Overview of the events of 1982 in video games
1982 was the peak year for thegolden age of arcade video games as well as thesecond generation of video game consoles . Many games were released that would spawn franchises, or at least sequels, includingDig Dug Pole Position Microsoft Flight Simulator Mr. Do! Zaxxon Q*bert Time Pilot Pitfall! Namco 'sarcade game Pac-Man Atari 2600 (Atari VCS). Additionalvideo game consoles added to a crowded market, notably theColecoVision andAtari 5200 . Troubles atAtari later in the year triggered thevideo game crash of 1983 .
Financial performance [ edit ] In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossingarcade video games of 1982, according to the annualGame Machine [ 4]
In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1982, according toRePlay andCash Box
The following table lists the top-grossing titles of each month in 1982, according to theRePlay andPlay Meter
Best-selling home video games [ edit ] The following titles were 1982's best-selling home video games.
Rank Title Platform(s) Developer Publisher(s) Release year Sales Revenue Inflation Ref 1 Pac-Man Atari 2600 ,ColecoVision ,Nelsonic Game Watch Namco Atari ,Coleco ,Nelsonic 1982 9,271,844 $200,000,000+ $650,000,000+ [ a] 2 Donkey Kong ColecoVision, Atari 2600 Nintendo Coleco 1982 4,550,000 $100,000,000+ $330,000,000+ [ b] 3 Frogger Atari 2600 Konami Parker Brothers 1982 4,000,000 $80,000,000 $260,000,000 [ 31] 4 Defender Atari 2600 Williams Atari 1982 3,006,790 Unknown [ 24] 5 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari 2600 Universal Atari 1982 2,637,985 Unknown [ 24] 6 Berzerk Atari 2600 Atari Atari, Inc. 1982 1,798,773 Unknown [ 24] 7 Space Invaders Atari 2600 Taito Atari 1980 1,373,033 Unknown [ 24] 8 Asteroids Atari 2600 Atari Atari 1981 1,331,956 Unknown [ 24] 9 Pitfall! Atari 2600 Activision Activision 1982 1,000,000+ Unknown [ 32] [ 33] 10 Microsoft Flight Simulator IBM PC Sublogic Microsoft 1982 800,000+ Unknown [ 34]
Best-selling home systems [ edit ] Rank System(s) Manufacturer Type Generation Sales Ref 1 Atari 2600 Atari, Inc. Console Second 5,100,000 [ 35] 2 Game & Watch Nintendo Handheld — 4,600,000+ [ 36] 3 Coleco Mini-Arcade Coleco Dedicated — 3,000,000 [ 27] 4 Intellivision Mattel Console Second 1,100,000 [ 37] 5 Timex Sinclair 1000 Timex Sinclair Computer 8-bit 750,000 [ 38] 6 Atari 400 /Atari 800 Atari, Inc. Computer 8-bit 600,000 [ 39] Commodore 64 /VIC-20 Commodore International Computer 8-bit 600,000 [ 38] TI-99/4 /TI-99/4A Texas Instruments Computer 16-bit 600,000 [ 38] 9 ColecoVision Coleco Console Second 550,000 [ 29] [ 37] 10 Nelsonic Game Watch Nelsonic Industries Handheld — 500,000+ [ 40]
Eidansha Boshu Service Center shortens its name toEnix and in August establishes itself as acomputer game publisher. New companies: January –Sega releasesZaxxon isometric graphics and looks far more 3D than any other raster game at the time. January 13 –Midway releasesMs. Pac-Man Pac-Man Namco 's authorization. They also releaseBaby Pac-Man Pac-Man Plus February —Exidy releasesVictory (video game) April 19 –Namco releasesDig Dug Atari in North America. August –Nintendo releasesDonkey Kong Jr. Donkey Kong August –Taito releases parallax scrollerJungle Hunt September 24 – Namco releasesPole Position stereophonic andquadraphonic sound . Featuring apseudo-3D ,third-person , rear-view perspective, it becomes the most popularracing game of its time. September –Sega releases maze gamePengo October – Namco releasesSuper Pac-Man Pac-Man series October – Universal releasesMr. Do! October –Gottlieb releasesQ*bert November –Konami releasesTime Pilot Bally /Midway releases theTron Atari releasesGravitar Williams Electronics releasesJoust Robotron: 2084 Moon Patrol Robotron popularizes the twin-stick control scheme for fast action games.Data East releasesBurgerTime Taito releasesFront Line Electro Sport releasesQuarter Horse , the firstLaserdisc video game . Kangaroo Donkey Kong -inspired games to become popular in arcades.Gottlieb releasesReactor February –Atari releasesHaunted House March –Atari 'sAtari 2600 version ofPac-Man April –Activision releasesPitfall! May –Atari releasesYars' Revenge August – Overlooked arcade games are revitalized asColecoVision launch titles, includingCosmic Avenger Mouse Trap Lady Bug Venture October –Atari releasesSwordquest: Earthworld December –Atari releasesE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game crash of 1983 . Activision releasesRiver Raid Megamania Barnstorming Chopper Command Starmaster River Raid becomes one of the all-time bestselling games for the system.