Mattel How did the Intellivision manage to sell more than the 5200?

[Prosystemsearch]

How did Mattel do it?? English Wikipedia says that it sold about 3,000,000 units by the end of its life span. In contrast, the 5200 sold at most, 1.5 million units. What are the main reasons as to why the Intellivision outsold and was more successful than the 5200, other than the fact that its controllers didn't break nearly as much as the stock 5200 controllers??

[Rev]

This about sums it up.....

 

[+BBWW]

Intellivision had a life before the great Video Game crash, the 5200 hit at peak before the fast crash. The Intellivision was kept alive...

[jaybird3rd]

The Intellivision was introduced in test markets in 1979 and was continuously sold and supported, either by Mattel or INTV, until around 1990/1991. The 5200 was introduced in 1982 and discontinued in 1984 (although it did get some latter-day releases during the Tramiel era), so it had a much shorter life. I believe the Intellivision also got better third-party support, with companies like Activision and Imagic publishing a number of impressive Intellivision exclusives. Even Atari supported the Intellivision with some great arcade ports.

[wolfy62]

The Atari 5300 games were true to the arcade versions in graphics and play ability, but the controllers sucked!

 

unless you had a Wico stick which helped a lot.

Plus the intellivision had 4 years of sales before the 5200 was out.

[Troy_Whelan]

The Atari 5300 games were true to the arcade versions in graphics and play ability, but the controllers sucked!

 

unless you had a Wico stick which helped a lot.

Plus the intellivision had 4 years of sales before the 5200 was out.

That about sums it up. I remember the 5200 games being pretty to look at, and that was it. After trying to play them the looks faded fairly quickly. Granted there was a select group that adapted to and really liked the controllers, but I was not one of them. Combine that with the feeling that most of the games were already on the Atari 2600 and then simply re-introduced on the 5200 with better graphics and we had to decide if the cost was worth it. To most of us it was not. The Intellivision on the other hand, like the ColecoVision, offered games that the Atari 500 did not. It had its own unique appeal, and even though its controllers were not ideal they did support the Intellivision games very well.

 

Troy

[wolfy62]

That about sums it up. I remember the 5200 games being pretty to look at, and that was it. After trying to play them the looks faded fairly quickly. Granted there was a select group that adapted to and really liked the controllers, but I was not one of them. Combine that with the feeling that most of the games were already on the Atari 2600 and then simply re-introduced on the 5200 with better graphics and we had to decide if the cost was worth it. To most of us it was not. The Intellivision on the other hand, like the ColecoVision, offered games that the Atari 500 did not. It had its own unique appeal, and even though its controllers were not ideal they did support the Intellivision games very well.

 

Troy

Even better summation, thank you Troy!

 

It was mostly cool to me because I had an Intellivision and no Atari 2600 so I bought a 5200 instead and therefore did not get that rehashed yet improved game feel.

 

And yes, Colecovision and Intellivision did sport there own brand of games..

 

And anyone can say what they will, but once you mastered the Intellivision controllers, especially for sports games they were pretty damn good!

[+LS650]

I think the Intellivision did better simply because it wasn't Atari. Folks bought the Intellivision because they either were really into the sports titles more than arcade games, or they just liked the Inty library better.

 

On the other hand the 5200 games were often simply conversions of the same arcade games that were already available for the 2600. Most folks weren't going to ditch their 2600 just to spend a lot of money to rebuild a collection of the same games with better graphics. If you wanted to spend that kind of money, you might as well go buy one of the 8-bit Ataris and get yourself a 'real computer'.

[+wongojack]

It comes down to timing and market factors. The two systems really weren't competing against each other (very long).

 

3 million sounds low. Is that just for the original Master Component? Anyone have a more official #?

[Troy_Whelan]

I think the Intellivision did better simply because it wasn't Atari. Folks bought the Intellivision because they either were really into the sports titles more than arcade games, or they just liked the Inty library better.

 

On the other hand the 5200 games were often simply conversions of the same arcade games that were already available for the 2600. Most folks weren't going to ditch their 2600 just to spend a lot of money to rebuild a collection of the same games with better graphics. If you wanted to spend that kind of money, you might as well go buy one of the 8-bit Ataris and get yourself a 'real computer'.

For me it was not an issue of buying Intellivision because it was not Atari, and I personally did not really care about sports titles. I had an Atari 2600, then Intellivision, then ColecoVision. One did not replace the other, each was purchased for different reasons and the others were still kept. The games released later for Atari 2600 were many, but they were also not very good. Lots of companies started trying to cash in on crappy games for the Atari 2600 as they knew there were many consoles out there they were almost guaranteed (so they thought) to make money. This is the start and real reason for the crash...not E.T. People bought the Intellivision because it was the next step above the Atari 2600 in graphics and capabilities, not because is was something other than Atari. However Activision and Imagic started taking the Atari 2600 places that Atari never thought possible. Not sure if you were around during the time or if you are speculating now because you were not there, but the Atari 5200 was not widely sold as it was coming out around the same time that gamers and merchants were being burned by the volume of bad games coming out for the Atari 2600. Also the Atari 5200 really had no strong selling point other than nice graphics. The ColecoVision had awesome games that you had to buy a CV to play. The Intellivision had unique games that you could only play on the Intellivision. Most of the Atari 5200 games could be played on other consoles, so no real reason to buy other than enhance graphics or hopes of future games.

