Game On! A Brief Look at Exidy's "Death Race" Video Game
Death Race is an arcade game released by Exidy in 1976, and it caused a lot of controversy due to its violent nature. The game is a driving format whose objective is to hit as many ‘gremlins’ or people as possible. With every ‘gremlin’ that is hit, a tombstone would appear to mark where they were struck. I decided to pick this topic for today’s blog because I was interested in finding out more about what people said about the game. I was also interested in seeing if there is a correlation between popular opinion on violent video games in the 1970s and today.
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During my research, I found an article titled “’ Death Race’ Game Gains Favor, But Not With the Safety Council” by Ralph Blumenthal. Several months after the game’s release, this article was published on December 28, 1976, in The New York Times. In the article, Blumenthal discusses how the National Safety Council “is not amused” by the game. According to the National Safety Council website, “[it was] founded in 1913 and quickly developed the mission of eliminating preventable deaths in the workplace, on the road, and in homes and communities.” So, a violent game like Death Race that seemingly promoted person vs. person violence would have definitely piqued their interest. Blumenthal also discussed how the controversy surrounding the game prompted some businesses to discard their game due to customer complaints.
Despite public opinion, according to both Blumenthal and Tristan Donovan, the author of Replay: The History of Video Games, Death Race was a profitable venture for Exidy due to increased publicity. The fear the public had surrounding this game was based on the idea that the player is purposefully committing a violent act of hitting people with a car to acquire points. According to Blumenthal’s article, Dr. Gerald Driessen stated in reference to the repercussions of this type of game, “Could it bring out violence during actual driving? I’m sure most people playing this game do not jump in their car and drive at pedestrians, … But one in a thousand? One in a million? And I shudder to think what will come next if this is encouraged. It’ll be pretty gory.”
In Chapter four of Replay on pages 42 & 43, Donovan briefly covers the release, controversy, and success of Death Race. In this section, he covers the premise of the game, the worries people had about its violent nature, and how Exidy handled the situation. Blumenthal’s article shines a brighter light on what the National Council of Safety thought of the game and how some of the public reacted. The article also dives a little deeper into how Exidy handled the criticism and some of the specific responses Phil Brooks the general manager of Exidy, according to Blumenthal, gave. In reference to the graphicness of the game, Brooks “denied that the game was violently graphic.” And stated, “We have one of the best artists in the business, … If we wanted to have cars running over pedestrians, we could have done it to curl your hair.” As you can tell, the higher-ups of Exidy did little to quell the public’s upset and, in some cases, even fueled the fire. The act of calling the targets in the game “gremlins” is a good example. According to Donovan, “The lie fooled no one.” The controversy came to a head when the company received a letter threatening to bomb Exidy and their facilities. Obviously, this threat was not taken lightly, and authorities were contacted. The writer of the letter was not caught. Luckily, nothing came of that letter, and everyone involved was safe. The controversy only lasted a few months before everyone’s attention turned to other new products coming out. The question is, how did this controversy affect the sale of Death Race? Surprisingly the coverage of the game, even though it was not the most positive, actually increased the sales of the game!
Violent video games are a controversial topic still to this day. Parents often voice their concerns about young children, possibly emulating the games they are playing and becoming violent. What the story of Death Race illustrates is the public’s interest in this type of game despite their worries. Like Death Race, video games with high levels of violence and gore sell well despite the criticism they receive in the media. It’s like the sayings go ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ and ‘any publicity is good publicity’ because with these games, as demonstrated by Death Race, the more their name is advertised to the public, the more people will buy it because they are curious.
Do you play video games? Let me know what your favorite is down in the comments!
Sources:
Ralph Blumenthal, " Death Race’ Game Gains Favor, But Not With the Safety Council," New York Times, December 28, 1976.
Tristan Donovan, Replay: The History of Video Games, (East Sussex: Yellow Ant, 2010), 42-43.
National Safety Council, "NSC Throughout History," https://www.nsc.org/company/historic-psa.
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