Peak Year for Atari 8 bit?

[Steve Mynott]

I was wondering what the peak year for the Atari 8 bit was? Peak in terms of sales of the computers and software.

 

I'd assume maybe about 1981-2 for USA and Western Europe (until the cheaper C64 shipped in volume maybe?) and maybe a few years later for Eastern Europe.

[+Philsan]

I think 1981-82 in terms of market share, 1983-8x in terms of units sold (cheaper XL/XE lines sold more than costly 400/800).

[carlsson]

A similar thread that has been mostly dormant for the past 7 years. It suggests the Atari 8-bit was market leader until the end of 1982 at least.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/183619-total-number-of-a8-units-sold-worldwide/

[Rybags]

Supposedly the 800XL was the biggest seller though I've seen much more of the XEGS here on the used market.

 

That would put us from around 1983 to 1985 - I do remember there being concurrent XL/XE advertised for a while.

 

Software - if you look at copyright dates, it's as if the US publishers abandoned the line by about 1986 with Western Europe continuing 2 or 3 years beyond that then Eastern Europe actually supporting the platform into the 90s. Atari itself didn't seem to do much by the late 1980s, in fact most of the XE and XEGS branded software releases were just reissues of old titles.

[Lost Dragon]

Atari talked a lot about trying to get UK software houses to convert ST games to the XL/XE/GS and 7800...but it didn't amount to more than a handful of titles.

 

Instead you saw publishers abandon these formats and move onto the ST instead..titles like 7800 Chronicles Of Cute moving to ST and Amiga and becoming Chronicles Of Omega.

 

Even when we were getting a few full price crumbs from the table..Gauntlet, Druid,Footballer Of The Year etc, they arrived later than mainstream 8 bits..

[Mclaneinc]

Every year for me...But then I don't really care about the facts and figures..I just answered the thread name as I think it is..

[zzip]

I feel like in terms of software releases, the peak was 1983/1984. I read Electronic Games magazine then and it seemed like the Atari 8-bit was the system to have because nearly everything released on it. I got an 800XL, but had to wait for prices to drop on disk drives. When I finally got my 1050 around 1985ish, it seemed like suddenly very few titles were being published on the 8-bit anymore

 

I also think there was a second-wind of software releases around 86/87 when publishers realized Atari 8-bit didn't die under Tramiel, and the owners were hungry for new software. XEGS helped too.

[twh/f2]

According to Mobygames API statistics it looks like 1983 somehow.

 

https://i.imgur.com/ubNuLhn.png

 

http://www.mobygames.com/news

 

[zzip]

According to Mobygames API statistics it looks like 1983 somehow.

 

https://i.imgur.com/ubNuLhn.png

 

http://www.mobygames.com/news

 

atari_peak.png

 

What is that measuring, number of releases?

 

It has some curious things, like C64, ST, and Amiga all bigger than the NES, and the Atari 8-bit was bigger than the 2600, and the Apple II was almost as big as the 2600.

 

That doesn't make sense, unless it is number of releases. NES restricted theirs

[twh/f2]

you are right. only logical explanation is that the number of recorded VCS2600 games @ mobygames does not realistically reflect the REAL number of releases.

Finding this gap renders the picture above as almost useless.

[zzip]

you are right. only logical explanation is that the number of recorded VCS2600 games @ mobygames does not realistically reflect the REAL number of releases.

Finding this gap renders the picture above as almost useless.

 

The number of titles actually released for the 2600 is surprisingly small. I know it has a reputation for being a system filled with crappy shovelware. But I think the number is around 500-600 over its entire life. Compared to the thousands of titles some other systems have.

[carlsson]

AtariAge has 1963 records for Atari 2600 games, of which a number of those are variations of the same game. MobyGames has 572 games for the Atari 2600. Wikipedia has "more than" 565 games in its list. An AtariAge blogger in 2009 recorded 470 games, which is less than all the other figures.

 

So yes, zzip is correct here. MobyGames seems very close to the truth, if we only count new games and not re-releases, different labels and markets.

 

Of course the number of games released and the number of games sold are two different things. A company might put out 20 crappy budget games in one year of which none sells more than 500 copies, while the next year another company puts out 2 games which both sell 50000 copies each. Which of these two years was the peak: the one with 20 released games barely nobody wanted to buy, or the one with only 2 games but both being smash hits?

[xrbrevin]

i think the best years are ahead of us - nowadays we are hardcore fans rather than ordinary consumers

these days there is much more custom hardware and software and more on the way

plus, i couldnt afford any hardware and only little software as a kid back in the day! hehe

[Gunstar]

I feel like in terms of software releases, the peak was 1983/1984. I read Electronic Games magazine then and it seemed like the Atari 8-bit was the system to have because nearly everything released on it. I got an 800XL, but had to wait for prices to drop on disk drives. When I finally got my 1050 around 1985ish, it seemed like suddenly very few titles were being published on the 8-bit anymore

 

I also think there was a second-wind of software releases around 86/87 when publishers realized Atari 8-bit didn't die under Tramiel, and the owners were hungry for new software. XEGS helped too.

That makes sense to me if Atari had the biggest market share around '81-82, and again with a bit of a resurgence (even if it didn't reclaim it's market share from '81-82), with the XL/XE lines in '85 then naturally more companies would be releasing more software for the market leader, and again under new management and line, which could take a year or two with development, production and finally to market.

[zzip]

That makes sense to me if Atari had the biggest market share around '81-82, and again with a bit of a resurgence (even if it didn't reclaim it's market share from '81-82), with the XL/XE lines in '85 then naturally more companies would be releasing more software for the market leader, and again under new management and line, which could take a year or two with development, production and finally to market.

 

yeah, also in 1984/85 there was lots of concern about the future of Atari with the Tramiel sale. So it was like everybody pulled the plug on development at once and decided to wait and see. Some of these games from that time period did get a later release on Atari.

[+David_P]

M.U.L.E. was released in 1983. Therefore, 1983 was Peak Atari 8-bit. (Though if you want to argue for 1979 for Star Raiders, I may entertain your thoughts...)

[DracIsBack]

Supposedly the 800XL was the biggest seller though I've seen much more of the XEGS here on the used market.

 

Yeah. The XE Game System was very much a last ditch effort to try and restart the computer line by disguising it as a console. It was released after most software houses had abandoned the Atari 8Bit scene, most retailers stopped carrying any of the computers and sales of the line had slowed to a crawl.

 

Meanwhile, Atari had a pile of software, peripherals and parts sitting in the warehouse ....

[Mr Oni]

 

Yeah. The XE Game System was very much a last ditch effort to try and restart the computer line by disguising it as a console. It was released after most software houses had abandoned the Atari 8Bit scene, most retailers stopped carrying any of the computers and sales of the line had slowed to a crawl.

 

Meanwhile, Atari had a pile of software, peripherals and parts sitting in the warehouse ....

some of this stuff was for sale until just recently and there are new 65 xes from mexico on ebay i wonder why they made so much and never sold them?

[Mr Oni]

My bet is the 800xl

[kenjennings]

In terms of stupendously awesome 8-bittlyness 1979 to 2029, perhaps longer.

[JamesD]

No sales data was released for many of the machines people are citing numbers for.
It's pretty much guess work.