MovieChat Forums > Steve Jobs (2015) Discussion > Atari Game BreakOut

Atari Game BreakOut

posted 8 years ago by swordedsoul
2 replies | jump to latest

I watched a documentary where Atari paid Steve and Wozniak $7000 for creating the BreakOut Atari game but Steve told Woz they only received $700 and split it giving Woz only $350.

Woz said he was hurt and also mentioned he would have given Steve the Money if asked.

I don't understand how you could cheat your friend like that unless Steve didn't consider Woz his friend deep down inside. I don't pretend to know what anybody thinks but it seemed really shatty.

All Hail Zorg

[–] rabbitmoon 8 years ago

It kind of was a bit shatty. Jobs had a kind of weird value system where he figured that Woz probably wouldn't care, wouldn't know, and wouldn't value the money as much as he would himself.

[–] ExTechOp (2770) 3 years ago

There’s a passage from _The Stand_ that comes to mind, describing how Larry Underwood comes to his friend to collect on a debt that his friend insists he already paid.

Larry’s mindset at the time was: I need money now, therefore my friend owes it to me

Note that this doesn’t remotely excuse what Larry or Jobs did — I point it out to show how money, or need for money, can make people do stupid things.

That said, Jobs did have a twisted view of value, merit, gratitude and justice. This film illustrates some of that with his refusal to acknowledge the Apple II team.