>I think the main reason Infocom died out was because they couldn't
>keep up with the flashy graphical adventure games entering the
>market. However, I think Infocom MIGHT have survived if they have
>radically shifted their market focus. They continued to compete in
>the computer game market, even though the computer game market was
>continually advancing the state of the art.
I think Infocom died because they sunk all their money into Cornerstone,
a database. I think the rest of the industry attributed Infocom's demise
to nonviability of text adventures.
I have a collection of letters from many software publishers, circa 1986-1988,
who all believed text adventures were dead and would not venture to publish
one, but none of whom presented any market research numbers or other
justification for their position.
I believe there is a niche for text adventures. A small niche. It is only
*because* it is a small niche that it may be profitable for small operators
like us. More likely it will be taken over by one company like Infocom.
But I think there might be a profitable niche for somebody, in the
not-too-distant future.
Phil Goetz@cs.buffalo.edu