1

Dylan Vest
Ms. Records
Period 3A
2 May 2017

The Video Game Crash of 1983

While video games are usually viewed as a daily and accessible source of entertainment,

there was a time where successful games were hard to come by, and they were primitive

compared to what we have present-day with high-budget titles releasing annually for consoles

that can output with up to 4K resolution. Lets take a trip back to 1983, an era of video games

with simple bleeps and bloops of the era of Atari game systems, and with it came some major

problems. The most impactful event of this era was one that almost killed the North American

video game industry: the Video Game Crash of 1983. The biggest causes of this event were the

lack of regulations with third-party games, the prosperity of the affordable home computer

industry, and the major impact of some of the worst video games ever released.

One of the causes of the Video Game Crash of 1983 was the lack of regulation with third-

party published games. Because the North American video game industry was still in its infancy,

there werent many rules to follow when it came to how third-party games were made and

published. What made this factor as impactful as it was toward the event was that almost all

games released for game systems during this era were third-party, as most systems companies

only made the hardware rather than the software. In 1986, during the years of the aftermath of

the crash, former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi stated, Atari collapsed because they

gave too much freedom to third-party developers and the market was swamped with rubbish

games. (Library). The reason third-party games played such a big role in the crash was because

many of them were poorly made, rushed to meet a deadline, and/or didnt sell well enough to
 2

earn the praise of critics and consumers alike, therefore being considered commercial failures by

the industrys standards and are then swiftly shoved under the rug.

A second major cause of the crash was the prosperity and success of the affordable home

computer industry . During the late 70s and early 80s, Apple Co. co-founder Steve Jobs

introduced the world to the new affordable home computer. This was one of the most important

technological advancements in the history of the United States, as it allowed much of the country

to afford and own a computer in their household. This also opened the floodgates to what would

become a phenomenon that millions around the world still play: PC games. Since video games

are created on computers and then converted in a way where it can run on the desired system its

designed for, this also meant these games could be created for the original hardware its made on,

which just so happened to be much more sophisticated and powerful than game systems at the

time could offer. On top of this, computers created during this time could do more than just play

video games; they could also create and print documents. Because of this, video games became

almost exclusive to PCs. Dan Gutman, creator of the Video Game Player magazine stated in

1982, As the first wave of the personal computer boom started, the video games market began

to taper off. People asked themselves, 'Why should I buy a video game system when I can buy a

computer that will play games and do so much more? (Library). Video games during this era

became geared towards being developed for the new Apple computers rather than the Atari 2600

and other systems, which turned away many consumers and critics from the video game consoles

of the time in favor of the new Macintosh and Lisa computers.

Lastly, a third cause of the Video Game Crash of 1983 was the impact of some of the

most unanimously agreed upon worst video games ever released. The biggest culprits of the

crash were two hyped games during this era: a home console version of the arcade mega-hit:
 3

Pac-Man, and a video game adaptation of the 1982 classic: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial by

Stephen Spielberg. In the case of E.T., twenty-five year old Howard Scott Warshaw was eager to

develop the game, But with Christmas looming he had just five weeks to design and code the

game. Bright, energetic, and a bit cocky, Warshaw charged ahead. (No. 3038: The Video Game

Crash of 1983). Alongside E.T., the Atari 2600 port of Pac-Man was notorious for its

disorienting sprite flickering and little resemblance to the original arcade game. Although the

blame could be pointed towards the developers of the games, it could also be put on the industry

giant themselves: Atari. This is because Those two games, both Christmas Rushed, soon earned

a reputation as the worst games ever made. Atari also overproduced copies of these two (and

many others) in the hopes that they would become system-sellers. (The Great Video Game

Crash of 1983 / Useful Notes - TV Tropes). Although other games could factor into why the

industry fell into a crisis, E.T. and Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 were the most notable ones by far.

The Video Game Crash of 1983 is one of the most disastrous events to occur within the

industry because it came close to killing an entire market in North America, which would have

resulted in thousands of jobs lost. Furthermore, it also shook the industry and led to the creation

of regulations regarding many aspects of the industry that are still followed today. Outside of

North America, the crash didnt cause much of an impact. It did, in fact, earn itself a nickname in

Japan, the Atari shock. However, this doesnt make the crash any less impactful, as it made the

industry learn a lesson and made it say, Lets never let that happen again.

Works Cited

Library, World. North American video game crash of 1983 | World Library - eBooks | Read

eBooks online. World Library, World Heritage Encyclopedia,

http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/north_american_video_game_crash_of_1983.
 4

Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.

No. 3038: The Video Game Crash of 1983. Engines of Our Ingenuity, Andy Boyd, 7 Jan. 2016,

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi3038.htm. Accessed 7 Apr. 2017.

The Great Video Game Crash of 1983 / Useful Notes - TV Tropes. TV Tropes,

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983?

from=Main.TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983. Accessed 11 Apr. 2017.