Has it really been 30 years since the CRASH!

[bigfriendly]

Hello eveyone,

 

It just hit me that we are on the anniversary of the great video game crash of 1984! 30 years; wow! I was one of the lucky ones that had gotten a ColecoVision for Christmas in 1982. I also got the Atari adapter which was crucial, because not only were ColecoVision's hard to come by but games were even tougher to locate! Had to be the most surprising Christmas of my life! Anyway, for those of you that are old enough to remember how did the crash affect you? Did you think home gaming was gone for good? Coleco might have survived if they had not killed themselves by bringing out that ADAM computer add on. It just seemed like a perfect storm that wiped everyone in the industry off the map.

 

What are your thoughts:)

Edited February 28, 2014 by bigfriendly

[VectorGamer]

I'll start the flame war: the crash started in December 1982 with the sell off of Warner stock.

[JamesL]

At the time I was 12 years old and had no idea that the industry had crashed, but I do remember that all of a sudden Atari 2600 games were selling CHEAP!!! My family hadn't been able to afford too many games for $30 a pop before the crash, but because of it we were able to buy many more games than if it had never happened. So, ironically, the same entity that bankrupted multi-million dollar companies was of benefit to me!

[Crazy Climber]

I remember my $3 a week allowance would net me 3 atari games from Childrens Palace

[bigfriendly]

Good point about the Warner Stock.

[+SpiceWare]

Anyway, for those of you that are old enough to remember how did the crash affect you?

 

I didn't notice it. I'd migrated over to computers, starting with a C= Vic 20 in 1981, and was doing all my gaming there as the games were significantly better. Most of my friends were in the same situation. I remember seeing a friend's younger brother playing Centipede on their Atari

 

and thinking "yuck" as I'd been playing Video Vermin on my Vic.

 

 

Nowadays, knowing the ins-and-outs of developing for the 2600, I can appreciate Centipede as the excellent accomplishment it was.

[BigO]

There was a crash? I had just graduated high school, moved 1000 miles from home, living on my own, surviving on one meal a day or sometimes two (155 lbs. was a long time ago...), working full time and going to college full time. Had nary a clue nor time to get one. It wasn't until about 10 years ago when I got nostalgic and started looking for a 2600 that I first heard of the "the crash".

[high voltage]

Time to get the magazines of 1984 ready to post

[bikeguychicago]

Time to get the magazines of 1984 ready to post

Out of curiosity, is there a scan of this issue to be found somewhere? I'd be interested the read the 'shakeout' article to see what the perception of the industry was at the time.

[AtariLeaf]

Out of curiosity, is there a scan of this issue to be found somewhere? I'd be interested the read the 'shakeout' article to see what the perception of the industry was at the time.

http://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/electronic_games/electronic_games.htm

[Tickled_Pink]

I don't remember much of it but I guess it must have been 1984 that I got some good deals on 2600 games. I remember picking up Keystone Kapers, Frostbite and Pele's Soccer cheaply at Asda. Must have got them at the same time since it was more than an hour's drive away in those days, so we only made one trip a year. I think I still have the Pele's Soccer box (squished with age) with the price sticker still on.

 

Also picked up a Vectrex and some games at stupid prices.

[+boxpressed]

I think if you were an active gamer during "The Crash," you may not have noticed it as such. I sure didn't. It's not like things were one way one day and different the next. I experienced 1982-1984 as one would expect: a slow transition from one paradigm to another. I'm sure the years seemed different if you were in the industry and had to think in terms of quarterly sales and such.

 

As an adolescent, I thought it was obvious why my friends and I weren't playing ColecoVision anymore, and it wasn't because of how disappointing Atari 2600 Pac-Man and E.T. were to Atari. We could play better games on our computers, and we could trade games with one another. "The Crash" was just natural selection in the tech world. By late 1983 my gaming happened exclusively on personal computers, beginning with the TI 99/4A and then the IBM PC. I can't remember when we got our first Hayes Smartmodem, but that was probably the day that console gaming was dead to me for the next twenty years.

[Lauren Tyler]

I was barely even a child when it happened. If only I'd been born earlier and had been working, I could've filled up my Atari 2600 collection for nothing!

[Lynxpro]

I bought a bunch of carts cheaply during the crash but the subject of the industry was often covered by the evening news - and Entertainment Tonight - not to mention store clerks at KayBee Toys and Toys R Us. My best friend tried to subscribe to Atari Age magazine from one of the inserts found in a cartridge box and his mom's check was returned with a note about the magazine and club having been terminated.

 

In late 1984, I remember being in a KMart with my dad and we asked where the Atari stuff was - since there was still a big billboard displayed on the wall with a 2600 on it - and we were treated to an earful by an older female clerk about what had happened to Atari and how Jack Tramiel - fresh from getting " booted out of Commodore" - had taken over and was driving Atari further into the ground. Her tone was highly negative about Tramiel and it seemed like she had a family member formerly employed by Atari (Inc). That wouldn't have been surprising considering Sacramento really isn't that far from Silicon Valley or Grass Valley. In fact, one of our later Atari computer dealers in the area had a sister who worked for Inc up until July 1984.

