Atari VCS officially at 40?

[Bucket Brigadier]

Good evening,

 

I'm writing out of curiosity's sake to see if anyone is in the know as to whether or not the VCS has officially turned 40 this August. From what I've seen, there's disparate "release dates" for the system. Wikipedia quotes 11 September 1977 as its release date, but cites no source for that date (not really surprising). I've also seen 14 October 1977 listed as the system's release date on other sites (and Wiki back in the day), but again, no citations. Meanwhile, the most solid evidence I've seen is over at Atari Compendium, which has a link to a newspaper advertisement from 1 August 1977, listing the system as available for $169.99, and making August 2017 the VCS's 40th anniversary. Does anyone else here know of any other evidence for the later dates, or where they may have come from?

 

Cheers,

BB

[jaybird3rd]

I'd prefer to use more authoritative sources than Wikipedia. According to my copy of "Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry" by Leonard Herman, the Video Computer System (VCS) "went on sale on October 9 and retailed for $200", although in an endnote, he states that "several retailers in the Silicon Valley area where Atari was headquartered began selling the system on September 11."

[up2knowgood]

When I worked in retail, release day was always Tuesday, except for Nintendo, who released on Sundays. Never knew why.

 

September 11th was a Sunday in 1977, and October 9th was a Tuesday, so I would say Atari released the system for sale to retailers on October 9th, but the date for release to the public was closer to September 11th to give time for everyone who ordered to receive them. Insider Sears might had theirs early, but its impossible to say without records from the time.

[carlsson]

So you might've been able to buy (order) one starting from September 11th, but it wasn't delivered until it began to show up in retail on October 9th? Perhaps the advertisement from August 1st also was ordering and it would be delivered at a later - at that time undecided? - date.

[ubersaurus]

I've gone by the August date myself, though as I understand it the first units were fully assembled in July. It seems plausible that shops in California might already have them in August, given that day-and-date availability wasn't a thing yet.

[up2knowgood]

Also true. It's not like today when the date is set in stone and there to help build suspense and everybody in the country can put them out on the shelves at the same time. It was more, "we'll sell them when we have them." Retailers in California were probably selling them long before anyone else because they have to ship them across the country.

[fiddlepaddle]

"Atari VCS turns 40 this year" is good enough for me.

Happy Anniversary!

[Bucket Brigadier]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. Shines a bit more light on the situation! I had a feeling that differential release dates was a more accurate answer, especially with that article linked over at the Compendium. Also helps to have more reliable sources for the Sept/Oct dates as well.

 

Cheers,

BB