Technology

In the 1970s, video game arcades were incredibly popular for consumers. Videogame companies such as Atari, which produced hit games such as Pac-Man, had the idea of taking arcade machines and redesigning them for play in homes, creating home consoles. Atari's attempt at creating a home console was the Atari 2600. The device was revolutionary and quite different from the arcade machines consumers were used to play on. It did not have a built-in display like an arcade machine, and so it was plugged into an existing screen that people already had access to: a television. The Atari 2600 also could play multiple games, utilizing plastic memory modules called cartridges. Each cartridge contained a different game, and this allowed Atari to sell each cartridge individually. Atari also allowed third-party development of games for the first time, charging royalties for games developed for the 2600 from other developers. Although initially the Atari 2600 was a moderate success, the release of the game Space Invaders in 1980 and the release of the games Asteroids and Missile Command in 1981 increased sales significantly. The decline in revenue for Atari was not caused by declining home console sales but rather cartridge sales; more and more games were rushed out but at lower and lower qualities. The decline in quality of games combined with the rise of the home computer as an entertainment device led to the video game crash of the 1980s.