TheAtari 2600was part of the second generation of home consoles. It eclipsed its competitors with estimated sales figures of 30 million, and the other second-generation consoles, theColecoVision, Odyssey,andIntellivision,were unable to even reach combined sales of 10 million. The driving force behind theAtari 2600’ssales was its collection of now-iconic games. Titles includedclassics likeAsteroids, Frogger, and Space Invaders.
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However, the Atari 2600’s library was also its downfall. The filmE.T. the Extra-Terrestrialhad a huge amount of hype behind it. It was helped in no small part by director Steven Spielberg being at the height of his fame, having just directedRaiders of the Lost Ark.A corresponding game was developed in just six weeks, hoping to capitalize on this success. The game flopped, however, selling just 1.4 million cartridges of the 4 million made.
Furthermore, the game was received so poorly that it almost destroyed the home console industry entirely. Consequently, for many years, the console didn’t get the respect that it deserved for being a pioneer in the gaming industry. Once the dust settled, however, the console began receiving its deserved plaudits. With increased respect and interest in the console, weird and wonderful stories about its lifespan began to surface.
10The Origins of Activision
Many disgruntled employees daydream about getting one over on their bosses, we’ve all been there. Few have had thesuccess of the creators of Activision,though.
Atari 2600games were frequently created by just one person from top to bottom. These creators began realizing that they weren’t being fairly compensated byAtarifor their work. Their titles were generating far more money than they were being paid, and they weren’t given any accreditation, either. This lack of recognition caused many employees to team up and create their own companies.Activision was one of them, and it is now one of gaming’s leading publishers.
9Easter Eggs
It wasn’t just Activision that was created off the back of disgruntled employees, either. The first-ever gaming Easter Eggwas a creator’s way of protesting againstAtari.
Warren Robinett created theAtari 2600gameAdventure.He, too, was disgruntled by not receiving credit for his work, so he created a secret room in his game. The room simply contained flashing words that read “Created by Warren Robinett.”
8Mystique
Activisionwasn’t the only company givingAtaria headache. A 1980s companynamedMystiquebegan releasing adult games on theAtari 2600.
Moreover, one game in particular namedCuster’s Revengefeatured acts so vile that it sparked protests. Atari responded to the complaints by taking legal action againstMystique.Unsurprisingly, they won.
7Misleading Advertising
The Atari 2600’s box isnostalgic for many people. The iconic packaging had to be altered shortly after release, though, as observant consumers noticed that the box was somewhat misleading.
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On the front of the original box was a picture of a chess piece. People wanting to play chess on the console will have been very disappointed, though, as theAtari 2600wasn’t even capable of running a chess game at the time. The image was soon changed, although hardware alterations did eventually enable the console to run a chess game.
As previously mentioned, Atari was left with an embarrassingly large amount of unwantedE.T.cartridges. An urban legend surfaced at the time, claiming that the games were buried in a landfill.
Many people will have heard this before. Some won’t be aware, however, that the legend was confirmed in 2014. Diggers were hired to search for the games, andthey were found in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
5Price Strategy
Games consoles unsurprisingly have a higher manufacturing cost than the games themselves. This is why Atari’s decision to underprice their Atari 2600 but overprice the games was a huge risk. They aimed to earn the money they lost on the consoles back by selling games at a premium. The risk paid off, and it revolutionized the way consoles are priced.
Nintendo and Sony still use this strategy. For example,Sony is reportedly selling their PS5 consoles at a loss, with expectations of making the money back with its steep $70 game price. PC gamers have had the opposite experience. They have to pay a hefty price to own a gaming PC, but then enjoy cheap games on platforms like Steam. Interestingly,Microsoftis going down a different route withtheirXbox Series X|S.Microsoft is hoping that its subscription service Game Pass blows the competition out of the water with its generous price point of five to fifteen dollars per month.
4Subsequent Bussiness Ventures
Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell didn’t rest on his laurels when sales of the 2600 sky-rocketed. He instead began work on a side-project named Pizza Time Theater.
Nolan Bushnell was forced out of Atari in 1978 and subsequently shifted his focus to this side business. The company is today known as Chuck. E Cheese, a popular restaurant chain in North America known for its animatronic characters and range of arcade games.
3Office Politics
Speaking of Nolan Bushnell’s departure from Atari, it came about from some good old-fashioned office politics. The Atari 2600 wasn’t always a success; it had a very slow start that led Warner Communications, now Time Warner, to task Ray Kassar with improving the console’s fortunes.
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Ray Kassar and Nolan Bushnell constantly butted heads, predominantly due to differences in work ethics. Nolan Bushnell’s laid back working attitude clashed with the disciplined culture that Ray Kassar was used to at Warner Communications. Nolan began trying to schedule key meetings behind the back of Warner Communications, which led to Nolan being pushed out of the company.
2Quadrun
Gaming historians will likely recognize the nameQuadruninstantly.Quadrunwas the firstAtari 2600game to feature voice synthesis.Quadrun’shistorical relevance, along with only 10,000 copies being made, has made it a rare and valuable collector’s item.Open Sesamewas the only other game to include the feature on the console.
1Pac-Man
Looking at a console’s top-selling games is often a nice way to reminisce about a system’s best titles. This isn’t the case with theAtari 2600,unfortunately.Pac-Manis the highest selling game on theAtari 2600,withsales of nearly eight million units.The game didn’t play like thePac-Manthat we all know and love, though, nor is it just marginally inferior. Pac-Manon theAtari 2600is considered to be one of the worst games ever made and contributed to the near-collapse of the home console market along withE.T.
Pac-Manwas so bad, in fact, that stores began canceling consumer’s orders. They did this because the number of returns and complaints that they were receiving was so high that it wasn’t even worth them selling the game anymore. Atari was believed to have been left with approximately five million unwanted copies of the game.