[IntellivisionDude]

3 million sounds low. Is that just for the original Master Component? Anyone have a more official #?

 

Good question. Does that count the Sears model and other models? What about worldwide?

 

It does seem kind of low for a system that is more than plentiful to find used easily online.

 

Let's do a little experiment using this list as a guide .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_million-selling_game_consoles

 

Let's start with a system that according to that list sold more than the Intellivison, the Atari 7800

 

It sold 3.77 million units and if you search Ebay you get 2,486 results worldwide

 

Now the Colecovision that sold less with 2 million units and 1,766 results worldwide

 

And finally the Intellivision with 3 million units sold and a whopping 3,673 results worldwide

 

And that doesn't count the thousands of games in hoarders hands like Rev & Cmart. lol

 

I smell a conspiracy.

[ghsqb]

 

Good question. Does that count the Sears model and other models? What about worldwide?

 

It does seem kind of low for a system that is more than plentiful to find used easily online.

 

Let's do a little experiment using this list as a guide .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_million-selling_game_consoles

 

Let's start with a system that according to that list sold more than the Intellivison, the Atari 7800

 

It sold 3.77 million units and if you search Ebay you get 2,486 results worldwide

 

Now the Colecovision that sold less with 2 million units and 1,766 results worldwide

 

And finally the Intellivision with 3 million units sold and a whopping 3,673 results worldwide

 

And that doesn't count the thousands of games in hoarders hands like Rev & Cmart. lol

 

I smell a conspiracy.

 

Hmmm that's a pretty cool little experiment.

I'm not sure how scientific it is, but it's very interesting.

[IntellivisionDude]

 

Hmmm that's a pretty cool little experiment.

I'm not sure how scientific it is

 

Not very.

[+LS650]

Not sure if you were around during the time

Most of the Atari 5200 games could be played on other consoles, so no real reason to buy other than enhance graphics or hopes of future games.

I was - and I think you are making the same point I made: the 5200 didn't offer anything you couldn't get from the 2600 except better graphics...

[atari5200dude82]

I had all 3 back in the day and still have them . They are all very unique in there own way. The Intellivision came out a few years before the 5200, did. Some games that are on the 5200, are not on the other systems. The Intellivision has a better library and controllers. The 5200 had a short life and Basicallyonly sold in the U.s.a, and Canada

[Intymike]

One of the reasons is: The Intellivision sold worldwide (even it was not that successful in Japan and Europe) and the 5200 was only in the US on the market.

[mdoerty]

The generally-accepted number for Intellivision sales is 3M. The issue is whether or not this includes post-Mattel sales.

The BSRs use the 3M number for all sales. http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/hardware/intelli_tech.html

The Classic Gaming Museum site (IGN) listes 3M for Mattel and 3M post-Mattel. http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=ConsoleMuseum.Detail&id=17&game=9

Honestly, 3 milllion seems low but 6 million seems high.

[+DZ-Jay]

This is a chance to use the German Tank Problem to come up with the most accurate picture of units sold. That, applied to Rev's serial number database should be sufficient--although we should all contribute and provide as many serial numbers as possible.

[wolfy62]

I was - and I think you are making the same point I made: the 5200 didn't offer anything you couldn't get from the 2600 except better graphics...

yes except the graphics were actually arcade like and 10 times better.Other than that.....

 

I actually purchased 3 intellivisions back in the day and all my friends played at my house , none of them had there own. less sales there!

[+LS650]

Mmm... I don't know about the 5200 having graphics "ten times better". Early on, maybe, but I think if you do an honest side-by-side comparison between the 2600, the 5200, and the arcade versions for many games, the 5200 doesn't fare quite so well as you might think.

[jetset]

Marketing, a worldwide sales area and a four year head start.

Plus there's not always accounting for sales numbers. Jimi Hendrix sold 80 million albums worldwide over 40 years. Brittney Spears over a hundred million in her first ten.

[Prosystemsearch]

"A bad workman always blames his tools. So don't blame the controller.

Member of the ATARI 5200 Brotherhood"

Jet set, the controller IS as fault most of the time.

[GroovyBee]

Woodgrain all the way baby!

[+BBWW]

3 milllion seems low but 6 million seems high

Hell they sell that 3 million iPhones now in a week. LOL

[+BBWW]

Marketing, a worldwide sales area and a four year head start.

Plus there's not always accounting for sales numbers. Jimi Hendrix sold 80 million albums worldwide over 40 years. Brittney Spears over a hundred million in her first ten.

But Jimmi only made 4 Albums in his life time. 3 with the Experience and one with Band of Gypsies. Plus we were too high to leave the house.