[ 42] Starpath releasesDragonstomper Escape From the Mindmaster Parker Brothers releasesStar Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Star Wars Imagic releasesDemon Attack Atlantis Cosmic Ark Dragonfire Atlantis sells over a million copies whileDemon Attack doubles that.[ 42] March 11 –Infocom releases their first non-Zork title,Deadline August 24 –Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress November –Microsoft Flight Simulator IBM Personal Computer . It becomes a standard compatibility test forIBM PC compatibles and launchesa long-running series . Big Five Software releases the widely portedMiner 2049er Donkey Kong Broderbund releasesChoplifter Edu-Ware releasesPrisoner 2 Apple II ,Atari 8-bit computers , andIBM PC compatibles .Koei releasesThe Dragon and Princess Japanese RPG , forNEC 'sPC-8001 home computer platform.[ 43] tactical turn-based combat in theRPG genre.[ 44] Koei releasesNight Life Eroge ).[ 45] Seduction of the Condominium Wife (団地妻の誘惑 Danchi Tsuma no Yūwaku , which was an earlyrole-playing adventure game with color graphics,[ 46] [ 47] PC-8001 computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company.[ 48] Pony Canyon releasesSpy Daisakusen , another early Japanese RPG. Based on theMission: Impossible fantasy setting with a modernespionage setting.[ 49] [ 50] Sir-Tech releasesWizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds Wizardry Sierra On-Line releasesTime Zone Apple II .[ 51] Roberta Williams , the graphical adventure game shipped with 6 double-sided floppy disks and cost US$99.Synapse releasesNecromancer Shamus Atari 8-bit computers .Hiroyuki Imabayashi'sSokoban is released for thePC-88 and becomes an oft-cloned puzzle game concept. Datamost releases the action/adventure gameAztec The Arcade Machine ColecoVision ^ Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades? , The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)^ Everett M. Rogers & Judith K. Larsen (1984),Silicon Valley fever: growth of high-technology culture Basic Books , p. 263,ISBN 0-465-07821-4 Video game machines have an average weekly take of $109 per machine. The video arcade industry took in $8 billion in quarters in 1982, surpassing pop music (at $4 billion in sales per year) and Hollywood films ($3 billion). Those 32 billion arcade games played translate to 143 games for every man, woman, and child in America. A recent Atari survey showed that 86 percent of the US population from 13 to 20 has played some kind of video game and an estimated 8 million US homes have video games hooked up to the television set. Sales of home video games were $3.8 billion in 1982, approximately half that of video game arcades. ^ "The Home Video-Game Industry (1983-1996) - Competitive Strategy Revolving around Industry Standards" (PDF) .gbrc.jp . p. 43.^ "Game Machine ' s "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" Survey Results" (PDF) .Game Machine Amusement Press, Inc. March 1, 1983. p. 30.^ "1982 Jukebox / Games Route Survey" .Cash Box ^ "AMOA Announces Jukebox and Games Awards Winners" .Cash Box ^a b "1982" .Play Meter ^a b "Top Hits of Last 5 Years".RePlay . March 1987. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . January 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . February 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . March 1982. ^a b "Top Videos".Play Meter ^ "Ten Years Ago" .Play Meter ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . April 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . May 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . June 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . July 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . August 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . September 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . October 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . November 1982. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice".RePlay . December 1982. ^ Sullivan, George (1983).Screen Play: The Story of Video Games F. Warne . p. 46.ISBN 978-0-7232-6251-0 Before the end of the year Ms. Pac-Man had climbed to the top of thePlay Meter chart. ^a b c d e f Cartridge Sales Since 1980 .Atari Corp. "The Agony & The Ecstasy".Once Upon Atari . Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in. ^ Green, Mark J.; Berry, John Francis (1985).The Challenge of Hidden Profits: Reducing Corporate Bureaucracy and Waste ISBN 978-0-688-03986-8 By 1981, Atari's sales grew to$1 billion as it controlled about 75 percent of the fast-growing video game market. The dizzying climb continued into 1982, with Pac-Man alone bringing in over$200 million . ^ "Coleco Mini-Arcades Go Gold" (PDF) .Arcade Express . Vol. 1, no. 1. August 15, 1982. p. 4.^a b "More Mini-Arcades Coming From Coleco" (PDF) .Arcade Express . Vol. 1, no. 13. January 30, 1983. p. 2.^ Shea, Tom (December 20, 1982)."Shrinking Pac-Man leads game-wristwatch market" .InfoWorld InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 44– 5.ISSN 0199-6649 . ^a b Carlisle, Rodney P. (April 2, 2009).Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society SAGE Publishing . p. 143.ISBN 978-1-4129-6670-2 ^ Kitchen, Garry E. (March 5, 2010). "Garry E. Kitchen".Expert Report of Garry E. Kitchen (PDF) .United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio . p. 2.Designed & programmed Atari 2600 adaptation of hit arcade game Donkey Kong, 1982 wholesale revenues in excess of $100 million on 4 million units. ^ "Ed English: 2600 (Frogger, Mr. Do!, Roc 'n Rope)" (PDF) .Digital Press . No. 52. May–June 2003. p. 7. RetrievedApril 19, 2021 .^ Sigel, Efrem; Giglio, Louis (1984).Guide to Software Publishing: An Industry Emerges ISBN 978-0-86729-108-7 Pitfall won the award from Electronic Games magazine as the best video game adventure of 1983, and in 1982 sold more than1 million copies. ^ "Our games have birthdays, but they don't get old" .Cash Box ^ Lynch, Dennis (July 1, 1988)."Games software moving from summer show to stores" .Chicago Tribune . RetrievedFebruary 20, 2022 – viaNewspapers.com . ^ Guins, Raiford (January 24, 2014).Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife ISBN 978-0-262-32018-4 ^ Japan Company Handbook Toyo Keizai . 1982. p. 729.In Aug. '82 term, sales of "Game & Watch" will increase from4.6 million to7 million units ^a b Secretan, Lance H. K. (1986).Managerial Moxie: A Basic Strategy for the Corporate Trenches Holt, Rinehart and Winston . p. 49.ISBN 978-0-03-928852-5 Industry observers estimate that while Intellivision unit sales sank from 1.1 million units in 1982 to 550,000 in 1983, Coleco Vision unit sales rocketed from 550,000 to 1.2 million ^a b c Libes, Sol (April 1983)."Bytelines: Market Share for the PC" .BYTE . RetrievedDecember 6, 2021 – viaInternet Archive . ^ Reimer, Jeremy (December 15, 2005)."Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures" .Ars Technica Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. RetrievedNovember 27, 2021 . ^ Shea, Tom (December 20, 1982)."Shrinking Pac-Man leads game-wristwatch market" .InfoWorld InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 44– 5.ISSN 0199-6649 . ^ "Pac-Man Scores!" .Electronic Games ^a b Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008)."Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games" .IGN . ^ "ランダム・アクセス・メモ" .Oh! FM-7 the original on March 22, 2012. RetrievedSeptember 19, 2011 .Translation )^ "Dark Age of JRPGS (1): The Dragon & Princess (1982)" .^ Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier , Hardcore Gaming 101, reprinted fromRetro Gamer ^ "Danchizuma no Yuuwaku" . Legendra. Archived fromthe original on July 13, 2011. RetrievedMarch 16, 2011 .^ "Danchi-zuma no Yuuwaku" .GameSpot . RetrievedMarch 16, 2011 .^ Pesimo, Rudyard Contretas (2007)." (PDF) .Reflections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity—The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows . The Nippon Foundation. pp. 124– 160. Archived fromthe original (PDF) on September 4, 2011. ^ "Dark Age of JRPGS (2): Some games we cannot play" .^ "Oh!FM-7：スパイ大作戦（ポニカ）" . Archived fromthe original on November 16, 2020. RetrievedNovember 6, 2014 .^ "Time Zone: An interview with Roberta Williams".Computer Gaming World 14– 15. ^ Defanti, Thomas A. (1984)."The Mass Impact of Videogame Technology" (PDF) .Advances in Computers .23 : 115. ^ "MAME | SRC/Mame/Drivers/Polepos.c" . Archived fromthe original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved2014-11-06 .^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (April 23, 2012)."The Spectrum, the Pi - and the coding backlash" .BBC News . RetrievedJune 30, 2021 .
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