Executive Suite (video game)

Executive Suite is a text-based business simulation released in 1982 on a self-booting disk for IBM PC compatibles. The game was created by Armonk Corporation, a small Newport Beach, California, software house, and came out under the company’s “Gray Flannel Fun” label. Instead of managing budgets or resources like most business sims, players steer a single character’s career at the fictional Mighty Microcomputer Corporation (MMC) by making on-the-job decisions, dodging blame for failures, and building support across departments while navigating office politics.

The game presents a series of situations and problems, each solved by picking from multiple choices. After a set of questions, the game evaluates the player’s performance, offering either a promotion or a firing. The in-game economy can shift from boom to recession to depression. The ultimate goal is to reach the position of President—the titular executive suite—before the mandatory retirement age of seventy-five.

Gameplay starts with an interview at MMC’s Personnel Manager’s office. The player answers demographic questions: school, field of study, grades, personality, ambition, favorite sport, years of experience, age, gender, and marital status. This data determines the entry-level jobs available—a high school graduate starts in the mailroom or maintenance, while an engineering graduate with good grades enters at a higher level. After that, background and consistency matter little; until very senior roles, the player is encouraged to take jobs in many departments to build a network of named allies.

At MMC, workers don’t get promotions; instead, every few years they must apply for new internal jobs. At application time, the player sees a list of available jobs, each with a level and a department (Production, Marketing, Sales, Public Relations, Administration, Engineering, Accounting). The list depends on the character’s performance in their last role (poor, good, average), their reputation in each department, and the global business cycle (expansion, recession, or depression). The player can fall down the ladder or get stuck in low- or mid-level jobs if they are incompetent or unlucky. As decisions are made, the character collects reputation traits (like shirking work or looking out for the company) and triggers events that are remembered “fortunately” or “unfortunately” at hiring time, resulting