, Broderbund, and Accolade, Garriott addressed a pressing issue that resonates even today: the overwhelming number of computer games flooding the market.
In a candid moment, Garriott acknowledged the “industry slump that everyone’s been talking about,” pointing to a downturn in PC game sales. He raised a pertinent question: why were sales of in-depth PC RPGs and strategy games declining, especially when they were not directly competing with consoles? He attributed this decline to a drop in PC hardware sales from major players like Apple, Commodore, and Dell, as well as a phenomenon he termed “product proliferation.” This phrase, in the business vernacular of 1989, essentially meant there were simply too many video games available.
“The computer game industry has seen sales increase 15-25% every year for the last three years, which is a pretty healthy increase for any normal industry in America,” Garriott stated. “But unfortunately, the number of new titles in the US market probably increased by 25-50%, so what that means is the sales per title have necessarily decreased.” His analysis highlighted a crucial point: as the number of titles surged, the sales per title inevitably dwindled.
Another challenge facing the PC gaming landscape in 1989 was the quality of some games. Garriott expressed concern that consumers were left bewildered by their options. “The consumer is being very confused,” he remarked. “They don’t really know what to buy for their computer, and they’re basically lost from the entertainment market.” Fortunately, the gaming community would soon receive a guiding light—PC Gamer magazine launched in November 1993, providing invaluable buying advice to help navigate the ever-expanding array of titles.
Garriott’s honesty was refreshing as he admitted, “I don’t believe software publishers really understand the relative weight of all these factors,” yet he remained optimistic about a future rebound in game sales. At that moment, he could not have envisioned the colossal growth of PC gaming that lay ahead, nor could he have predicted that more games would eventually be released on platforms like Steam in a single day than the entire industry had seen in a month back in 1989.
His closing remarks from that panel resonate with the industry even today: “We have to develop products that cannot be duplicated on game machines. We’re worried about Nintendo. We’ve got to develop long-playing, in-depth, high graphic, lots-of-memory types of products. And the final thing we need to do is we need to increase our quality. Quality always has, and always will, sell.”
