1980 in video games

none March 2016 1980 video games 1980 saw the release of a number of games with influential concepts, including Pac-Man, Battlezone, Crazy Climber, Mystery House, Missile Command, Phoenix, Rally-X, Space Panic, Stratovox, Zork, Adventure, and Olympic Decathlon. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, while the best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch. The Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600) also grew in popularity with a port of Space Invaders and support from new third-party developer Activision. Financial performance The arcade video game market in the US generates $2.81 billion in revenueVideo Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013) ($US 2810000000 1980 0 adjusted for inflation). Home video games sell 464 million no (US 0.464 1980 2 billion no adjusted for inflation) in the United States, with the Atari VCS leading the market with a 44% share.Lindner Richard Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview 1990 Nintendo of America United States https://archive.org/details/06Kahle001551 Highest-grossing arcade games The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games worldwide in 1980. Rank Title Gross revenue Inflation Cabinet sales Developer Distributor(s) Genre Ref Reference(s) 1 Pac-Man $1,000,000,000 US 1000000000 1980 -8 no 100,000 Namco Namco / Midway Maze Kline Stephen Dyer-Witheford Nick Peuter Greig De Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing 2003 McGill–Queen's University Press 978-0-7735-2591-7 96 https://books.google.com/books?id=gw5V10iLEsUC&pg=PA96 The game produced one billion dollars in 1980 aloneAltraide Dagogo Video Games: Pac-Man! (1980) ColdFusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That Transformed Our World Mango Publishing 15 January 2019 978-1-63353-751-4 179 https://books.google.com/books?id=zJUREAAAQBAJ&pg=PT179Loguidice Bill Barton Matt Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time 21 August 2012 CRC Press 978-1-136-13758-7 181 https://books.google.com/books?id=mKF5AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 It was all Midway could do to keep up with the demand for the quarter-munching machines, churning out a hundred thousand of them in 1980 (three times that number were produced over the next seven years). 2 Asteroids $700,000,000 US 700000000 1980 -8 no 70,000 Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Shoot 'em up Kubey Craig The Winners' Book of Video Games 1982 New York: Warner Books 978-0-446-37115-5 13 https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n29Kepos Paula Derdak Thomas International Directory of Company Histories International Directory of Company Histories 1994 9 45 https://books.google.com/books?id=b_YkAQAAMAAJ St. James Press 9781558623248 In 1980, the company introduced Asteroids to compete with the Space Invaders arcade game, which was produced by another company. Atari's version proved to be a popular alternative. By the end of the year, 70,000 of the units had been shipped.Galaxian Namco Namco / Midway Shoot 'em up Space Invaders Taito Taito / Midway Shoot 'em up Cohen Daniel Video Games 1982 Pocket Books New York 0-671-45872-8 17 https://archive.org/details/book_video_games/page/n23 Japan and United States In Japan and the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980. Rank Japan (Game Machine)ベストスリー 本紙調査 (調査対象1980年) 〜 アーケードゲーム機 Best Three Book Survey (Survey Target 1980) ~ Arcade Game Machines Game Machine 159 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 February 1981 2 ja https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19810215p.pdf#page=2"Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" — Game Machine 182 Amusement Press, Inc. 15 February 1982 30 https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19820215p.pdf#page=16 United States Title #1 #2 #3 Points Cash Box1980 Jukebox/Games Route Survey Cash Box November 1, 1980 AMOA-28 https://retrocdn.net/images/c/c4/CashBox_US_1980-11-01.pdf#page=54 Play MeterSullivan George Social Science 1981 Pi Gamma Mu 210 https://books.google.com/books?id=LqEiAQAAMAAJ Examination of the graphics of 10 video machines, selected from the list of the 20 most popular videos for 1980 as published by Play Meter, supported our initial observations. (...) The three most popular video games for 1980 were Asteroids, Galaxian, and Space Invaders in that order. All three video games involve shooting electronic projectiles at rocks in space or at alien invaders.Play Meter Award 1980 https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll44/id/140/ New York Heritage Digital Collections Empire State Library Network 30 August 2021 en RePlayAdlum Eddie The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum RePlay November 1985 11 2 134-175 (160-3) https://archive.org/details/re-play-volume-11-issue-no.