From Superman to Swordquest: Atari and early video game labor exploitation

Author:

Fleury James1ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Film and Media Studies Program Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis Missouri USA

Abstract

AbstractUnionization efforts have only recently begun to address the exploitative conditions of working in video games. Despite such conditions dating back to the industry's origins, scholarship has tended to focus on contemporary labor issues over those of the past. To illustrate early forms of video game exploitation, I examine the history of industry pioneer Atari under the ownership of media conglomerate Warner Communications, Inc. (WCI) from 1976 to 1984. Soon after acquiring Atari, WCI installed a new CEO and pursued convergence initiatives. As a corporate ideal, convergence implies two cultures cooperating as they move toward becoming a single culture. I argue, however, that bringing together multiple media often creates conflict between different work cultures. Using the case studies of Superman (1979), E.T. the Extra‐Terrestrial (1982), and the original Swordquest trilogy (1982–1983), I explain how WCI's convergence with Atari led to culture clashes, an exodus of talent, the rise of rival software companies, product saturation, and the transformation of the global video game market by the end of the 1980s. I conclude by considering how the conflict between WCI and Atari provides lessons for labor problems that continue to characterize the industry—both in isolation and in relation to older media industries.

Publisher

Wiley

Subject

Economics and Econometrics,Sociology and Political Science

Reference64 articles.

1. Bailey K.(2021 July 30).Fury worry and walkouts: Inside Activision Blizzard's week of reckoning.IGN.https://www.ign.com/articles/inside‐activision‐blizzards‐week‐of‐reckoning

2. Barnes B.(2021 May 24).Scrounging for hits Hollywood goes back to the video game well.The New York Times.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/business/media/video‐game‐movies‐sony‐playstation.html

3. Bison G.(1984 August 6).Atari: From starting block to auction block.InfoWorld 52.

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