How many 5200s were sold ?

[darklord1977]

anybody have any idea how many 5200 systems were sold before atari went belly up due to the video game crash of the early 80's?

[Rybags]

Atari didn't go belly-up until 10 years after the "crash".

 

Even when Warner sold it to the Tramiels, it was still a viable company (even if losing $500M + a year).

 

The 5200 wasn't a very good seller. Released too late, lack of original titles, competing with "better" systems, and the video game crash all contributing to it's lack of success (not to mention the controllers).

 

The Atari 8-bit had poor sales until the mid-1980's, and by that time the 5200 would have been discontinued.

 

I can remember around the time the C-64 had been around for 12-18 months - it was outselling the 8-bit Ataris by at least 10:1.

 

If I had to take a guess, I'd say less than 500,000 sales in total for the 5200.

[jaybird3rd]

It was on the market for only two years before it was finally killed, so it was probably Atari's worst-selling console of all (with the possible exception of the Jaguar). It's not hard to understand why, either: the recycled 400/800 technology inside it was already about four years old when the system was released, and it wasn't too much of a leap beyond the Intellivision and ColecoVision. It also had the problem of zero backward compatibility with the 2600 (which Atari owners expected), while the Intellivision and ColecoVision were new platforms and weren't expected to be compatible with anything. Even worse, both the Intellivision and the ColecoVision eventually got their own 2600 "adapters," so they could play old Atari games while Atari's own system couldn't. The controllers were awful, the games were mostly warmed-over retreads from the 400/800, and because Atari's developers wanted to do 2600 games instead of 5200 games (because that's where the big royalty dollars were), there weren't nearly enough new titles to keep the 5200 afloat. After Atari lost Jay Miner and his top-notch team of engineers, they completely lost any ability to develop something new, and the 5200 was their only (disastrous) attempt to do so; all the Atari game systems that came after the 5200 (the 7800, the Lynx, and the Jaguar) were designed by other companies.

[darklord1977]

yeah the c64 was great i still have mine

[RangerG]

The Colecovision and 5200 could have had a great run - they weren't poor sellers or badly lacking games (i.e. they were the high-end systems of the time with arcade-like games). Atari had a redesigned 5200 controller, the 5200 jr., and original games ready to be released. The crash killed both systems, but I think they were poised to have a console war as competitive as SNES/Genesis.

[darklord1977]

good insight:) i think the 5200 was a great system..even though its technology was outdated(and its notorious controllers)..its still fun to play to this day...the jaguar was a great system also, but had so many problems(marketing game quality etc) ..then the n64 came along and the jaguar at that time was almost forgotton..i got mine at kay bee for 10.00 brand new with 4 games free ! (the nintendo juggernaut strikes again) still it all depends on what you like.. but i never liked the intellivision..i got one for easter and i traded it for a colecovision(with a atari 2600 adaptor)..and i still have it to this day

[JB]

..then the n64 came along and the jaguar at that time was almost forgotton..

Try PS1 and Saturn.

The Jag was dead and gone by the time the N64 made it to market.

 

KayBee only still had them because htey suck at clearing merchandise out.

Edited March 26, 2006 by JB

[NovaXpress]

At the time I heard that the 5200 and Colecovision sold just over 2 million each through Xmas 83. The final tally can't be much higher.

[darklord1977]

yes, ive heard about the new re designed 5200 controller that was the one that was supposed to be self centering right? they should have put them on the market anyways because of all the 5200 owners that have had lousy controllers they would have sold well... its a shame about the new games that were never released my co worker saw some of them at a retro games convention in vancouver last year..he said they looked really sweet:)

Edited March 26, 2006 by darklord1977

[NovaXpress]

What's the point in manufacturing and marketing a joystick which no retail store will touch? Atari didn't decide to get out of the business, the retailers decided for them.

 

The crash was an overreaction on the part of retailers. Instead of narrowing their video game focus, they just gave up. Do you realize how many consoles were actively being sold in 1983? The retailers screwed up and when it failed they just gave up.

[JB]

Also, the self-centering joysticks didn't fix the primary problem of the 5200 controller.

They still used flex circuits, and I seriously doubt rev10 was any more reliable than revs 1-9 were(what'd the system launch on? Rev. 4? 5?).

 

 

The flex circuit experiment was a failure, and Atari should have been redesigning the case to enable the insertion of PCBs under the buttons.

[DracIsBack]

Atari didn't go belly-up until 10 years after the "crash".

 

Even when Warner sold it to the Tramiels, it was still a viable company (even if losing $500M + a year).

 

If I had to take a guess, I'd say less than 500,000 sales in total for the 5200.

 

Atari didn't go "belly up" as that implies bankruptcy. They reverse merged with JTS Corp with $50 million in the bank in 1996.

 

As for 5200 sales, I've heard it moved a few million units. It didn't live up to expectations, but it sold a lot more than the Jaguar did (less than 500,000 is used to describe Jaguar sales).

[David Alexander]

Hi guys, The 400/800 are based off the 5200 that was in development before Atari decided to jump into the home computer market. The 5200 would have come out first but got sidetracked so they took its tech and made the computer line first. Had the 5200 actually come out in 1979 like it should of we would have had a different story today. It would have easily competed with Intellivision and would have had a user base before Colecovision arrived. Anyway just my biased thoughts as my 1st console was an Atari 5200

[Lynxpro]

At the time I heard that the 5200 and Colecovision sold just over 2 million each through Xmas 83. The final tally can't be much higher.

