Editing Commodore 64 (section)

=== 1988–1994 ===
By 1988, [[PC compatible]]s were the largest and fastest-growing home and entertainment software markets, displacing former leader Commodore.<ref name="keiser198806">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1988-JUn-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_097_1988_JUn#page/n81/mode/2up | title=MS-DOS Takes Charge of Fun Software | work=Compute! | date=June 1988 | access-date=November 10, 2013 | author=Keiser, Gregg | page=81}}</ref> Commodore 64 software sales were almost unchanged in the third quarter of 1988 year over year while the overall market grew 42%,<ref name="gazette198902">{{Cite magazine |date=February 1989 |title=Commodore Software Sales: Games |url=https://archive.org/details/1989-02-computegazette/page/n11 |magazine=Compute's Gazette |page=10 |access-date=January 19, 2020}}</ref> but the company was still selling 1 to 1.5 million units worldwide each year of what ''[[Computer Chronicles]]'' that year called "the [[Model T]] of personal computers".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/CC517_commodore_64|year=1988|title=Computer Chronicles: Interview with Commodore president with Max Toy|access-date=July 24, 2007}}</ref> Epyx CEO [[Dave Morse (executive)|Dave Morse]] cautioned that "there are no new 64 buyers, or very few. It's a consistent group that's not growing... it's going to shrink as part of our business."<ref name="compute198809">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1988-09-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_100_1988_Sep#page/n11/mode/2up | title=Epyx Grows with David Morse | work=Compute! | date=September 1988 | access-date=November 10, 2013 |last1=Ferrell |first1=Keith |last2=Keizer |first2=Gregg | page=11}}</ref> One computer gaming executive stated that the [[Nintendo Entertainment System]]'s enormous popularity{{spaced ndash}}seven million sold in 1988, almost as many as the number of C64s sold in its first five years{{spaced ndash}}had stopped the C64's growth. [[Trip Hawkins]] reinforced that sentiment, stating that Nintendo was "the last hurrah of the 8-bit world".<ref name="ferrell198907">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/1989-07-compute-magazine/Compute_Issue_110_1989_Jul#page/n29/mode/2up | title=Just Kids' Play or Computer in Disguise? | work=Compute! | date=July 1989 | access-date=November 11, 2013 | last=Ferrell |first=Keith | page=28}}</ref>

[[Strategic Simulations|SSI]] exited the Commodore 64 market in 1991, after most competitors.<ref name="maher20170331">{{cite web |url=http://www.filfre.net/2017/03/opening-the-gold-box-part-5-all-that-glitters-is-not-gold/ |title=Opening the Gold Box, Part 5: All That Glitters is Not Gold |last=Maher |first=Jimmy |date=March 31, 2017 |website=The Digital Antiquarian}}</ref> ''[[Ultima VI]]'', released in 1991, was the last major C64 game release from a North American developer, and [[The Simpsons (video game)|''The Simpsons'']], published by [[Ultra Games]], was the last arcade conversion. The latter was a somewhat uncommon example of a US-developed arcade port as after the early years of the C64, most arcade conversions were produced by UK developers and converted to NTSC and disk format for the US market, American developers instead focusing on more computer-centered game genres such as RPGs and simulations. In the European market, disk software was rarer and cassettes were the most common distribution method; this led to a higher prevalence of arcade titles and smaller, lower-budget games that could fit entirely in the computer's memory without requiring multiloads. European programmers also tended to exploit advanced features of the C64's hardware more than their US counterparts.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}

The Commodore 64 Light Fantastic pack was released in time for the 1989 Christmas holiday season. The package included a C64C, a Cheetah Defender 64 Light gun and 3D-glasses. This pack included several games compatible with the light gun, including some developed purely for the packs release (Mindscape.) 

In the United States, demand for 8-bit computers all but ceased as the 1990s began and PC compatibles completely dominated the computer market. However, the C64 continued to be popular in the UK and other European countries. The machine's eventual demise was not due to lack of demand or the cost of the C64 itself (still profitable at a retail price point between £44 and £50), but rather because of the cost of producing the disk drive. In March 1994, at [[CeBIT]] in [[Hanover]], [[Germany]], Commodore announced that the C64 would be finally discontinued in 1995, noting that the [[Commodore 1541]] cost more than the C64 itself.<ref name="AFNS">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AmigaFormatMagazine_201902/Amiga_Format_Issue_059_1994_05_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n21/mode/2up | title=Commodore at CeBIT '94 | magazine=Amiga Format | date=May 1994 | access-date=10 December 2023 | pages=22–23 }}</ref>

However, only one month later in April 1994, the company filed for [[bankruptcy]]. When Commodore went bankrupt, all production on their inventory, including the C64, was discontinued, thus ending the C64's {{frac|11|1|2}}-year production. Claims of sales of 17, 22 and 30 million of C64 units sold worldwide have been made. Company sales records, however, indicate that the total number was about 12.5 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pagetable.com/?p=547|year=2011|title=How many Commodore 64 computers were really sold?|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref> Based on that figure, the Commodore 64 was still the third most popular computing platform into the 21st century until 2017 when the [[Raspberry Pi]] family replaced it.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/raspberry-pi-sales/|title=Sales soar: Raspberry Pi British board beats Commodore 64, world's third best-selling computer|date=March 16, 2017|work=The MagPi Magazine|access-date=October 22, 2018|language=en-GB}}</ref>

While 360,000 C64s were sold in 1982, about 1.3 million were sold in 1983, followed by a large spike in 1984 when 2.6 million were sold. After that, sales held steady at between 1.3 and 1.6 million a year for the remainder of the decade and then dropped off after 1989. North American sales peaked between 1983 and 1985 and gradually tapered off afterward, while European sales remained quite strong into the early 1990s.{{r|PageTable}} Commodore itself reported a robust sales figure of over 800,000 units during the 1991 fiscal year, but sales during the 1993 fiscal year had declined to fewer than 200,000 units. Throughout the early 1990s, European sales had accounted for more than 80% of Commodore's total sales revenue.<ref name="commodore1993">{{ cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/commodore-annual-report-1993/page/n3/mode/1up | title=Commodore International Limited 1993 Annual Report | publisher=Commodore International Limited | date=17 December 1993 | access-date=17 November 2024 | pages=2 }}</ref>