1980 in video games

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1980 saw the release of a number of games with influential concepts, including Pac-Man, Battlezone, Crazy Climber, Mystery House, Missile Command, Phoenix, Rally-X, Space Panic, Stratovox, Zork, Adventure, and Olympic Decathlon. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, while the best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch. The Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600) also grew in popularity with a port of Space Invaders and support from new third-party developer Activision.

Financial performance

The arcade video game market in the US generates $2.81 billion in revenue^[1] ($10.4 billion adjusted for inflation).
Home video games sell $464 million ($1.72 billion adjusted for inflation) in the United States, with the Atari VCS leading the market with a 44% share.^[2]

Highest-grossing arcade games

The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games worldwide in 1980.

Rank	Title	Gross revenue	Inflation	Cabinet sales	Developer	Distributor(s)	Genre	Ref
1	Pac-Man	$1,000,000,000	$3,700,000,000	100,000	Namco	Namco / Midway	Maze	^[3]^[4]^[5]
2	Asteroids	$700,000,000	$2,600,000,000	70,000	Atari, Inc.	Atari, Inc.	Shoot 'em up	^[6]^[7]
	Galaxian	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Namco	Namco / Midway	Shoot 'em up	^[8]^[9]
	Space Invaders	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	Taito	Taito / Midway	Shoot 'em up	^[10]

Japan and United States

In Japan and the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980.

Rank	Japan (Game Machine)^[8]^[11]					United States
Rank	Title	#1	#2	#3	Points	Cash Box^[12]	Play Meter^[9]^[13]	RePlay^[14]^[15]	Cabinet sales
1	Pac-Man	62	46	17	295	Asteroids			< 60,000^[6]
2	Galaxian	44	25	18	200	Galaxian			< 40,000^[16]
3	Crazy Climber	14	19	30	110	—	Space Invaders		< 12,000^[17]^[18]
4	Moon Cresta	3	24	15	72	—	Unknown	Missile Command	Unknown
5	Monaco GP	11	4	11	52	—	Unknown	Rip Off	Unknown
6	Rally-X	1	6	3	18	—	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown
7	Heiankyo Alien (Digger)	1	4	4	15
8	Pitch In	0	1	5	7
9	Super Speed Race	0	2	2	6
10	Sasuke vs. Commander	0	0	5	5
	Space Invaders	0	1	3	5
	Missile Command	0	2	1	5

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1980.

Rank	Title	Platform	Developer	Publisher	Release Year	Genre	Sales	Ref
1	Space Invaders	Atari VCS	Taito	Atari, Inc.	1980	Shoot 'em up	1,318,655	^[19]^[20]
2	Breakout	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1978	Action	256,265	^[20]
3	Football	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1979	Sports (American football)	248,502
4	Bowling	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1979	Sports	245,670
5	Night Driver	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1980	Racing	161,352
6	Air-Sea Battle	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1977	Shooter	160,093
7	Circus Atari	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1980	Action	148,756
8	Street Racer	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1977	Racing	89,269
9	Video Olympics	Atari VCS	Atari, Inc.		1977	Sports	36,028

Best-selling home systems

Rank	System(s)	Manufacturer	Type	Generation	Sales	Ref
1	Game & Watch	Nintendo	Handheld	—	2,000,000+	^[21]
2	Atari Video Computer System (VCS)	Atari, Inc.	Console	Second	1,250,000	^[22]
3	TRS-80	Tandy Corporation	Computer	8-bit	290,000	^[23]
4	Intellivision	Mattel	Console	Second	200,000	^[22]^[24]
5	Atari 400 / Atari 800	Atari, Inc.	Computer	8-bit	200,000	^[23]
6	Commodore PET	Commodore International	Computer	8-bit	90,000	^[23]
7	Apple II	Apple Inc.	Computer	8-bit	79,500	^[25]
8	HP 9800 / HP Series 80	Hewlett-Packard	Computer	8-bit	11,300	^[25]
9	North Star Horizon	North Star Computers	Computer	8-bit	8,200	^[25]
10	TI-99/4	Texas Instruments	Computer	16-bit	8,100	^[25]

Events

Awards

Electronic Games hosts the first Arcade Awards, the first video game awards ceremony. It awards games released during 1978–1979, with Space Invaders winning the overall Game of the Year award.^[26]^[27]

Business

New companies: Broderbund, Bug-Byte, HAL Laboratory, Human Engineered Software, Mindscape, On-Line Systems, Sirius, Sir-Tech.
Mattel creates the original five-programmer Intellivision game design team, later nicknamed the Blue Sky Rangers in 1982 in a TV Guide interview.

