Commodore Founder Jack Tramiel Passes Away

You know, I've come back to this thread 4 days later and I'm really disappointed that Jeff, of all people, didn't write this piece. No insult to Patrick, but Jeff is a C64 person and Jack's history deserved more appropriate attention.

My dyslexia makes me wonder if this is the dude they named Tamriel after in the Elder Scrolls fiction.

It shouldn't be forgotten that Electronic Arts started their foray into science fiction survival horror games on the Commodore 64. Project Firestart - something of an precursor to System Shock and Dead Space, at least conceptually (I don't think anybody who worked on Firestart worked on either of the later games, but they all were published by EA, after all).
  

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

The thing is, Atari was already in deep shit when he took over. There was tons of mismanagement of releases and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When he left it wasn't in a state that much worse off than when he joined. His career there was definitely a bumpy journey - one that ended in a ditch - but it's not like he took a hugely successful company and killed it. He took a struggling company, gave it over 10 years of life support and then it fell off a cliff.

I would counter that by saying Jack Tramiel had a business model that work in Commodore during the 1980s, when the home computer market was young, and only then. It was an outdated business model of cost cutting and technological minimalism that really expedited Atari's bankruptcy. Also I cite Tramiel's mismanagement of the Atari ST as an example, but he also borked the development of Atari 7800. In regards to the ST it was an inferior product due to Tramiel's insistence on certain design specifications, despite being billed a counter to Apple's Macintosh. Also he was the one who redirected development for the Atari ST in order to focus Atari's resources on the development of the Jaguar, an utterly ill-conceived foray that ushered the death of Atari's relevance in the video game industry that is still the case to this day.

Did I also mention he was the head of Atari when the company refused Nintendo's offer to be the official North American distributor of the NES? Because he was.

The man has died, have some respect, no need to criticise him here.

C64 was my first gaming system - my family had one long before I was even born and I continued to play on one for over a decade. C64 was nicknamed Tasavallan tietokone (The Computer of the republic) in Finland so maybe that makes it clear how usual it was for people to have one at their home.

@nail1080: I have the utmost respect for Tramiel's work at Commodore. I also think he had a role in Atari's downfall. These two opinions and feelings can coexist and do exist in my posts. I think in terms of discussing his legacy and impact on the industry his impact on Atari should be mentioned on top of his impact at Commodore.

I NEED to have Jumpman on my ipod.. Someone find the skeleton of Epyx and put it to work..

My 1st console was an Atari 2600 and my favorite games were Moon Patrol and Pole Position. Never got around to playing on the C64.

Aw sad. It was juuuust before my time, but he will live on in the history books. RIP, sir.

@SinGulaR said:

If you really want to give credit where it is due, give it to the engineers who actually invented those machines and not to the one who exploited that innovation. Without them Mr. Tramiel would have had nothing to sell.

I will be the first to sing the praises of science and engineering, but your dead wrong if you think that entrepreneurs aren't a huge part of a company or product's success. You can have a thousand engineers producing amazing stuff but if you don't have someone with vision and business savvy to lead them they're effectively useless. Just look at Boeing - tons and tons of engineers, yet the 787 Dreamliner turned into a mess after a cluster fuck of delays. That's what happens when you don't have skilled leadership at the helm.

Now if it was Sir Clive Sinclair, that would be news-worthy! (joke!) Very sad news. Passing of a true founder of gaming

@nail1080: ZP isn't being disrespectful, he's just presenting his views on the guy's impact on the gaming industry. It's possible to present negative points without being disrespectful.

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

The thing is, Atari was already in deep shit when he took over. There was tons of mismanagement of releases and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When he left it wasn't in a state that much worse off than when he joined. His career there was definitely a bumpy journey - one that ended in a ditch - but it's not like he took a hugely successful company and killed it. He took a struggling company, gave it over 10 years of life support and then it fell off a cliff.

I would counter that by saying Jack Tramiel had a business model that work in Commodore during the 1980s, when the home computer market was young, and only then. It was an outdated business model of cost cutting and technological minimalism that really expedited Atari's bankruptcy. Also I cite Tramiel's mismanagement of the Atari ST as an example, but he also borked the development of Atari 7800. In regards to the ST it was an inferior product due to Tramiel's insistence on certain design specifications, despite being billed a counter to Apple's Macintosh. Also he was the one who redirected development for the Atari ST in order to focus Atari's resources on the development of the Jaguar, an utterly ill-conceived foray that ushered the death of Atari's relevance in the video game industry that is still the case to this day.

Did I also mention he was the head of Atari when the company refused Nintendo's offer to be the official North American distributor of the NES? Because he was.

