40 years ago today, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney got together and founded the company that catapulted the world into the video game era. It was called Syzgy. Or it would have been, but Syzgy wasn’t available, so they called it Atari. The rest is a gigantic, four decade-spanning infographic celebrating the company’s rise from king of the home video game market to mobile game publisher.
For me it’s a sobering realisation that the company that formed so many blisters between the thumb and forefinger of a young Mike Fahey is 40-years-old today, mainly due to my being born less than a year after Atari was founded. For someone in my field it was the perfect time to be born, but that’s a statement I question more and more each passing year.
But it can’t be helped; the Atari 2600 was my first video game console, and when the company releases a video like this to celebrate 40 years, I can’t help but feel a little misty.
At least until the middle point.
Check out the infographic below to follow the storied history of the first big console company. My favourite bit is when Hasbro sold Atari to Infogrames, and then years later causes Infogrames to explode, exposing the more powerful Atari that had been hiding inside.
Happy Birthday, Atari. May I last as long as you did.
Click here for a larger version.
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