Game on.
As the epidemic intensified in 2020, a revolution took place in the entertainment world. That year,video game revenue increased by 20%to a whopping $ 179.7 billion. This raises more than the combined amount of movies in the world and the sports industry in North America.
Indeed, it was helped by the fact that we were collectively trapped in our homes, the theaters were closed, and the sport was well established.
But it was also a testament to the wild growth, innovation and popularity of the video game industry. Its humble roots can be traced back to California companies trying to make money on coin-operated games.
Launched on June 27, 1972, the small start-up company called Atari has changed the world. The first was a rudimentary table tennis game called Pong, which later became a culturally changing home console. He also easily hired Apple founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, and was an early beloved of the then-growing Silicon Valley technology world.
"Some of their cultural heritage is private from public space "To Space", Matthew Thomas Payne, Associate Professor of Media Studies at Notre Dame University and author of various game books such as "Playing War: Military Video Games After 9/11" I told the post. "They domesticated this technique ... but they couldn't imagine [the current iteration].
" From Pong toFort Knight, how Do you draw a line on it? It's a complicated story, "says Payne.
Pong and beyond
This weekThe eccentric Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, who also founded Chuck E. Cheese, launched a pioneering company in Sunnyvale, California.
Before launching Atari, he created the first arcade video game called Computer Space in 1971. It is based on the game Spacewar created in 1962 by MIT graduates who pointed out that Payne is considered a hacker today. ..
About a year later, the pair formed Atari with a simple tennis game, Pong.
"They came up with a way to commercialize gameplay," Payne said, and even if he disputed its credibility, he told the story "always told in the story of their origin." I kept talking.
As the story progressed, in September 1972, they installed Pong in Andy Capp's Lounge. machine. The next day, the bartender said the machine broke.
"One of the programmers, Al Alcorn, went to check it out, behold, it was full of quarters, and they got the winner from this prototype. I know there is, "Pain said.
They created a home console version of Pong and continued with other arcade games. In 1976, the company was acquired by Warner Communications for $ 28 million.
In September 1977, we released the best-selling Atari 2600 for $ 199 and eventually sold over 30 million units. The console featured a joystick and the ability to replace various cartridges with popular games such as Combat and later Frogger, Pac-Man, and Space Invaders.
"One of the first successful attempts to get a video game at home One was Atari, which was supposed to be the first computer in the house, 2600, "Pain said. "That was really the beginning of the house calculation."
Pain said Atari wasn't the first to make a home game console, and its success ignited a legal battle within the emerging industry. I am saying. Magnabox, who created a home system called Odyssey featuring a tennis table game, followed after Atari and other companies knocked off Pong. In 1974, they filed a patent infringement suit against Atari and finally settled for $ 1.5 million.
Video game crash in 1983
However, Atari had other problems.
The company overwhelmed the market with a huge hit in the now infamous video game crash of 1983. Payne attributed the industry's recession to a lack of surveillance.
"Atari couldn't lock down a third-party publisher, creating a complete trash game and oversaturating the market. The bottom has fallen."
The year after the crash, Atari sold his home console and computer division.
Bushnell, who left Atari in 1978, blamed his pain for selling to Warner.
"Atari had an extraordinary corporate culture that was destroyed within two years of its sale." Bushnell was notorious for his company in 2014. I mentioned the corrupt Reddit . An office with a hot tab. "If the sale hasn't happened, I think Atari is still important today."
In 1985, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System for $ 149.99. We had to shock the industry.
"It's Nintendo to come back and save home game days after Atari's rise and fall," Pain said. "Other companies like Sega and Nintendo could see those lessons and readjust accordingly and survive much longer than Atari."
Of course With the advent of streaming, games are now a growing billion-dollar business. Esports are very popular, many professional sports franchises own the Esports team and fill the arena.
However, Atari still has nostalgia and imitates a slowback console. There is also the 2600 as part of the Atari Flashback series.
The company that filed for bankruptcy in 2013 has changed hands several times over the years. Well, I created a game and came back. In 2017, we announced a new game console, and a year later, by creating the game, the original hit song "Million Dollar Pon" was unveiled. In 2020, Atari saidwould launch a chain of video game-themed hotels
"Atari is still recognized, but of the old video games It's not power, "Pain said. "But it still holds. It still speaks to the very early days of the industry."