Yeah, but Atari may have died in 1983 if Tramiel hadn't stepped in. There had been a colossal mismanagement of Atari leading up to Tramiel's takeover. They had assumed that the boom in video games was going to continue forever. Their profits skyrocketed in the late 70's and very early 80's and they assumed this trend would continue. They produced the games on a massive scale that were never going to sell. In 1983 Atari had a loss of over half a billion dollars - factoring in for inflation that would be close to $1.5 billion today. They had lost insane amounts of money, and it was only going to get worse. Tramiel stepped in and saved a failing company. He never returned it to it's former glory. He never got it back to the gaming powerhouse it once was, but I just don't think it's fair to blame him for the failure of Atari. Sure, many of his decisions were far from perfect. But he took over a failing company. It's hard to recover from such crippling losses. The fact that the company survived beyond the early eighties at all is a major feat itself.

Very sad to hear, Commodore 64 was technically before my time , but i grew up playing one all the same and the memories are great. RIP

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

The thing is, Atari was already in deep shit when he took over. There was tons of mismanagement of releases and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When he left it wasn't in a state that much worse off than when he joined. His career there was definitely a bumpy journey - one that ended in a ditch - but it's not like he took a hugely successful company and killed it. He took a struggling company, gave it over 10 years of life support and then it fell off a cliff.

I would counter that by saying Jack Tramiel had a business model that work in Commodore during the 1980s, when the home computer market was young, and only then. It was an outdated business model of cost cutting and technological minimalism that really expedited Atari's bankruptcy. Also I cite Tramiel's mismanagement of the Atari ST as an example, but he also borked the development of Atari 7800. In regards to the ST it was an inferior product due to Tramiel's insistence on certain design specifications, despite being billed a counter to Apple's Macintosh. Also he was the one who redirected development for the Atari ST in order to focus Atari's resources on the development of the Jaguar, an utterly ill-conceived foray that ushered the death of Atari's relevance in the video game industry that is still the case to this day.

Did I also mention he was the head of Atari when the company refused Nintendo's offer to be the official North American distributor of the NES? Because he was.

The man has died, have some respect, no need to criticise him here.

If you really want to give credit where it is due, give it to the engineers who actually invented those machines and not to the one who exploited that innovation. Without them Mr. Tramiel would have had nothing to sell.

The C64 was my gateway drug. I played my fair share of games pre-C64 but the Commodore was the machine that opened my eyes to the true potential of videogames. 
 
R.I.P. Jack.

Would have been pretty cool if Jeff wrote this article. He could have actually added some context.

If anyone wants to learn more about Jack Tramiel, I highly recommend checking out On the Edge: The Spectacular Ride and Fall of Commodore if you can find it. Not the best written book in the world but it chronicles the amazing history of that company in great detail. Tramiel was a pretty shrewd businessman and did some pretty nasty things like refuse to pay suppliers until they went bankrupt so he could acquire them for nothing and employ literal sweatshops where the first Commodore PET computers were hand-built by illegal immigrants. But there's no doubt he began one of the first eras of true home computing for the mainstream, far before Steve Jobs did. The book's well worth the read if you're into tech history. He will be missed.

I still remember hanging out with my dad, playing Pac Man and whatever versions of the olympics came out on them on our C64, I couldn't have been older than five.

I hope this guy knew he created generations of avid gamers with his work.

@MattyFTM said:

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

The thing is, Atari was already in deep shit when he took over. There was tons of mismanagement of releases and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When he left it wasn't in a state that much worse off than when he joined. His career there was definitely a bumpy journey - one that ended in a ditch - but it's not like he took a hugely successful company and killed it. He took a struggling company, gave it over 10 years of life support and then it fell off a cliff.

I would counter that by saying Jack Tramiel had a business model that work in Commodore during the 1980s, when the home computer market was young, and only then. It was an outdated business model of cost cutting and technological minimalism that really expedited Atari's bankruptcy. Also I cite Tramiel's mismanagement of the Atari ST as an example, but he also borked the development of Atari 7800. In regards to the ST it was an inferior product due to Tramiel's insistence on certain design specifications, despite being billed a counter to Apple's Macintosh. Also he was the one who redirected development for the Atari ST in order to focus Atari's resources on the development of the Jaguar, an utterly ill-conceived foray that ushered the death of Atari's relevance in the video game industry that is still the case to this day.

Did I also mention he was the head of Atari when the company refused Nintendo's offer to be the official North American distributor of the NES? Because he was.

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

The thing is, Atari was already in deep shit when he took over. There was tons of mismanagement of releases and it was on the verge of bankruptcy. When he left it wasn't in a state that much worse off than when he joined. His career there was definitely a bumpy journey - one that ended in a ditch - but it's not like he took a hugely successful company and killed it. He took a struggling company, gave it over 10 years of life support and then it fell off a cliff.

So sad. I was late to the NES party, I was one of those kids with a hand-me-down Commodore 64 because my cousin got a brand new NES and didn't need the dusty old Commodore 64 any more. I was too young to care though, I played the hell out of River Raid, Montezuma's Revenge, Saboteur, among many many (many) others. Ty for the memories Jack, RIP.

@Krakn3Dfx said:

LOAD"*",8,1 into The Great Beyond

Indeed. I will POKE53281,0:POKE53280,0 in his honour.