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

May 22 – Namco releases Pac-Man (originally Puckman in Japan). It becomes the highest-grossing game of all time.^[28] It has the first gaming mascot character, established the maze chase genre, opened gaming to female audiences,^[29] introduced power-ups,^[30] and told a story through cutscenes.^[31]
May – Stratovox from Sun Electronics is the first game with voice synthesis.
July – Atari, Inc. releases the cold-war-inspired Missile Command.
October – Nichibutsu releases the vertically scrolling Crazy Climber, the first video game with a climbing mechanic and an objective of climbing to the top of the level.
November 12 – Stern Electronics releases Berzerk, with designer Alan McNeil's signature on the monitor glass of each cabinet.
November – Namco releases Rally-X, the first game with a bonus round. It also features multi-directional scrolling.
November – Universal releases Space Panic, the first game with platforms and ladders. The term platform game was still several years in the future.
November – Atari, Inc. releases first-person 3D tank shooter Battlezone.
Cinematronics releases Star Castle. In 1982 the Atari 2600 port ends up as Yars' Revenge.^[32]^[33]
Midway's Wizard of Wor is released, allowing two players to fight simultaneously in monster-filled mazes.
The multi-stage Phoenix sports one of the first video-game bosses: a purple alien in a mothership.

Console

Atari, Inc.'s port of Space Invaders becomes the killer app for the VCS and the first console title to sell a million copies.
The first batch of games from Activision, all for the Atari VCS, hits stores: Dragster, Fishing Derby, Boxing, Bridge, and Checkers.

Computer

December – Infocom releases its first game, Zork (later called Zork I), which begins the Zork series.
The mainframe game Rogue is written by Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold, eventually spawning a crowded genre of Roguelike games.
Edu-Ware releases The Prisoner for the Apple II, loosely based upon the 1960s TV series of the same name.
Strategic Simulations releases its first game: Computer Bismarck for the TRS-80.
Microsoft publishes Olympic Decathlon for the TRS-80, a track and field video game which precedes Konami's Track & Field and The Activision Decathlon by three years.
On-Line Systems publishes its first title, the graphic adventure Mystery House for the Apple II.

Handheld

Nintendo releases the Game & Watch series of LCD handheld electronic games by Gunpei Yokoi.

Hardware

Arcade

December – Data East releases the DECO Cassette System, the first standardized arcade platform, for which many games are developed.

Console

Mattel releases the Intellivision home video game console.
PPZ Ameprod releases the Ameprod TVG-10 dedicated home video game console in Poland.
The BSS 01 dedicated home video game console is released only in Germany.

Computer

The Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom are the first home computers to play games in the UK.
Tandy releases the first version of the Tandy Color Computer.

