Well before graphics-based arcade games such as Dark Castle stole gamer's hearts, the text-based adventure game fascinated those who were first to treat the computer as an entertainment device. Infocom was the definitive master of these games, producing such wonders as the Zork series, Wishbringer (the first game I ever won!) and Planetfall. Recently, some students at MIT wrote their thesis paper on the rise and fall of Infocom, entitled "Down From the Top of Its Game: The Story of Infocom, Inc.". This well-written piece is an in-depth look at the origins of one of the very first game companies, their meteoric rise to popularity, and their descent into debt, gloom, and finally, death. Here is an excerpt:

Even in 1985, many employees had hopes that the company would succeed. “It was clear that we had problems,” said Ilson. “It was not clear that we weren’t going to surmount them.” However, to make their financial situation even worse, in 1985 the Bank of Boston cut back on the credit line of every high-tech company in which they had invested and called in Infocom’s loan. Said Dornbrook, “They bounced checks to get our attention. They didn’t even give us a
phone call!”

To raise money, Infocom employees decided to buy stock options in their company, putting up their own houses as collateral. “The bank was so embarrassed…that they put up additional $500,000 credit,” said Dornbrook.

Infocom Thesis Mention on Slashdot

Down From the Top of Its Game (pdf)

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