@buzz_clik I totally thought of the Commando high score music when I read this news, too.

RIP, Mr Tramiel. Commodore is gaming history as far as I'm concerned. It brought gaming into our homes, made it commonplace, widespread, with such a wealth of titles, some which still stand up as enjoyable games today, and not just as five minutes blasts for the nostalgia value.

C64 was the system that kickstarted my lifelong love of games, and is the reason I still game today: it enraptured me so as a kid and I remember the absolute magic of the worlds that came to life in front of me. I would be a significantly different person without it, so I thank you deeply, Jack.

/salute

Loved my Vic-20. Learned assembly on it.

wow.

commodore 64 was the first thing i ever played a video game on.

Loved my C64. Learned basic, gauntlet, and alot of California Games! Thanks for this!

I guess this will become a trend in video games as the industry moves on ... lots of greats are getting old. Sad really.

@Krakn3Dfx said:

LOAD"*",8,1 into The Great Beyond

My dad's C64 is what hooked me into video gaming and technology in general from a ripe old age of 2. Thank you Mr. Tramiel.

Let's all pour one out.

My first computer I owned. VIC-20 was the first computer I ever touched (shortly after a Kaypro III at my friend's defense contractor father.

I at least seriously owe a lot to this guy.

LOAD"*",8,1 into The Great Beyond

The C64 was my first games machine. I spent hours playing a ton of great titles on it. Also, using it to make simple software with code from magazines. Ah... those were the days!
I salute you, Mr. Tramiel.

Wish I still had my Amiga.

Never could get the hang of Falcon.

He will be missed.

The man was notoriously hard to work with, but he played an integral role in the early history of computer and console games. He will certainly be missed.

I think I feel a little worse about this loss than most because Mr. Tramiel was a Holocaust survivor. The number of survivors still alive has declined greatly over the past few years and it hurts to think that their stories may be taken for granted.

I remember him best as the CEO of Atari during its Jaguar era.

The c-64 and c-128 were the 3rd and 4th computers i owned growing up. Actually was the computer we used in 7th grade computer class. They were the computers i learned to type, hack , pirate games and it introduced me to some of the best friends i ever had growing up.  I also remember this was the time when discussing games started to become as common as talking about chicks, sports, and movies. RIP dear old friend.

=(

When I was a kid, we had a C64 that my dad had brought home from work. I'm not sure what kind of work he did on it, but I know I played games on it. A lot. It was, in fact, my first gaming platform.

Thank you Mr. Tramiel.

We wish for our childhood to last forever but alas out favourite people are getting older. look up a lot of the top game producers and you'll see fifties and sixties and seventies.

This is my problem with the current generation. It's not that the quality isn't there it's that the dreamers are being replaced by a marketing team. And the consumer is being fed with gruel as opposed to steak.

As you may or may not know, I'm very much the Commodore 64 lover. It was the first system I owned (bought with saved pocket money) and I have spent an inordinate amount of my life making sprites, music and games on the legendary beige box. I still have that very same C64 I bought as a lad, and it remains one of my cherished possessions.

Godspeed, Jack. You were a man whose vision for the future touched so many lives.

@patrickklepek said:

The Commodore 64 was before my time, a whole three years before my own existence...

Way to bring me down even more, man. ;)

P.S. I think this week is a good time to resume my long-dormant SID-licious series.

Rest in peace Mr. Tramiel. The C64 played a huge part in my life.

The original Commodore 64 went on sale in 1982 for $595, which, adjusted for inflation, would be $1,403, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While $600 wasn't much for a home computer in 1982, what really made it one of the best selling machines of all time was they dropped the price a lot in the coming years. I think it was sold for around $300 by 1985 or so, and thus became a machine most families could afford, and it remained a popular machine well into the early 90's.

@jaycrockett said:

I learned to program on a C-64 and so partly owe my career in software development to it. Thanks Mr. Tramiel.

Totally this, along with many of my peers. RIP Mr. Tramiel, and thanks.

Freakin' loved my C64. Larry Bird vs. Dr. J!

@ZombiePie said:

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

Yeah, I was wondering why no one else was mentioning that he pretty much drove Atari into the ground.

Kinda reminds me of Joe Don Baker with a Frier Tuck haircut.

Wonder if he will be buried with the sword from Swordquest!

RIP

@MattyFTM said:

Everyone keeps drawing attention to the fact that founded Commodore, but no one seems to mention that his next company Tramel Technology (which he spelt incorrectly on purpose so people would pronounce his name correctly) went on to purchase the home consoles division of Atari and owned that brand from 1983 until 1996. He had a big impact on the gaming industry, and not just at Commodore.

He also kind of drove Atari intro bankruptcy for rushing the development for the Atari 7800, Lynx, and Jaguar. That and he mismanaged the release and promotion of the Atari ST.

No one questions the impact that he has made on modern computing and console gaming, but it's not all positive.

My first foray into computers was with the Commodore 64. I don't think I would have been as interested in computers and video games without it. Thank you, Jack Tramiel.