 

There was a lot of talk at the time about video games being a fad which us kids thought was a stupid suggestion. We hoped Atari would survive and bring back gaming. Meanwhile, a lot of the kids got C64s since they were so cheap. And in early 1985, there was a lot of press about the Atari ST. Boy's Life magazine gave it good press and soon enough, Toys R Us even briefly carried the 520ST. I thought it was really cool but my parents didn't bite until the 1040 was released.

[Keatah]

The thing that stand out about the crash, to me, was the style of advertising. Shortly thereafter, real photos were being used in advertisements and box "art". While the change in art direction didn't have anything to do with the crash in any way, it was a sign of how big business had gained complete control over our cottage industry.

 

And leave it to big business to make big mistakes in big ways. Someday that may change.

Edited March 1, 2014 by Keatah

[jhd]

Like many others here, I had moved on to computers. I sold my Atari and I bought a Color Computer in about May 1983. Most of my friends and classmates also had home computers (mainly the Vic 20 or C-64; I think one person had an Adam). I had no interest in console gaming anymore. I do vividly remember that the number (and quality) of arcade games in my neighbourhod began to rapidly decline after about 1984 or '85.

 

I recall seeing big piles of M-Network games (only) in the clearance bin at my local Zellers store in the mid-1980s. One friend still had a 2600 in about 1985, and I played it a few times at his place. I next encountered one at someone's house in about 1988 or 1989. As best I can recall, none of these people were actively collecting "new" games -- we were more focussed on school (HS and then University), girls, etc.

 

I was utterly unaware of the game industry crash, though the Colecovision demo kiosk disappeared from the only local retailer (Eaton's) -- to be replaced some years later with a Sega Genesis.

 

I picked up a used 2600 and a pile of games at a local rummage sale in about 1990, and I fairly quickly built a decent collection from local garage sales, newspaper ads, etc.

[CrazyChris]

Yes, and to celebrate, the US government is going to

crash its economy.

Edited March 1, 2014 by CrazyChris

[+Ripdubski]

At the time I was 12 years old and had no idea that the industry had crashed,

Ditto but 14 yesrs old. Had no idea at the time.

[SoulBlazer]

I was only 8 in 1984, but even at that age I had some understanding that something was going on. Like some other people here posted, I was aware that 2600 video games -- which I knew were expensive and only gotten for me as gifts now and then -- were suddenly available for cheap. I was able to pick up a number of new games that way -- many of them bad, but just getting some stuff was cool. I knew enough from what I heard in the media at the time that video gaming was dead.

 

We got a C128D for Christmas of 85 and for the next two years I played games mostly on that, but my 2600 remained hooked up -- and used now and then -- until I got a NES for Christmas of 87. So I never stopped playing either video or computer games....something that is still true today at the tender age of 38.

[TwentySixHundred]

I was born in 1983 right when the crash happened, like some others i obviously had no idea. All i know is my parents were young with very little money at the time so on my 5th birthday my mum bought me my first ever system a 2600JR with 3 games (Midnight Magic, Realsports boxing and Missile Command). I assume this was at the time they were trying to clear Atari systems off the shelf for around $25 or so.

 

As a 5 year old i was over the moon about having my own, rather then waiting to play Missile Command on my mum's friends 'old' six switch. It was awesome because my mum's boyfriend at the time came from a well off family and they gave me around 30 odd games (All the classics like Adventure, Combat so on and so on). 5 years old, my own system and tonnes of games i was like a pig in shit.

 

What video game crash? i was just getting started

[jetset]

I hadn't heard of the "crash" until many, many years later either. I was in high school, and my interests turned from spending money on videogames and sitting home playing to buying clothes and chasing girls. I kept my 5200 and 2600 and games but hardly played them anymore. By the time the 7800 came out i was about 99% uninterested in videogames altogether. Seemed to me that much of the crash had to do with the economy being in the toilet for a good part of the 80's, but of course it makes sense there were other factors as well. I still don't view it as some apocalyptic event like it's made out to be. Just my opinion.

[atarian63]

 

I didn't notice it. I'd migrated over to computers, starting with a C= Vic 20 in 1981, and was doing all my gaming there as the games were significantly better. Most of my friends were in the same situation. I remember seeing a friend's younger brother playing Centipede on their Atari

 

and thinking "yuck" as I'd been playing Video Vermin on my Vic.

 

 

Nowadays, knowing the ins-and-outs of developing for the 2600, I can appreciate Centipede as the excellent accomplishment it was.

never saw anyone use their vic 20, just a placeholder for them to say they had a computer, no store I ever saw in Florida carried software either at least not 81 82

[atarian63]

was 19 in 82, seemed like things were getting better due to Reagan, the only thing I really noticed was by 84 Sears and other were dumping Atari computer stuff, bought lots of it out brand new.by 84 started seeing c64 in most places (a real disappointment)

[Christophero Sly]

What crash?

[maiki]

The real crash has been happening in the recent years and now. For me since the end of PS2 / Xbox / Gamecube generation. Absolute zero innovation. The only thing I see moving somewhere is they try to enhance graphics thus dropping framerate and resolution, shorten the games or cancel them completely and fix everything to online only so that they can control every single bit... energy, time and money wasted in the wrong place... total crash indeed