Surviving in the Industry

Bethesda Softworks was founded in 1985 and got its start with sports games for the Commodore 64, NES, Atari and DOS. After the first couple of titles were released by Bethesda, the company began developing games almost exclusively for the PC. I think this partially helped them to survive (more on what really did later). The PC market was quickly growing, and mostly immune to the problems plaguing the console wars. Bethesda’s successful franchise,The Elder Scrolls, is still thriving today.

Another company that began around the same time was Sir-Tech. Sir-Tech was founded in 1980, and like Bethesda, began creating games for various consoles, as well as PC and Apple systems. The company’s most popular series, Wizardry, performed quite well. Unlike Bethesda, however, the company did not survive. Sir-Tech shut down in 2001 (it began the process in 1998); its sister company Sir-Tech Canada closing in 2003.

I believe what allowed Bethesda to stay afloat when Sir-Tech sank was not quality or quantity of games. Both produced quality games during the same time period. Though Bethesda didn’t create its first role-playing game until Sir-Tech had already developed quite a few, both franchises sold very well. Instead, I think it was the market savvy of Bethesda that allowed it to remain strong, instead of withering like Sir-Tech.

Robert Sirotek, co-founder of Sir-Tech, was quoted by Jason Bates of IGN (1998) as saying that, “The state of affairs in the industry at large has not been exactly healthy, and if the industry were a little more mature, and people conducted their business affairs in a more responsible fashion, we may have decided to proceed [instead of closing].” This quote tells me that the Sir-Tech management was not prepared to deal with the realities of a cutthroat business. Bethesda, on the other hand, saw the market for what it was and sold to ZeniMax Media in 1999, shortly before Sir-Tech sank. With the sale, Bethesda was able to develop and publish Morrowind and Oblivion, the most successful installments in the Elder Scrolls series.

Having played and absolutely loved both the Elder Scrolls and the Wizardryseries, I can say both companies produce brilliant games. Unfortunately, in the entertainment business, great works of art are not always enough. Bethesda survived when Sir-Tech died because Bethesda was able to make wise business decisions. It’s a great shame; I dearly miss Sir-Tech.

References
Bates, J. (1998, October). Sir-Tech’s Last Words. Retrieved from http://pc.ign.com/articles/065/065299p1.html