Does anyone know the total number of 2600 systems & compatibles sold?

[Godzilla]

I know this may have been mentioned elsewhere, I did try to search and didn't find anything.

 

Does anyone know some idea of how many 2600 systems & compatibles (sears, atari, etc 7800s/coleco add-on, inty add-on, flashback 2s, etc.) were sold?

 

I ask, because I wonder where the 2600 REALLY figures into this list

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles

 

they have it at 30 million units...

[Fischer500]

A lot?

[Foxy Cleopatra]

I think it was like 6 or something, maybe 7, but not more than 8.....

[Godzilla]

heres the source for their 30 million listed http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/10/game_consoles/source/3.htm

but i have a sneaking suspicion that it may be more than that

[accousticguitar]

And where did the 2004 Video Game Price Guide get its information?

Edited August 25, 2009 by accousticguitar

[Godzilla]

3.77 mil 7800s sold from 86 till 90 i think http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MattMatthews/20090526/1521/Atari_7800_Sales_Figures_1986__1990.php

thats something at least.

[Godzilla]

someone also said curt vendel posted the 2600 sales figures here on the AA message boards, but I I couldn't 't find d it on here....

 

heres a refernce posted by atarifever http://dmrozek.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3497215

[Video]

I've heard anything from 5 million, up to 35 million. I know there were WAY more than 5 million, but I don't know about 35.... I'd say in the 15-20 million range...probably more systems, but many dupes too (people like me that got the vader, a JR later, and...would we also count the 7800, as it's also it's own system?)

 

I did hear about ET having more copies pressed than there were systems, and we've all heard how Atari destroyed like 5 million copies of it....but I've never heard (in numbers) how many total copies were made, and that would only be relevant up to 1983 anyways.

[Godzilla]

so with no real solid numbers, and accounting for the expansion modules and clones, I think it's safe to say that the 2600 sold (infinite) systems and is thus the best selling system of all time

[Herbarius]

I did hear about ET having more copies pressed than there were systems, and we've all heard how Atari destroyed like 5 million copies of it....but I've never heard (in numbers) how many total copies were made, and that would only be relevant up to 1983 anyways.

 

That's a common misconception. The game that was produced more than systems sold was Pac-Man, not E.T.

E.T.'s initial run was 5 million copies. People who claim that 5 million copies were buried are the ones thinking almost every E.T. cartridge has been returned and subsequently buried, which is far from the truth, considering even to this day E.T. is one of the most common 2600 games.

 

They made 12 million Pac-Man cartridges when it came out, at that time approx 10 million 2600s had been sold. They thought people would buy Ataris just to play Pac-Man, propably hoping to repeat their earlier success with the 2600 Space Invaders.

 

E.T. came out after Pac-Man, so those 5 million copies made can't be more than systems.

 

 

ONTOPIC: Lacking official numbers I'd think 30 million seem to be a good guess, when 1982 there were already 10 million, and considering the 2600 jr. has been sold even into the early 90s, as well as counting clones.

Edited August 27, 2009 by Herbarius

[accousticguitar]

Check out the document in post #3.

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/120190-how-many-2600-consoles-were-sold/page__p__1451470__hl__how%20many__fromsearch__1#entry1451470

[Nukey Shay]

They thought people would buy Ataris just to play Pac-Man, propably hoping to repeat their earlier success with the 2600 Space Invaders.

 

Speaking of misconceptions...

 

Exactly how many 1st-party consoles they expected this killer app to sell will probably always be unknown...but it's certian they knew that legal clone machines were already in production (and probably twice as many knockoff versions announced that never got produced...even a VIC-20 version). You can't really fault them for the numbers produced, it's what stores and the industry predicted would sell based on prior experience...and nobody got wise until it was too late to do anything about it.