Activision's + Atari's Cheapskate Antics in the Latter Years

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

Just wondering if you think Activision, Atari, Imagic, ETC... really saved that much money by printing the instructions in B&W and the blue labels that some did. I know nothing about printing or stuff like that but it is interesting how they did that. I can't think of companies that did this sort of thing other than for the Atari but I don't know.

[CPUWIZ]

Just wondering if you think Activision, Atari, Imagic, ETC... really saved that much money by printing the instructions in B&W and the blue labels that some did.  I know nothing about printing or stuff like that but it is interesting how they did that.  I can't think of companies that did this sort of thing other than for the Atari but I don't know.

 

For sure, color printing is still more expensive now, I don't even want to know how much difference it made then.

[SteveW]

INTV did it for their later Intellivision games. Almost if not all instruction manuals went to black & white, along with the cart labels. In fact, not all the cart labels are the same size and quality, because they were always trying to get the cheapest deal they could. They also got rid of overlays if the game didn't absolutely need it.

[NovaXpress]

Color adds considerable $ to the cost of printing. In the latter days production runs were smaller which means that b/w instructions can make a significant difference in the profit margins (the larger the run, the cheaper the price per manual).

[SpendTooMuchOnAtari]

I didn't realize it makes a big difference but when you are talking about hundreds of thousands and/or millions of copies, I see how it could impact the profit margin. I was just going through all of my instructions tonight and was looking at the variations I have. I like to have both the B&W and the regular on the manuals and sometimes they look completely different. Like I have an Activision Dolphin that is very plain looking. And, the white Atari boxes that I have seen are crazy, can you imagine seeing that hanging at the toy store. Not very attractive.

 

The blue labels seem to usually be in poor condition but I guess all the Activision's have label problems. Froggo seems to have about the best labels but the worst games.

[sebastius]

The main problem with a production run is startup costs. That is the money needed for design, programming, label design and loads more 'buy once' costs.

 

Lets say for color printing you have a startup cost of about 10000 dollars. It doesnt matter whether you make 100 or 100000 carts, the startup costs remain the same. But your price per unit will skyrocket with small production runs. So indeed, making startup costs lower will make your price per unit a lot cheaper.

 

Lets consider startup costs for a full color and a b&w label:

 

For color printing you need 4 plates (CMYK, for each color one). For B&W printing, you only need one.

 

So the startup costs for color printing are WAY higher than cheapo b&w printing.

 

But there is more, the constant cost per unit for a label, which reflects directly in your unit price:

 

For color printing you need a more expensive printing service. And the printing time per label increases (4 passes, each pass needs to dry). The longer the press is occupied with one label, the more expensive it will be.

[sku_u]

Even if all their printing was done in-house, the color toner costs more than black and white. Atari also used B+W on their 7800 carts and Jaguar carts.

[rolenta]

INTV did it for their later Intellivision games. Almost if not all instruction manuals went to black & white, along with the cart labels. In fact, not all the cart labels are the same size and quality, because they were always trying to get the cheapest deal they could. They also got rid of overlays if the game didn't absolutely need it.

 

If I remember correctly, Intellivision also began using cheaper paper in their manuals.

[gulag picture radio]

Yeah, I noticed that all of the manuals on the Saturn and 32X are totally black and white apart from their covers. that part makes sense, since their packaging was still colorful and exciting... but it hardly seems like you're going to get any sales with games in colorless dull boxes.

 

I can remember Atari games at KB toys in the black and white boxes. I swear that they looked like they should have been piled up right next to government cheese.

[mos6507]

The person who does the layout for the manual usually assumes it's going to be in color so it depends on it being in color otherwise it doesn't work anymore as an instruction manual.

[Brad2600]

With the advent of printing technology, it should not cost any more to print something in color now than it did in the 80's.

 

I don't like black and white manuals or boxes.They lack the incentive to purchase the games in the first place.

[Breakpack]

Yeah, I noticed that all of the manuals on the Saturn and 32X are totally black and white apart from their covers.  that part makes sense, since their packaging was still colorful and exciting... but it hardly seems like you're going to get any sales with games in colorless dull boxes.

 

I can remember Atari games at KB toys in the black and white boxes.  I swear that they looked like they should have been piled up right next to government cheese.

 

I remember when Sega changed over to cardboard boxes instead of plastic clamshell ones.Another cost-cutting measure,yes?

[gulag picture radio]

You're referring to when their carts started coming in cardboard? Yeah it's too bad they stopped doing that. Most of the time when I find a Genesis or SMS game in the wild it has all the instructions and inserts simply because people kept their stuff in those cases. I also often find that folks seem to have hung onto their Intellivision boxes to have someplace to keep those little overlays - also Odyssey 2 seems to be like this as well.

 

backj to Sega, isn't it weird that their CD-cased games started out in cardboard boxes? Then they went to those giant lewel cases - those giant fragile jewel cases. Man, I hate those things. I have so many of those with busted hinges and big ugly cracks... yech. I wish that they'd stuck to cardboard for those. Then they went back to cardboard, didn't they?

 

I've also seen some early Playstation in those cases, but they quicklyt moved over to conventional CD jewel cases - which are also a detestable type of storage, though _somewhat_ better I guess.

 

I'm happy that DVD case are becoming the standard for games too. Nice, slim, tidy, more or less unbreakable...

[SS]

You're referring to when their carts started coming in cardboard?  Yeah it's too bad they stopped doing that.  Most of the time when I find a Genesis or SMS game in the wild it has all the instructions and inserts simply because people kept their stuff in those cases.  

 

 

I think that this is exactly why the SMS is the only system that I’m hardcore about collecting in boxes. Not only are they easier to find CIB but they also look cool and I’m not likely to crush ‘em as I would easily do with the cardboard ones.