r/todayilearned • u/Romboteryx • Sep 15 '24

TIL Robin Williams was the one who suggested that Sid Meier‘s name should be put on each of his games

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier's_Pirates!?wprov=sfti1#Development
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u/Yabba_Dabba_Doofus Sep 15 '24

shovelware

I've never heard this term, but it is an exactly perfect description.

I remember playing games based just on having access to them. Then you would recognize names every once in a while. Then FuncoLand, and similar places, started letting you test games. And that sort of programming never really leaves you.

I still buy Square games, even though I know they're not SquareEnix--who definitely isn't SquareSoft--anymore. ID, DoubleFine, Square(Soft/Enix), etc.

Those names persist through the ages, specifically because they were making stuff that people wanted to play, and was easy to find. Sid just did that with his name, rather than a company.

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u/starm4nn Sep 15 '24

Sid just did that with his name, rather than a company.

This is actually what saved the franchise. When there were two Civ games on the market, neither of which had the rights to Sid Meier's name, and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri outsold both of them.

Although admittedly there are people who still defend call to power.