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	Title: What about Atari 8-bits and the Commodore 64?
	Author: Infocom staff
	Source: The Status Line, v7(1)
	Date: Winter/Spring 1988
	Transcription by Steve Derby
-->

Here at *The Status Line*, we make it a practice to keep aware of what's going
on in the computer industry in general, and in the minds of our customers in
particular. One concern on a lot of people's minds is why Infocom seems to be
ignoring the thousands of loyal fans who own Atari 8-bits and Commodore
64s. And since we have trouble answering all your letters sent by mail and by
modem, we spent some time discussing the situation with Mike Dornbrook, our
Director of Marketing.

**TSL:** Mike, why isn’t *Beyond Zork* available for the Commodore 64 and
the Atari XL/XE?

**Mike:** Well, computer technology has been advancing by quantum leaps and
the trend has only accelerated in the last few years. For instance, the original
*Zork* had to be cut in thirds to be downloaded for personal computer use
only seven years ago. Now *AMFV* and *Beyond Zork* are each bigger than the
entire *Zork Trilogy*.

Consumers, to their credit are keeping up with technology. People are
eager to buy every worthwhile new product that hardware manufacturers
develop; and in general they're quite able to tell a rising star from a lemon.
Considering the sales of new models in the last five years, consumers want new
features and increased capacity in their computers.

This situation puts software companies in a difficult position. To not support
new machines to the best of their technological capabilities spells a very
short future for a software developer. To leave behind older machines breeds
not only loss of customers' respect and loyalty, but also the destruction of the
current sales base; this, too, puts a software company on the edge.

<figure class="float-right-half">
	<p class="center"><strong>Infocom Game Sizes</strong><br>In release date order</p>
	<img src="/public/img/articles/sl-what-about-atari-and-commodore/game-size-chart.jpg" alt="A chart showing game size in order of release date">
	<figcaption>N.B. -- Though there are other considerations, total size of the story is a good indicator for the computer resources required.</em></figcaption>
</figure>

The route that we are following reflects the route that you are following.
80% of the sales of our smaller games—those that run on the C-64 and
the Atari—are to people whose machines can support much larger games.
Since we have the capability of doing that much more for those machines, we
feel that to not do so would be shortchanging the vast majority of our constituents.

On the other hand, we don't want to turn our backs on those with less powerful
machines, and we've made conscious —- and even painful —- efforts to
continue to support those customers. Both *Border Zone* and *Sherlock*, the
two releases after *Beyond Zork*, run on the Commodore 64. And it was an especially
tough job getting *Sherlock* down to that size, but we made a commitment
in both time and personnel to do just that. To get *Sherlock* to where it
could run on the Atari, however, would require removing fully one third of the
story -— an unrealistic compromise both artistically and structurally.

As for *Beyond Zork*, there was no way to put out a product for the lower-end
machines that could do the things we wanted it to do. We apologize to
those of you who feel disenfranchised.

We hope that you now understand our dilemma and that you don't hold it
against us. We still love you.

**TSL:** Thanks, Mike. Unfortunately, there isn't time or space for my 37 other
questions, but maybe I'll get back to you next issue.
