I don't have a definitive answer for you. It is certainly possible that
some early console manufacturer acted as a publisher at some point.
Obviously Nintendo did, but Magnavox, Fairchild or Atari may have done
it well before it became normal on PCs. (Unlikely though.)
As for the PC, obviously EA was a success story as an early publisher
starting in 83. That was their original business model. They are the
early blueprint for today's publishers.
Even earlier, you could say that Atari was a publisher for its early PC
software. Through APX (Atari Program Xchange), Atari published works by
independent authors -- good stuff like Chris Crawford's Eastern Front.
1981 is the earliest example of an APX game that I own, but there may be
earlier examples...could be as early as 79. This is likely the first
example of organized (and relatively successful) game publication.
Apple and Commodore may have done some publishing as early as 77, but
I don't know of any definite examples.
Hugh
-Original Message-
From: Adam Baratz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 7:06 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Publishers vs. Developers
It might've started with the 2600. Activision started because
developers at
Atari wanted more control and recognition for their work. Atari's games
didn't list developer/designer names anywhere on the physical product.
Before Activision, all 2600 games were released by Atari.
NES games had third-party developers, but they all had to get the
Nintendo
seal of approval to be sold. The system had built in security to
prevent
unauthorized games from being played in it. Of course, a few developers
got
past it and released unofficial games for the system.
-Adam
- Original Message -
From: Lee K. Seitz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Software Collecting [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, February 20, 2004 5:42 PM
Subject: [SWCollect] Publishers vs. Developers
The following post comes from rec.games.video.classic. It would seem
to me the split between developers and publishers first started with
computer games, but was curious if anyone here could share hard info.
|From: Spiders [EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
| Greetings:
|
| I was wondering if anyone could help clarify something for me - in
the
| days of the 2600 and Intellivision, there was no developer /
publisher
| relationship as there is today, is that right? Meaning if a 2600
game
| was developed by Atari (well, you know what I mean), then it was
| published by Atari as well? Or if a game is considered an M-Netwok
| game, then that essentially means it was developed and published by
| the same company?
|
| If so, when did these functions split, when did companies begin to
| form that solely developed or solely published? Was it during the
| 2600's reign, or not until the Colecovision, or even the NES? What
| dynamic motivated this evolution (I'm guessing it was money, but I
| don't know)?
|
| Thanks.
--
Lee K. Seitz
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
Archives are available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
Archives are available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
