The gaming industry changed. The Commodore 64 was released in 1982, Atari computer sales started in 1979 but started picking up steam in the early 80s, Apple IIs were starting to show up more and more.
At least for me and all my gaming friends, we didn't stop playing games but we did start playing them on home computers.
NES came along and proved a game console could still entertain the masses with a smaller investment.