PF.Magic

Joined: Jan 1994 Left: 1996 (when first child Olivia was born) Role: Started as assistant producer, rose to running the studio Category: Multimedia / video games What they made: Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games, Petz (Dogs and Cats)

Overview

PF.Magic was a multimedia and video game company co-founded by John Skulski (from Apple). Ted joined in 1993 after EO — deliberately taking a downward move from Director of Product Management at EO to assistant producer, working for someone five years younger.

"It really is a meritocracy — if you trust yourself, you'll find your position again. Don't worry about lateral moves and downward moves to get into something you're excited about."

Within a year, Ted was running the studio. But he spent the first year "feeling like someone's secretary."

Products

Balls — a 3D fighting game for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis that "did really well"
Dogs and Cats (Petz) — the flagship product. Virtual pets that lived on your computer. Ted's presentation highlights Petz as "virtual life, pre-Tamagotchi or NeoPets" — predating Tamagotchi (1996) and NeoPets (1999). Ubisoft bought the licensing and continued selling the franchise

The Internet Moment

Joel Dubner, an engineer at PF.Magic, showed Ted the internet for the first time. Ted had been running a First Class BBS out of his house (about four people would log in each night), and when Dubner showed him an early browser (Spyglass or similar), Ted immediately saw it would "blow away the BBSes for sure." This moment changed everything — Ted started playing with the web obsessively, got his own website up by ~1995, and watched Netscape's rise with growing excitement.

Why Ted Left

By 1996, Ted was losing faith in PF.Magic. The management team "wasn't super coherent" — good products but poor organizational function. His first child Olivia was born, and the internet was clearly where the action was. He left to start a consulting firm (ActiveSite) that would become the incubator for When.com.

Significance

PF.Magic was Ted's bridge between the earnest hardware world (Apple, EO) and the consumer entertainment world. It introduced a theme that would recur: creating digital experiences that feel alive and personal. It was also where Ted first encountered the internet — the platform that would define his next two decades.