For over two dozen years,
PC games were primarily distributed in boxes
for retail distribution worldwide.
They came in all shapes and sizes too,
with extravagant box art and unique package designs.
But in the early 2000s,
they rapidly started disappearing from store shelves,
and by 2004 these retroactively named big box PC games
were almost completely extinct
and replaced with smaller uniform packaging.
What happened?
This is LGR Tech Tales,
where we take a look at noteworthy stories of technological inspiration, failure,
and everything in between.
This episode tells the tale
of big box PC games
and their seemingly sudden demise from store shelves.
Retail computer game packaging
traces its origins back to the late 1970s
and the dawn of the microcomputer.
Machines like the TRS-80, Apple II and Commodore PET
were at the forefront of this new craze,
especially in North America.
And it was here that some of the first
third-party computer games were being developed
with the intent to sell them in stores,
rather than simply being copied
and passed around computer clubs and user groups.
This was usually done by entrepreneurial hobbyists
writing their own games to cassette tape or floppy disk,
photocopying some typed-up instructions,
and then placing it in a plastic bag
to be sold in local retailers.
A well-known example of this
is Richard Garriott's Akalabeth from 1979,
a predecessor to his later Ultima series
which was first sold in a Ziploc bag in Texas ComputerLand shops.
But as personal computers steadily gained popularity
and Ziploc bag games like this
began shifting hundreds or even thousands of units,
it wasn't long before new businesses formed around them.
While it's difficult to pin down the very first computer game
sold in a cardboard box,
a great example is Wheeler Dealers for the Apple II from 1978.
The reason this was distributed in a box instead of a plastic bag
is because it came with a unique controller
that let four players play the game at once.
It only sold around 50 copies, though,
leading to games like Computer Bismark from Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1980
being a more well-known title with early boxed commercial distribution.
This was a computerized war game,
so it's little wonder that the package was inspired by tabletop wargame publishing,
like the products from Avalon Hill Games.
At the time, Avalon Hill distributed many of their tabletop games in a box
that was meant to stand upright on a shelf,
referred to by them as "bookcase games."
They not only looked impressive on display
but their bulky size was a requirement
due to the sheer number of items inside the box needed to play it.
And perhaps influenced by someone else getting there first,
Avalon Hill soon brought the bookcase game package design
over to the world of computers
with their newly formed Microcomputer Games division.
And the era of boxed computer games was thoroughly underway.
Note that I didn't say "big box" computer games,
as that was a term that didn't really exist until the mid-2000s.
Originally, there was no need for a size distinction.
They were simply computer game boxes
and the packaging could vary wildly from one publisher to the next.
Electronic Arts was one company to distinguish itself in the early 1980s
with their gatefold LP-style boxes known as folios.
Considering themselves electronic artists,
EA wanted to treat their developers like rockstars,
giving their games colorful cover art and packaging that resembled a vinyl record.
On the flip-side, companies like IBM
often took the straightforward approach you would expect
for their business-focused PC products,
packing games in functional but ultimately drab sleeves.
Then you had publishers like Infocom
taking computer game boxes to the next level.
They primarily made interactive fiction games,
known as text adventures,
which lacked in-game graphics and instead relied on the player's imagination.
Perhaps to compensate for this,
Infocom packaging greeted you with colorful and creative artwork,
both on the box itself and inside,
with comic books and colorfully illustrated manuals.
They took it even further by including what they called "feelies."
These were physical items like patches, brochures,
buttons, scratch-and-sniff cards,
glasses, invisible space fleets,
and other collectibles to help suck players into their virtual worlds.
But feelies weren't the only reason computer game boxes
often were so big.
It was frequently a physical necessity
due to the technology and expectations of computer games in the '80s.
Software came on cassette tapes or floppy disks,
sometimes several at once,
so you needed a box big enough to hold them.
Not only that but documentation
was a big factor in why boxes got so big.
As games grew increasingly complex,
they needed more instructions,
which resulted in bigger manuals.
And you couldn't just stick all the documentation
within the game itself like you can today,
since there was only so much space available per disk.
