Selling More Than The Drama

At the time I write this, the revised Commodore 64, announced today, has scored nearly 900 pre-sales over the span of eight or nine hours. (It was around 700 when I started writing.)

By the end of the day, it’ll likely have well over 1,000 sales—perhaps way more. Those aren’t Switch 2 numbers, but for a revival of a long-dormant brand with a strong hobbyist community, that’s pretty good.

It looks like a great starting point for a company that is trying to do something impossible: Revive an iconic, but long-neglected brand. Peri Fractic and his team of 25 are off to a great start.

Plus, depending on your perspective, it’s a great deal. The main board, based on an existing FPGA-based recreation of the C64’s hardware called the Ultimate 64 Elite II, sold for $300 on its own. The base version of the Commodore 64 Ultimate is selling for that much, and it comes with a custom case and modernized keyboard. If you’re in the market for those specific components, that’s kind of a steal.

But noticing that requires you give it a chance. And in keeping an eye on this story over the past month or so, I have been constantly reminded of the risks of sticking out your neck. In the past few weeks I’ve read some very passionate complaining and drama about this thing that hasn’t even had a chance to properly hatch. How this person or that person is or isn’t actually involved, or what’s actually going to be getting released.

In a sense, this is what we’ve kind of gotten used to in the retro community—the retro revival manages that piss someone off, intentionally or not, and the drama becomes a story in its own right. “Analogue sells out too quickly!” “Limited Run Games doesn’t care about game preservation!” “The Intellivision is a mess!”

Drama follows this stuff around too easily, no matter if it’s actually deserved.

I think a big reason for that is that some of these projects have been very questionable. Scam-busting is a whole freaking subgenre of YouTube retro stuff these days. (One guy who specializes in it, Daniel Ibbertson of Slope’s Game Room, nearly lost his channel over it recently, after one of his scam-busting investigations got too spicy.) And in the absence of information, rumors can flood the space in its stead.

The launch video for the Commodore 64 Ultimate.

To some degree, I feel that this is what has happened with the Commodore endeavor. When you tap into a person’s nostalgia or history, that means that you get to make an imprint on it. And some people simply don’t like that. After all, it’s their legacy you’re messing with.

And it doesn’t matter the group of people in the middle of all this—if people have complaints, you’ll hear them—and it doesn’t matter the age group or even the scene they’re coming from. It’s just petty. (Example: One criticism I read suggested Peri Fractic was too handsome to be a Commodore fan. Wow, someone pull out the Neosporin—that writer just burned themselves.)

I don’t think it has to be this way. Sure, call stuff out when it sucks or if something sketchy happens. (There’s one firm thing to point out here in relation to the Commodore acquisition. The new company’s chief creative officer, Silicon Valley actor Thomas Middleditch, has been accused of sexual misconduct in relation to a now-shuttered Hollywood nightclub, Cloak & Dagger. He apologized to the person affected after the incident, but has not publicly commented otherwise.)

But don’t let loose speculation become the story of a thing, or it’s going to eventually dominate the discussion of the thing.

This fan-driven endeavor to buy Commodore could turn into an excellent thing or a disaster, but if we’re going to cut it off before it’s even found its runway, then that lowers the chances of it even going airborne.

To me, the important thing is that they ship and build a sturdy base. Everything else is just noise.