🚀 >The Rise and Wild Success (1972–1982)
1. Arcade Domination Atari pioneered the arcade game industry. Pong was the breakout, but games like Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command made Atari the king of the arcade scene. 2. Home Console Revolution – Atari 2600 Launched in 1977, the Atari 2600 was a game-changer (literally). It was one of the first widely successful home consoles, and it introduced the idea of swappable game cartridges. By the early 1980s, it was the system to have, selling millions of units. At its peak, Atari accounted for over half of Warner Communications’ revenue. 3. Cultural Icon Atari wasn't just a company — it became a symbol of the video game era. The name was everywhere, and the logo became as iconic as Apple’s is today. 📉 The Fall (1982–1984) So what went wrong? 1. Market Flooding & Low Quality As the 2600 exploded in popularity, everyone wanted in. The market got flooded with low-quality third-party games. Atari also rushed out games like: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) — made in 5 weeks, sold poorly, and became a massive failure. Pac-Man (Atari 2600) — a bad port of the arcade classic that disappointed fans.
2. The Video Game Crash of 1983 Consumer confidence dropped. Retailers had massive unsold inventory, and the whole video game industry collapsed, especially in North America. Sales plummeted.
3. Financial Disaster Atari lost hundreds of millions of dollars in a very short time. Warner's stock tanked. The golden child of entertainment tech suddenly looked like a disaster.
🔚 The End of Atari as We Knew It In 1984, Warner broke up Atari. The home console and computer division was sold off and became Atari Corporation under Jack Tramiel (former CEO of Commodore). The arcade division became Atari Games, which eventually split from the Atari brand and went through its own set of changes. Atari would limp on through the late ’80s and ’90s with new consoles like the Atari 5200, 7800, and the Jaguar, but they never recaptured their early magic.

Atari 2600 Six-button wood-version

Atari 2600 four-button wood-version

Atari 2600 Junior (budget version)
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Atari 5200 - 8 bit Atari versus Mattel Intellivision (watch varia on website)

Atari was released in 1982 and was also 8 bit but best Atari at its time

First 64 bit was released by Atari

Add-on for the Jaguar console, where cd's could store 790 MB

Portable game station with color screen and was able to play 16 bit games (released in 1989)

Portable game station with color screen and was able to play 16 bit games (released in 1991)