From Superman to Swordquest

Atari and early video game labor exploitation

Bibliographic Data

ID2818477
AuthorsJulie Fleury (0000-0002-8022-5933, Film and Media Studies Program Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis Missouri USA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume83
Issue5
Pages955-965
Publication date2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajes.12551
OpenAlexW4388420217
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

Unionization 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

Art · Convergence (economics) · Economics · Multimedia · Superman · Video game · Cinema and Media Studies · Computer Science · Cultural Industries and Urban Development · Digital Games and Media

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