References

^ Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)
^ Lindner, Richard (1990). Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview. United States: Nintendo of America.
^ Kline, Stephen; Dyer-Witheford, Nick; Peuter, Greig De (2003). Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing. McGill–Queen's University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7735-2591-7. The game produced one billion dollars in 1980 alone
^ Altraide, Dagogo (January 15, 2019). "Video Games: Pac-Man! (1980)". ColdFusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That Transformed Our World. Mango Publishing. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-63353-751-4.
^ Loguidice, Bill; Barton, Matt (August 21, 2012). Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time. CRC Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-136-13758-7. It was all Midway could do to keep up with the demand for the quarter-munching machines, churning out a hundred thousand of them in 1980 (three times that number were produced over the next seven years).
^ ^a ^b Kubey, Craig (1982). The Winners' Book of Video Games. New York: Warner Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-446-37115-5.
^ Kepos, Paula; Derdak, Thomas (1994). "International Directory of Company Histories". International Directory of Company Histories. 9. St. James Press: 45. ISBN 9781558623248. In 1980, the company introduced Asteroids to compete with the Space Invaders arcade game, which was produced by another company. Atari's version proved to be a popular alternative. By the end of the year, 70,000 of the units had been shipped.
^ ^a ^b "ベストスリー本紙調査 (調査対象1980年) 〜アーケードゲーム機" [Best Three Book Survey (Survey Target 1980) ~ Arcade Game Machines] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 159. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1981. p. 2.
^ ^a ^b Sullivan, George (1981). Social Science. Pi Gamma Mu. p. 210. Examination of the graphics of 10 video machines, selected from the list of the 20 most popular videos for 1980 as published by Play Meter, supported our initial observations. (...) The three most popular video games for 1980 were Asteroids, Galaxian, and Space Invaders in that order. All three video games involve shooting electronic projectiles at rocks in space or at alien invaders.
^ Cohen, Daniel (1982). Video Games. New York: Pocket Books. p. 17. ISBN 0-671-45872-8.
^ ""Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" —" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 182. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1982. p. 30.
^ "1980 Jukebox/Games Route Survey" (PDF). Cash Box: AMOA-28. November 1, 1980.
^ "Play Meter Award 1980". New York Heritage Digital Collections. Empire State Library Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.
^ Adlum, Eddie (November 1985). "The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum". RePlay. Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 134-175 (160-3).
^ "Video Games". RePlay. November 1980.
^ "Midway Mfg. Co. v. Dirkschneider, 543 F. Supp. 466 (D. Neb. 1981)". Justia Law. U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. July 15, 1981. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
^ Stone, Andrea (December 1982). "The House That Pac Built: Midway Manufacturing is king of the coin-op hill and loving it!". Video Games. 1 (3). Pumpkin Press: 53-55 (54).
^ Dale Peterson (1983), Genesis II, creation and recreation with computers, Reston Publishing, p. 175, ISBN 0-8359-2434-3, retrieved May 1, 2011, By 1980, some 300,000 Space Invader video arcade games were in use in Japan, and an additional 60,000 in the United States.
^ Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond (PDF). Three Rivers Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-7615-3643-7.
^ ^a ^b Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.
^ "昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？" [How many old (1970s) video games sold?]. Classic Videogame Station Odyssey (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Greenberg, Jonathan (April 13, 1981). "Japanese invaders: Move over Asteroids and Defenders, the next adversary in the electronic video game wars may be even tougher to beat" (PDF). Forbes. Vol. 127, no. 8. pp. 98, 102.
^ ^a ^b ^c
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. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- Jeremy Reimer (December 7, 2012). "Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010". Jeremy Reimer.
^ Bloom, Steve (1982). "The Next Step" (PDF). Video Invaders. Arco Pub. pp. 107-109 (108). ISBN 978-0-668-05518-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Pollack, Andrew (August 13, 1981). "Big I.B.M.'s Little Computer". The New York Times. Vol. 130, no. 45, 039. p. D1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
^ The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9
^ "Bally Awards" (PDF). Arcadian. 2 (3): 20. January 15, 1980. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
^ Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, Prima, p. 143, ISBN 0-7615-3643-4, retrieved May 1, 2011, Despite the success of his game, Iwatani never received much attention. Rumors emerged that the unknown creator of Pac-Man had left the industry when he received only a $3500 bonus for creating the highest-grossing video game of all time.
^ The Essential 50 - Pac-Man, 1UP
^ Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP
^ Gaming's Most Important Evolutions Archived June 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, GamesRadar+
^ "AtariAge - Catalog - Atari (CO16725-Rev. D)". atariage.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
^ Campbell, Colin (March 9, 2015). "The story of Yars' Revenge is a journey back to a lost world of video games". Polygon. Retrieved July 2, 2015.

[1] Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)

[2] Lindner, Richard (1990). Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview. United States: Nintendo of America.

[3] Kline, Stephen; Dyer-Witheford, Nick; Peuter, Greig De (2003). Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing. McGill–Queen's University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7735-2591-7. The game produced one billion dollars in 1980 alone

[4] Altraide, Dagogo (January 15, 2019). "Video Games: Pac-Man! (1980)". ColdFusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology That Transformed Our World. Mango Publishing. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-63353-751-4.

[Loguidice-5] Loguidice, Bill; Barton, Matt (August 21, 2012). Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time. CRC Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-136-13758-7. It was all Midway could do to keep up with the demand for the quarter-munching machines, churning out a hundred thousand of them in 1980 (three times that number were produced over the next seven years).

[Kubey-6] Kubey, Craig (1982). The Winners' Book of Video Games. New York: Warner Books. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-446-37115-5.

[7] Kepos, Paula; Derdak, Thomas (1994). "International Directory of Company Histories". International Directory of Company Histories. 9. St. James Press: 45. ISBN 9781558623248. In 1980, the company introduced Asteroids to compete with the Space Invaders arcade game, which was produced by another company. Atari's version proved to be a popular alternative. By the end of the year, 70,000 of the units had been shipped.