 

 

I'm pretty certain the 5200 sold about 1.6 million to ColecoVision's 2 million. The 5200 was projected to overtake the ColecoVision but Warner forced Atari to discontinue it regardless and move onto the cost-reduced GCC designed 7800. Hell, the 5200 hadn't even sold in Europe yet...the PAL consoles were ready for release.

[Osgeld]

Hi guys, The 400/800 are based off the 5200 that was in development before Atari decided to jump into the home computer market. The 5200 would have come out first but got sidetracked so they took its tech and made the computer line first. Had the 5200 actually come out in 1979 like it should of we would have had a different story today. It would have easily competed with Intellivision and would have had a user base before Colecovision arrived. Anyway just my biased thoughts as my 1st console was an Atari 5200

 

 

yea and it would have cost a butt ton more, if this situation were true slap a keyboard on it, up the ram and boom computer, which in the late 70's had turn into a nerd project into a multimillion dollar industry

Edited September 19, 2017 by Osgeld

[0078265317]

But if 5200 came out in 1979 same as 2600 then nobody would buy a 2600. Why buy a 2600 when you can get a 5200 with much better graphics and what have you.

[Osgeld]

2600 was 1977

 

int was 79

 

coleco was 83

 

so you have the start of the mainstream, then a couple years later a half step, and coleco was a whole 6 years later

 

if they had released a coleco level game machine in 1979 it would have cost as much as a computer .... without the whole its a computer thing, which seems silly

[Jinks]

But if 5200 came out in 1979 same as 2600 then nobody would buy a 2600. Why buy a 2600 when you can get a 5200 with much better graphics and what have you.

They should have dropped the 2600 in 80 and offered the 5200 and dropped the 5200 in 83 then offered the 7800 for 3 years then put out the jag or a 16bit system based on the ST.

And offered 1 year of support for some games the year after each console.

Would have been like modern times and killed nintendo. But they always wanted to be their own competition I guess..

[Osgeld]

yea but it wasnt modern times

 

it was the time of my grandfather bought a TV, and he died before it did, now lets drop the cost of a used car every 2-3 years on a toy which at best was a gimick fad, thus the "crash"

Edited September 19, 2017 by Osgeld

[mr_me]

 

 

I'm pretty certain the 5200 sold about 1.6 million to ColecoVision's 2 million. The 5200 was projected to overtake the ColecoVision but Warner forced Atari to discontinue it regardless and move onto the cost-reduced GCC designed 7800. Hell, the 5200 hadn't even sold in Europe yet...the PAL consoles were ready for release.

Where are you getting the 1.6M and the projection from?

 

Most web articles cite this Washington Post article and 1M sales.

Schrage, Michael (1984-05-22). "Atari Introduces Game In Attempt for Survival". Washington Post: C3. "The company has stopped producing its 5200 SuperSystem games player, more than 1 million of which were sold."

https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost_historical/doc/138312072.html

 

A few weeks after this article was written, Atari assets were sold to Tramiel and the 7800 was put on hold. It's not clear if 5200s were sold anywhere for Christmas 1984 but it looks like it was for 1985 according to this website. http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/tramel_technology.html#1985

 

Internal 5200 sales reports have been posted on Atariage but they are for 1986-90 United States only. That report only adds about 100k to the total.

 

So 1.6M is not out of the question, just wondering where the number came from.

Edited September 20, 2017 by mr_me

[mr_me]

... And coleco sold more than 2 million coleco visions. The 2M comes from a Coleco sales report dated 2014-04-17, according to this web site. http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Second_generation_of_video_games#cite_note-coleco_report-24

 

So at the time the 5200 was discontinued the coleco vision was outselling it 2:1. And it would be in production for more than another year after that.

[retroeight]

 

The crash was an overreaction on the part of retailers. Instead of narrowing their video game focus, they just gave up. Do you realize how many consoles were actively being sold in 1983? The retailers screwed up and when it failed they just gave up.

 

Agree on that one.

[SoulBlazer]

I know how many consoles were being sold in US in December 1982....eight! You could buy a 2500, 5200, channel F, astrocade, colecovision, Intellivision, vectrrx, and another I can't recall right now. Too many systems.

[5200Fanatic]

Also, the self-centering joysticks didn't fix the primary problem of the 5200 controller.

They still used flex circuits, and I seriously doubt rev10 was any more reliable than revs 1-9 were(what'd the system launch on? Rev. 4? 5?).

 

 

The flex circuit experiment was a failure, and Atari should have been redesigning the case to enable the insertion of PCBs under the buttons.

 

 

It was a nightmare - the joysticks had a very short shelf life and were tough to find. I actually had to buy a second system at one point because I couldn't find any controllers.

[mr_me]

I know how many consoles were being sold in US in December 1982....eight! You could buy a 2500, 5200, channel F, astrocade, colecovision, Intellivision, vectrrx, and another I can't recall right now. Too many systems.

Not too many for coleco. They sold half a million coleco visions that Christmas. The 5200 might have done okay too. Soon it was just the coleco vision vs 5200 and maybe Vectrex. Everything else was a budget/legacy system.