-2-november-1985-600DPI/RePlay%20-%20Volume%2011%2C%20Issue%20No.%202%20-%20November%201985/page/162/mode/2upVideo Games RePlay November 1980 Cabinet sales 1 Pac-Man 62 46 17 Asteroids < 60,000 2 Galaxian 44 25 18 Galaxian < 40,000Midway Mfg. Co. v. Dirkschneider, 543 F. Supp. 466 (D. Neb. 1981) https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/543/466/1460981/ Justia Law U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska 4 March 2021 July 15, 1981 3 Crazy Climber 14 19 30 Space Invaders < Stone Andrea The House That Pac Built: Midway Manufacturing is king of the coin-op hill and loving it! Video Games December 1982 1 3 Pumpkin Press 53–55 (54) https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_03_1982-12_Pumpkin_Press_US/page/n53Genesis II, creation and recreation with computers Dale Peterson Reston Publishing 1983 0-8359-2434-3 https://books.google.com/books?id=DL1YAAAAMAAJ May 1, 2011 175 By 1980, some 300,000 Space Invader video arcade games were in use in Japan, and an additional 60,000 in the United States. Dale Peterson 4 Moon Cresta 3 24 15 Missile Command 5 Monaco GP 11 4 11 Rip Off 6 Rally-X 1 6 3 rowspan="7" rowspan="7" rowspan="7" rowspan="7" 7 Heiankyo Alien (Digger) 1 4 4 8 Pitch In 0 1 5 9 Super Speed Race 0 2 2 10 Sasuke vs. Commander 0 0 5 Space Invaders 0 1 3 Missile Command 0 2 1 Best-selling home video games The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1980. Rank Title Platform Developer Publisher Release year Genre Sales Ref Reference(s) 1 Space Invaders Atari VCS Taito Atari, Inc. 1980 Shoot 'em up 1,318,655Kent Steven L. Steven L. Kent https://retrocdn.net/images/9/9c/UltimateHistoryofVideoGames_Book_US.pdf#page=207 The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond Three Rivers Press 978-0-7615-3643-7 190Cartridge Sales Since 1980 Atari Corp. Via The Agony & The Ecstasy Once Upon Atari August 10, 2003 4 23 Scott West Productions 2 Breakout Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1978 Action 256,265 3 Football Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1979 Sports (American football) 248,502 4 Bowling Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1979 Sports 245,670 5 Night Driver Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1980 Racing 161,352 6 Air-Sea Battle Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Shooter 160,093 7 Circus Atari Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1980 Action 148,756 8 Street Racer Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Racing 89,269 9 Video Olympics Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Sports 36,028 Best-selling home systems Rank System(s) Manufacturer Type Generation Sales Ref Reference(s)1Game & WatchNintendoHandheld 2,000,000+昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？ How many old (1970s) video games sold? https://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20140109231757/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html 2014-01-09 16 April 2021 Classic Videogame Station Odyssey ja2Atari Video Computer System (VCS)Atari, Inc.ConsoleSecond1,250,000Greenberg Jonathan April 13, 1981 Japanese invaders: Move over Asteroids and Defenders, the next adversary in the electronic video game wars may be even tougher to beat https://jonathangreenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Japanese-Invaders-April-13-1981.pdf Forbes 127 8 98, 1023TRS-80Tandy CorporationComputer8-bit290,000Reimer Jeremy 2005-12-15 Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/ live 2021-11-27 Ars Technica en-us https://web.archive.org/web/20120607023023/http://arstechnica.com:80/features/2005/12/total-share/ June 7, 2012 Jeremy Reimer 2012-12-07 Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010 https://jeremyreimer.com/rockets-item.lsp?p=137 Jeremy Reimer4IntellivisionMattelConsoleSecond200,000Bloom Steve Video Invaders 1982 Arco Pub. 978-0-668-05518-5 107–109 (108) The Next Step https://www.digitpress.com/library/books/book_video_invaders.pdf#page=1295Atari 400 / Atari 800Atari, Inc.Computer8-bit200,0006Commodore PETCommodore InternationalComputer8-bit90,0007Apple IIApple Inc.Computer8-bit79,5008HP 9800 / HP Series 80Hewlett-PackardComputer8-bit11,300Pollack Andrew 1981-08-13 Big I.B.M.'s Little Computer en-US 130 D1 The New York Times 45,039 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E8m13tZXIAQQbki.jpg 2021-12-06 0362-43319North Star HorizonNorth Star ComputersComputer8-bit8,20010TI-99/4Texas InstrumentsComputer16-bit8,100 Events Awards Electronic Games hosts the first Arcade Awards, the first video game awards ceremony. It awards games released during 1978–1979, with Space Invaders winning the overall Game of the Year