Manuals also frequently served double duty
as a form of copy protection
where you'd reach a point in the game
where it asked for a certain keyword
or phrase from the manual before moving on.
And the inclusion of code wheels
and multiple other copy protection devices
were another reason boxes needed to grow to a certain size,
even if their inclusion was more of a symptom and not the root cause.
And finally, it's worth noting that
there were plenty of computer games
that didn't come in big boxes at all in the '80s and '90s.
There were no standards for computer game packaging,
unlike console games where the size was determined
by a first-party company like Sega or Nintendo.
Nope, with computer games box design was a free-for-all.
Sometimes they were huge or weird-looking.
Other times they could fit in the palm of your hand.
The latter is especially true outside the US
where budget releases cut costs any way possible,
only going as big as needed
to fit the media and maybe a simple manual.
But in territories where massive retailers were prevalent,
a computer game with a small box was often seen as inferior.
So even the cheapest budget title would probably get a big box.
And yet the tides were starting to turn.
By the beginning of the new millennium in the USA,
console games were becoming more popular than ever
and computer game growth was slowing.
They were far from dying out
but the fact was that console game sales were up 18%
while PC and Mac combined were only up 6%.
Plus, by the end of 2001,
there were going to be 4 major video game systems on the market,
not including handhelds.
This required a ton of retail floor space.
Yet computer games could take up
just as much space while being less profitable.
Additionally, there was little practical reason for PC games
to have such big boxes anymore.
It wasn't unusual to open up a package and find nothing
but a single CD and a jewel case booklet inside of it.
Sure, there was still the occasional Falcon 4.0 situation
where it was so complex you truly needed this gigantic manual,
but the vast majority of PC games could do without.
In fact, the UK and parts of Europe
had already adopted the DVD keep case
for many PC game releases starting in the late '90s.
To solve this problem,
enter the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, or IEMA.
They were an American nonprofit organization
that existed to serve the business interests of software retailers
and later expanded to include movies and music
when becoming the Entertainment Merchants Association.
The IEMA held an executive summit from July 18th to the 21st in 2000
where the dilemma of PC game packaging was discussed among retailers
representing 70% of domestic game sales.
A consensus was reached for a standard box design
measuring 5-3/8 by 7-1/4 by 1-1/4
or 2-1/2 inches in order to hold multiple discs and documentation.
This became known as the IEMA mini-box or small box,
and began showing up on store shelves around 2001.
For a while, games were still sold in both box sizes,
depending on the desires of the specific retailer.
And it was around this point that collectors started making the distinction
between big box and small box releases.
But by 2004, the vast majority of North American PC games
were sold in small boxes only
and then in standard DVD cases
once the need for manuals and extra discs diminished.
There were some notable exceptions, though.
Stores like Costco and Sam's Club
continued to sell their own exclusive big box PC games through 2005
before switching to the IEMA's mini-box.
And of course, special editions
sometimes still come in larger boxes today,
but PC game collectors will distinguish
between these and traditional big box releases.
And finally, countries like Germany and Russia
continued selling certain PC games
in bigger boxes for years
after the United States and most other countries discontinued them.
And as for the current state of things,
it has only grown increasingly uncommon
to find PC games boxed at all.
With the rise of digital distribution platforms
like Steam and GOG taking off in the late 2000s,
there are fewer customers than ever for boxed PC games.
There's also less incentive to buy a boxed game at retail in the first place
since many don't come with anything inside the case
beyond a code to activate the game online
and maybe an installer on DVD.
On the other hand, there's still a passionate number of collectors
that long for physical media,
with companies like Indiebox, Gamer's Edition,
and crowdfunding projects filling in that gap.
But even without the occasional niche boxed release,
there are still over two decades of classic boxes
for collectors to collect and enjoy,
and seemingly never enough shelf space to store them.
And allow me to give a shout out
to Jim Leonard, Brenda Romero,
and the folks over at the Big Box PC Game Collectors Facebook group,
all for helping me fact check and make this video
more accurate and awesome.
As well as a huge thank you to the LGR Patrons
for keeping this show and other ones going on this channel.
And as always, thank you very much for watching.