Atari ' s Demise

[AESiman]

Watched an interesting docu on Netflix last night. It's probably a great way to communicate how the most successful enterprises can tank because of a few bad moves and an acceptance of mediocrity.

If you are old enough.....or nerd enough..... you know about Atari Pong and Space invaders.

Atari was a billion dollar industry in 1980s money. They were the first home video game. They created an industry out of nothingness. They are likely responsible for the computer culture.

They skyrocketed to the top and then inexplicably disapeared. Everyone blames the poor design of their ET game with Spielberg for the company's collpse.

However, a real accounting shows a company that started putting out game after game that was sub par.

The collapse was so swift and complete that it left everyone wondering how a company like it could just stop existing.

The admin of Atari is interviewed and they recount how a couple of miscalculations and bad decisions tanked the company.

Success is fragile. I fear that this is something that our admin doesn't understand. You can tank a once dominant program. Just look at SMU and Pitt.
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[DJnitro]

Goddamn Pitfall. Did that game ever end?
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[theguv]

I've always thought of the Atari story as an example of how different it is to be a category creator, in which you are essentially making a category sell, and a category leader, in which you're forced to be different amongst a big group of similar companies.

 

[Canetogo]

Originally posted by theguv:
I've always thought of the Atari story as an example of how different it is to be a category creator, in which you are essentially making a category sell, and a category leader, in which you're forced to be different amongst a big group of similar companies.

guv:
We were a category creator in College football.

Starting from the combination of new ideas from Howard, to Jimmy's mindset on speed to kill.
Then Ericksons depth and offense, and finally the BOOK that opened up for Coker.

What happened with us, is that we forgot to turn the page in order to keep winning, and many of us ( me included), looked,
admired, and marveled at our body of work...........got mesmerized and forgot to reload...

We got left behind as others took our template and ran.

Now we have to reformulate and hope we can catch the lightning which we had bottled, and owned the patent on.

Atari, sat back, and in came Sony, and others to eat their lunch.
Sounds like us and Alabama.

Great analogy and very, very, true to life. That could be the story of the U to the present....a damn shame too, because with the right moves, we could have still been in the pic.

Scary.....

 

[jabazz]

This is Football. Teams rise and fall, just take a look at Alabama. It took them almost 20 years to win another national championship. Atari will never be back, so will Nintendo if Sony or somebody don't buy them out. We are 14 years remove from our last national championship. Teams like Alabama give hope.

 

[AESiman]

Jbazz...... teams like Alabama never accepted mediocrity. Teams like SMU and Pitt fell into the comfort and ease of mediocrity.
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[AESiman]

Also, I may be wrong.....but Atari was not taken down by Sony or any of the current gaming companies. They were not around.

If I remember correctly their only competition was Intellivision..... and maybe not even them.


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[reremic]

As of now, so have we!

 

[jabazz]

AEsiman, I don't think Miami accepted mediocrity. I think one day it will be our time again. If not Golden then somebody will lead us to the promise land.

 

[AESiman]

Jbazz

We will see this year. If Blake keeps Golden with 8 wins and no ACC championship......you can be sure that is an acceptance of mediocrity.
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[honeyiv]

Originally posted by AESiman:
Watched an interesting docu on Netflix last night. It's probably a great way to communicate how the most successful enterprises can tank because of a few bad moves and an acceptance of mediocrity.

If you are old enough.....or nerd enough..... you know about Atari Pong and Space invaders.

Atari was a billion dollar industry in 1980s money. They were the first home video game. They created an industry out of nothingness. They are likely responsible for the computer culture.

They skyrocketed to the top and then inexplicably disapeared. Everyone blames the poor design of their ET game with Spielberg for the company's collpse.

However, a real accounting shows a company that started putting out game after game that was sub par.

The collapse was so swift and complete that it left everyone wondering how a company like it could just stop existing.

The admin of Atari is interviewed and they recount how a couple of miscalculations and bad decisions tanked the company.

Success is fragile. I fear that this is something that our admin doesn't understand. You can tank a once dominant program. Just look at SMU and Pitt.
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Here's the kicker. SMU and Pitt had better seasons in 2014 plus Pitt scored a double-digit win @ Sun Life.

 

[lupusgrobowski]

Originally posted by AESiman:
Also, I may be wrong.....but Atari was not taken down by Sony or any of the current gaming companies. They were not around.

If I remember correctly their only competition was Intellivision..... and maybe not even them.


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the comidor 64 had a game or two before atari but what i remember killing atari was the original nintendo. the developed games like super mario, zelda and metroid.

 

[AESiman]

Atari went defunct in 1984.

The first Nintendo game release was 1985.
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[AESiman]

Comodore 64 gaming system was 1990 according to Wikipedia.
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[lupusgrobowski]

I knew they were close. i remember Nintendo being much better

 

[lupusgrobowski]

Originally posted by AESiman:
Comodore 64 gaming system was 1990 according to Wikipedia.
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i don't know what this is but the comodore 64 computer came out in the early 80s while it had games it was not a gaming system. ill check out the documentary because i don't remember what happened to Atari. it was just gone one day

 

[AESiman]

Well, apparantly Atari buried their remaining inventory in some town in the deep SW desert....only adding to the noteriety.

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[BreakingCane]

They forced the developer to get ET out in under two months to meet Xmas demand, I believe. Spielberg liked, it so it was done. The scene at the dump with tons of people waiting was awesome.

 

[801canesmxer]

I bought an Atari flashback game a few years ago. Just played Millipede on it a couple weeks ago.

 

[e_cushing]

I seem to remember Colicovision as the upstart taking down Atari. I'm sure I spelled Colicovision wrong. I remember they had a game called Smurf that was huge.

 

[BreakingCane]

Intellivision, but Nintendo did them in...

 

[canesfan470]

Wow USC Alabama Ohio state UCLA Michigan Tennessee all had some down years now most are back or coming back.

 

[canesfan470]

Wow USC Alabama Ohio state UCLA Michigan Tennessee all had some down years now most are back or coming back.

History repeats itself

 

[SoldierCane]

Also, I may be wrong.....but Atari was not taken down by Sony or any of the current gaming companies. They were not around.

If I remember correctly their only competition was Intellivision..... and maybe not even them.


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I went thru the Atari phase w/ my two boys from start to finish.

By the time I got to Germany in '84, Atari was either done or near done. We bought an Apple IIe Christmas '85 at the Wiesbaden PX for $1495, followed by an Apple Imagewriter II for $400 once I found one available (Stutgart PX). They literally had hundreds of games available that were much better than Atari, so I have to assume that the advent of Apple (IIc and IIe) also played a part in Atari's demise. Plus (!) most of those games you could copy free w/ the right copy program(s). It was almost like an arms race between program developers and copy outfits. Using that IIe, my older son wrote his first program at 10 yrs old. I used the IIe mostly for military stuff and the occasional ltr.

Interesting thread.

 

[BreakingCane]

Nintendo, not Apple. Gaming consoles and computers were different animals and much different price points.