Why I think Activision fared so well even during the crash.

[Lauren Tyler]

I've always wanted to post my two cents on why Activision seemed to do so well during their Atari days, even within the Great Video Game Crash. With each new year of games that Activision produced, they seemed to look at what was popular in arcades and on other systems, and tried to take those concepts and apply them to their games, resulting in a game that was similar to their original base but with new stuff added to make things more interesting.

 

Even during the crash, Activision still put out some titles, like Ghostbusters, H.E.R.O., and Cosmic Commuter. And post-crash, they released some arcade titles like Kung-Fu Master, Rampage, and Double Dragon. They may not have sold as well as before, but it goes to show that Activision seemed to 'go with the flow,' in terms of the video game market. And it seems they still apply that strategy very well today.

 

Thoughts?

[Alison DeMeyer]

Also because they supported the C64, Apple 2 computer, and, to a lesser extent, the Atari XL. Disk software from Activision was very popular, especially titles like LCP, Master of the Lamps, Hacker, Alter Ego, Portal. Also, Activision started a UK office (84/85), bringing to the UK titles like Eidolon, Koronis Rift, Fractalus to the C64, and also some UK written software like Enduro Racer, Rampage, After Burner, Galactic Games for lesser computers like Spectrum and CPC. Infocom software kept them going for a while too.

Computer software kept them afloat, although Activision did go 'bust' in the early 90s.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Alison DeMeyer

[Rom Hunter]

Also because they supported the C64, Apple 2 computer, and, to a lesser extent, the Atari XL. Disk software from Activision was very popular, especially titles like LCP, Master of the Lamps, Hacker, Alter Ego, Portal. Also, Activision started a UK office (84/85), bringing to the UK titles like Eidolon, Koronis Rift, Fractalus to the C64, and also some UK written software like Enduro Racer, Rampage, After Burner, Galactic Games for lesser computers like Spectrum and CPC. Infocom software kept them going for a while too.

Computer software kept them afloat, although Activision did go 'bust' in the early 90s.

Exactly.

 

[yoshilime]

and because their games ROCK. like pit fall.

[ginnidog]

Also because they supported the C64, Apple 2 computer, and, to a lesser extent, the Atari XL. Disk software from Activision was very popular, especially titles like LCP, Master of the Lamps, Hacker, Alter Ego, Portal. Also, Activision started a UK office (84/85), bringing to the UK titles like Eidolon, Koronis Rift, Fractalus to the C64, and also some UK written software like Enduro Racer, Rampage, After Burner, Galactic Games for lesser computers like Spectrum and CPC. Infocom software kept them going for a while too.

Computer software kept them afloat, although Activision did go 'bust' in the early 90s.

 

 

Activision did also make some games for the AMIGA 500, if i am not mistaken ( I`ll have to break out my 500 also one day )

 

Paulie

[Mirage]

for lesser computers like Spectrum and CPC.

 

Agree with everything you said, except the Spectrum was hardly a "lesser computer" in the U.K. It was at least as popular (almost positively moreso) than the C64 there.

[Mayhem]

Activision survived 1984 and the crash for two reasons imo: supporting the C64 and releasing Ghostbusters. They still made a loss on the year but it could have been much, much worse...

[Rom Hunter]

Activision survived 1984 and the crash for two reasons imo: supporting the C64 and releasing Ghostbusters. They still made a loss on the year but it could have been much, much worse...

Yes, Ghostbusters was a mega-hit indeed.

 

One of the very few games I actually bought back then, because I didn't want to wait for the crack.

 

[Lauren Tyler]

Can't believe I forgot the computers too! ><