Although it may seem hard to believe today, given how popular gaming now is, the industry suffered a crash in 1983 that many people thought it would never recover from. The crash only lasted for two years, so it may just seem like a blip retrospectively. However, the industry may have been dead and buried in the west if it wasn't for the Japanese gaming industry, which was still thriving thanks to the Famicom (NES), a console that would regain western consumers' trust in home consoles after it was crumbled by the Atari 2600.
With the 40th anniversary of the video game crash of 1983 right around the corner, now seems like the perfect time to revisit the period that nearly destroyed the gaming industry. Here are a few details modern gamers might not know.
6 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Is Far From The Only Game To Blame
One of the most commonly known facts about the 1983 crash is that E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, which was released in December 1982, was responsible for many people losing faith in home console gaming. The movie tie-in game was marketed as the biggest release of Christmas 1982, with Stephen Spielberg's E.T. having only recently released. However, the game's designer, Howard Scott Warshaw, was tasked with making the entire game in under two months, resulting in what is still considered one of the worst video games of all time.
Although E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was the final straw for many people, it wasn't the sole reason for the crash, as some suggest. Third-party publishing skyrocketed in the early '80s, following a failed legal case between Atari and Activision (more on that later). This case gave the green light to publishers to make games for the Atari 2600 without complaint from Atari. This led to the market being flooded with low-quality games that were often just as bad as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
5 Industry Icon Pac-Man Was, Surprisingly, Largely To Blame
It wasn't just low-quality third-party games that were tanking the reputation of home console gaming. Pac-Man — who was gaming's biggest mascot in the early 80s — also bears responsibility.
Following Pac-Man's success in arcades, Atari adapted the classic game for their Atari 2600. However, the adaptation was an absolute disaster, with dreadful visuals, constant flickering that looked like the game was glitching, and unwelcome changes to the original's iconic design. Moreover, Pac-Man was the Atari 2600's best-selling game, so there was no hiding place for the disastrous release.
4 Arcade & PC Gaming Were Viewed As Superior To Home Consoles
The aforementioned Pac-Man port strengthened a common belief among consumers at the time that home consoles were simply inferior to arcades. Arcade gaming was at the back-end of its golden age, with legendary titles like Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Frogger all releasing in the late '70s and early '80s. They were all of far higher quality than almost anything released on the Atari 2600.
PC gaming was also seen as a superior alternative to console gaming. There were computers around the same price or even cheaper than the Atari 2600, that had better memory and processing power while also offering more than just gaming.
3 Designers Were Unhappy With Their Pay & Recognition
Unlike AAA games today, which have hundreds or even thousands of people working on them, each Atari 2600 titles was predominantly made by just one person. Despite this, Atari rarely gave public credit to their creators, as they didn't want other companies trying to recruit them. Moreover, the designers were unhappy with their pay and lack of royalties.
Interestingly, this led to gaming's first Easter egg (pictured above), when designer Warren Robinett hid a secret room in his 1980 game Adventure that simply had the words "Created by Warren Robinett." The first Easter-egg wasn't the only important thing that this issue created, as a group of disgruntled designers teamed up to found Activision.
Activision began creating games for the Atari 2600, which Atari blocked. This led to a lawsuit that Activision won, encouraging numerous third-party publishers to spring up and release whatever they wanted on the console, regardless of quality.
2 Games With Obscene Content Generated Negative Attention
The influx of third-party publishers releasing anything they wanted didn't just lead to a plethora of low-quality games. It also led to games with obscene content releasing on the console.
This wasn't just a classic case of parents and the media being outraged by violence in action games, either — some content was far more objectionable. There were games released on the Atari 2600 like the infamous Custer's Revenge, which, believe it or not, tasked players with raping Native American women. Unsurprisingly, this dragged the console's reputation through the mud.
1 The NES Wasn't Marketed As A Gaming Console
In July 1983, the Famicom was released in Japan. The console was a huge success in the country and would eventually feature iconic games like The Legend of Zelda and the Super Mario Bros. trilogy, and would prove pivotal in revitalizing the console gaming industry.
Naturally, Nintendo wanted to bring their console to the west, though they knew it would be a tough sell considering how poorly home consoles were perceived at the time. So, to avoid association with home console gaming, Nintendo branded their Famicom as being far more than just a gaming console, hence the name Nintendo Entertainment System. To drive this idea home, Nintendo released a ton of accessories for their console, such as the Zapper and futuristic robotic assistant R.O.B. The marketing worked, and the home gaming industry has been on an upward trajectory ever since.