Network is a real-time, two player business simulation game developed by David Mullich

David Mullich

David Mullich is an American game producer and designer best known for creating the cult classic 1980 adventure game The Prisoner, producing the 1995 adaptation I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, and developing many games in the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise...

 for the Apple II

Apple II

The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...

  in 1980

1980 in video gaming

-Notable releases:* May 22, Namco releases Pac-Man, which is their biggest selling game of all time* December, Nintendo releases the Radar Scope arcade game...

. Two players play competitively against the computer, each taking the role of the programming chief for a major television network

Television network

A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...

. Each side bids on new television shows to add to the season’s line-up, schedules them, monitors the weekly ratings, and then drops shows with poor ratings or reschedules them to recover from mistakes at the end of the thirteen week season. The side with the highest ratings is the winner.