Atari has a 40th birthday, over the hill but not out of the loop
It was on June 27, 1972, that two men launched a game company that would usher in a new form of entertainment that we now call video games. Today we celebrate Atari’s 40th birthday with a look back at its history.
Atari was founded by Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell way back in 1972. As many of you know, their first hit was ‘Pong’. I unfortunately missed Pong’s launch, by about 7 years. I did however play my first ever video game on an Atari 2600 (shown in all its glory on the right). My cousin and I would spend hours and hours playing now classic titles like ‘Breakout’, ‘Haunted House’, ‘Space Invaders’ and so many others.
To celebrate the 40th birthday, Atari has released a very interesting info-graphic showing the rise of the Atari-system and how quickly it became a household name. Back then I didn’t care about who published a game, there were no such thing as reviews or scores, the box-art or marketing didn’t even have to closely resemble the actual pixelated game. I played Breakout all the time and no one really knew who Steve Jobs was (Steve Jobs developed Breakout in 1976). I also never imagined that video-game’s could be the bases of anyone’s career, besides the people that made it of course. Back then it was just mind-boggling to play a game that you saw at an arcade on your own tv, in your living-room, without quarters.
I can still remember playing E.T. and not having any idea what I was supposed to be doing, or how I was supposed to “win”. Now that I’m older I have learned that no one knew anything about that game, and it wasn’t my fault. Atari continues to this day, making games and reinventing old classics for new devices. It’s a testament that video-games and brands can endure through revamps, new consoles and a changing market. Happy Birthday Atari.
