I've talked about commodore's lucky day of buying out Amiga because amiga itself is like a basket, how software made it to the platform and how Amiga struggled so hard to get a footing in the computer market but now I will talk about how commodore screw things up with their shitty management and how commodore struggled just as the amiga was struggling to get their asses on the computer market. If you haven't seen the previous part of this blog post then I suggest you to check it out.
Strangely, games, the software genre the machine was apparently ideal (and originally developed) for, had barely got a mention so far. There was a game that was developed by commodore themselves but commodore canceled it but not only that but the launch party was devoid of any nod and commodore seemed to be glossing over the subject altogether. This was alas, an early sign of the mismanagement the Amiga would receive as commodore tried to establish its identity and purpose.
the trap they had fallen into was the trap of "the serious". the notion that expensive technology can't be seen as a frivolous entertainment machine at the cost of losing credibility. this was in part a notion IBM and Apple had come up with to make their machine's lack of graphical and sound abilities come across as a selling point. Rather than breaking this mold and declaring how revolutionary and ideal for the task their machine was commodore fell right into it, opting for the business computer pitch, and although games would also immediately begin to emerge on the system, they didn't really showcase the hardware.
mostly being conversions from other, lesser machines or just ports from games which were already available on the Atari ST. in part commodore still viewed their 64 as the low-end gaming machine, which indeed it was, but the market was ready for a leading light, something to shine away, even at a high price. commodore was also under some strain, having confusingly launched their original line upgrade, the commodore 128 in the year, alongside the poorly selling plus/4 range, their resources and profits were becoming thinner. The commodore 64 was still being sold and selling well in big retail chains, but the Amiga wasn't even stocked in them, with commodore even turning down an over for sears to stock their new hardware, an outlet were the Atari STs where stocked and selling.
Instead, commodore seemed to continue with their emulation of Apple's sales techniques with a zombie based advertisement, similar to apple's famous 1984 ad and a bizarre presentation based on 2001: space odyssey. the advertising continued, apparently trying to sell alone off the amiga's abilities and even moved to the soulless comparison shorts before the year was out. combined with the delayed production, lackluster personality, and muddled direction, the Amiga only sold 35.000 in 1985, and this wasn't helping with commodore's cash flow, leading to the company bailing on January 1986 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
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