[GM159-8] "ベストスリー本紙調査 (調査対象1980年) 〜アーケードゲーム機" [Best Three Book Survey (Survey Target 1980) ~ Arcade Game Machines] (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 159. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1981. p. 2.

[Sullivan-9] Sullivan, George (1981). Social Science. Pi Gamma Mu. p. 210. Examination of the graphics of 10 video machines, selected from the list of the 20 most popular videos for 1980 as published by Play Meter, supported our initial observations. (...) The three most popular video games for 1980 were Asteroids, Galaxian, and Space Invaders in that order. All three video games involve shooting electronic projectiles at rocks in space or at alien invaders.

[10] Cohen, Daniel (1982). Video Games. New York: Pocket Books. p. 17. ISBN 0-671-45872-8.

[11] ""Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" —" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 182. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1982. p. 30.

[:1-12] "1980 Jukebox/Games Route Survey" (PDF). Cash Box: AMOA-28. November 1, 1980.

[13] "Play Meter Award 1980". New York Heritage Digital Collections. Empire State Library Network. Retrieved August 30, 2021.

[14] Adlum, Eddie (November 1985). "The Replay Years: Reflections from Eddie Adlum". RePlay. Vol. 11, no. 2. pp. 134-175 (160-3).

[:0-15] "Video Games". RePlay. November 1980.

[:2-16] "Midway Mfg. Co. v. Dirkschneider, 543 F. Supp. 466 (D. Neb. 1981)". Justia Law. U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. July 15, 1981. Retrieved March 4, 2021.

[:3-17] Stone, Andrea (December 1982). "The House That Pac Built: Midway Manufacturing is king of the coin-op hill and loving it!". Video Games. 1 (3). Pumpkin Press: 53-55 (54).

[Peterson-175-18] Dale Peterson (1983), Genesis II, creation and recreation with computers, Reston Publishing, p. 175, ISBN 0-8359-2434-3, retrieved May 1, 2011, By 1980, some 300,000 Space Invader video arcade games were in use in Japan, and an additional 60,000 in the United States.

[19] Kent, Steven L. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon and Beyond (PDF). Three Rivers Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-7615-3643-7.

[Atari-20] Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.

[21] "昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？" [How many old (1970s) video games sold?]. Classic Videogame Station Odyssey (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2021.

[Greenberg-22] Greenberg, Jonathan (April 13, 1981). "Japanese invaders: Move over Asteroids and Defenders, the next adversary in the electronic video game wars may be even tougher to beat" (PDF). Forbes. Vol. 127, no. 8. pp. 98, 102.

[:222-23] 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. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
Jeremy Reimer (December 7, 2012). "Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010". Jeremy Reimer.

[24] Jeremy Reimer (December 7, 2012). "Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010". Jeremy Reimer.

[24] Bloom, Steve (1982). "The Next Step" (PDF). Video Invaders. Arco Pub. pp. 107-109 (108). ISBN 978-0-668-05518-5.

[:4-25] Pollack, Andrew (August 13, 1981). "Big I.B.M.'s Little Computer". The New York Times. Vol. 130, no. 45, 039. p. D1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 6, 2021.

[26] The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9

[27] "Bally Awards" (PDF). Arcadian. 2 (3): 20. January 15, 1980. Retrieved February 2, 2012.

[Kent-143-28] Steve L. Kent (2001), The ultimate history of video games: from Pong to Pokémon and beyond: the story behind the craze that touched our lives and changed the world, Prima, p. 143, ISBN 0-7615-3643-4, retrieved May 1, 2011, Despite the success of his game, Iwatani never received much attention. Rumors emerged that the unknown creator of Pac-Man had left the industry when he received only a $3500 bonus for creating the highest-grossing video game of all time.

[29] The Essential 50 - Pac-Man, 1UP

[30] Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP

[31] Gaming's Most Important Evolutions Archived June 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, GamesRadar+

[32] "AtariAge - Catalog - Atari (CO16725-Rev. D)". atariage.com. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.

[:Yars0-33] Campbell, Colin (March 9, 2015). "The story of Yars' Revenge is a journey back to a lost world of video games". Polygon. Retrieved July 2, 2015.

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1980 in video games

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan and United States

Best-selling home video games

Best-selling home systems

Events

Awards

Business

Notable releases

Games

Hardware

See also

References

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