award.The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9Bally Awards Arcadian 1980-01-15 2 3 20 http://www.ballyalley.com/newsletters/arcadian/arcadian_vol_2/arcadian_vol_02_issue_03.pdf 2 February 2012 Business New companies: Broderbund, Bug-Byte, HAL Laboratory, Human Engineered Software, Mindscape, On-Line Systems, Sirius, Sir-Tech. Mattel creates the original five-programmer Intellivision game design team, later nicknamed the Blue Sky Rangers in 1982 in a TV Guide interview. Notable releases thumb|Game & Watch Games Arcade May 22 – Namco releases Pac-Man (originally Puckman in Japan). It becomes the highest-grossing game of all time.The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world Steve L. Kent Prima 2001 0-7615-3643-4 https://books.google.com/books?id=C2MH05ogU9oC May 1, 2011 143 Despite the success of his game, Iwatani never received much attention. Rumors emerged that the unknown creator of Pac-Man had left the industry when he received only a $3500 bonus for creating the highest-grossing video game of all time. It has the first gaming mascot character, established the maze chase genre, opened gaming to female audiences,The Essential 50 - Pac-Man, 1UP introduced power-ups,Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP and told a story through cutscenes.Gaming's Most Important Evolutions https://web.archive.org/web/20110615221800/http://www.gamesradar.com/f/gamings-most-important-evolutions/a-20101008102331322035/p-2 June 15, 2011 , GamesRadar+ May – Stratovox from Sun Electronics is the first game with voice synthesis. July – Atari, Inc. releases the cold-war-inspired Missile Command. October – Nichibutsu releases the vertically scrolling Crazy Climber, the first video game with a climbing mechanic and an objective of climbing to the top of the level. November 12 – Stern Electronics releases Berzerk, with designer Alan McNeil's signature on the monitor glass of each cabinet. November – Namco releases Rally-X, the first game with a bonus round. It also features multi-directional scrolling. November – Universal releases Space Panic, the first game with platforms and ladders. The term platform game was still several years in the future. November – Atari, Inc. releases first-person 3D tank shooter Battlezone. Cinematronics releases Star Castle. In 1982 the Atari 2600 port ends up as Yars' Revenge. AtariAge - Catalog - Atari (CO16725-Rev. D) http://atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=32&currentPage=18 atariage.com 2015-11-12 September 23, 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150923015208/http://atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=32&currentPage=18 deadhttp://www.polygon.com/2015/3/9/8163747/yars-revenge-is-a-journey-back-to-a-lost-world-of-video-games The story of Yars' Revenge is a journey back to a lost world of video games Campbell Colin Polygon 2015-03-09 2015-07-02 Midway's Wizard of Wor is released, allowing two players to fight simultaneously in monster-filled mazes. The multi-stage Phoenix sports one of the first video-game bosses: a purple alien in a mothership. Console Atari, Inc.'s port of Space Invaders becomes the killer app for the VCS and the first console title to sell a million copies. The first batch of games from Activision, all for the Atari VCS, hits stores: Dragster, Fishing Derby, Boxing, Bridge, and Checkers. Computer December – Infocom releases its first game, Zork (later called Zork I), which begins the Zork series. The mainframe game Rogue is written by Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold, eventually spawning a crowded genre of Roguelike games. Edu-Ware releases The Prisoner for the Apple II, loosely based upon the 1960s TV series of the same name. Strategic Simulations releases its first game: Computer Bismarck for the TRS-80. Microsoft publishes Olympic Decathlon for the TRS-80, a track and field video game which precedes Konami's Track & Field and The Activision Decathlon by three years. On-Line Systems publishes its first title, the graphic adventure Mystery House for the Apple II. Handheld Nintendo releases the Game & Watch series of LCD handheld electronic games by Gunpei Yokoi. Hardware Arcade December – Data East releases the DECO Cassette System, the first standardized arcade platform, for which many games are developed. Console Mattel releases the Intellivision home video game console. PPZ Ameprod releases the Ameprod TVG-10 dedicated home video game console in Poland. The BSS 01 dedicated home video game console is released only in Germany. Computer The Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom are the first home computers to play games in the UK. Tandy releases the first version of the Tandy Color Computer. See also 1980 in games References Category:Video games by year