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The video game crash of 1983 (known in Japan as the Atari shock) [1] was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985 in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturation in the number of video game consoles and available games, many of which were of poor quality.
- The 1970s -1982: The Rise of Gaming Consoles...
- 1980-1982: ...And Their Fall
- What Developers Learned from The Crash
The first generation of consoles, led by the 1972 Magnavox Odyssey, were crude by today's standards, containing a fixed library of games illuminated on TVs using simple light dots and decorative screen overlays; all the same, they pioneered a whole new field of home entertainment. The second generation of video games consoles grew alongside their c...
The first factor behind the 1983 Video Game Console Crash was the sheer glut of consoles on the market. In a sort of digital tragedy of the commons, the Atari, Intellivision, Astrocadeand other consoles were all competing for the public eye, dividing customer interest. A lack of cross-console titles also kept individual video games from standing ou...
A few companies like Atari managed to stay in business, but the Crash dealt it and competitors a severe blow. After the disappointing release of the Atari Jaguar in 1993, Atari left the console market (returning only recently with their Atari VCS entertainment system). American developers generally turned their attention to making games for the gro...
Nov 19, 2023 · By the end of 1983, the booming video game market completely imploded: Overall industry revenues plunged a staggering 97% between 1983 and 1985, from $3.2 billion to just $100 million. Hundreds of manufacturers and developers declared bankruptcy, including Atari, which posted a $500 million loss.
The destructive force of the E.T. video game isn't completely embellished. Indeed, the game was made in a mere six weeks after Atari spent $20 to $25 million on the property rights, and...
Jul 30, 2023 · Atari was one of the first big names in the video game industry and, while it was able to weather the 1983 crash, it never fully recovered. After the Atari Jaguar, released in 1993, failed to meet expectations, Atari closed up shop.
Jun 29, 2022 · Gaming history holds that the worst video games ever made were E.T. and Pac-Man for the Atari 2600. Rushed through incredibly short development cycles to make the Christmas shopping season, these two games were the emblems of everything wrong with the pre-crash industry.
4 days ago · The fallout from the E.T. debacle was severe, both for Atari and for Warshaw. The game's failure is often cited as one of the key factors in the video game crash of 1983, a market collapse that nearly killed the console game industry. Atari went from being the dominant force in gaming to a company struggling to survive.
