1971 in video games

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List of years in video games
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Computer Space was released in 1971. Nutting ComputerSpace-Blue.JPG
Computer Space was released in 1971.

1971 is the first year of the commercial video game industry with the release of Computer Space by Nutting Associates and Galaxy Game by Mini-Computer Applications. The majority of digital games remained on mainframe computers and time-sharing networks, while an increasing number were demonstrated outside of traditional computing audiences. Several developments of games later commercialized – including Oregon Trail and the Magnavox Odyssey console – are first publicly tested in this period.

Contents

Events

Financial performance

United States

Arcade

Title Arcade cabinet units (Lifetime)ManufacturerDeveloperGenre
Computer Space 1,300-1,500 [9]

200 [10] [Note 1]

Nutting Associates Syzygy Engineering Multidirectional shooter
Galaxy Game 2 [11] Mini-Computer ApplicationsMini-Computer Applications Multidirectional shooter

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

  • Late November – The first prototype of Galaxy Game is placed on location at the Stanford University Tressider Union by Bill Pitts and Hugh Tuck, operating under the name Minicomputer Applications. [11] The initial version enables one on one player at one dime per play or three players for a quarter. [3]
  • November or December – Computer Space by Nutting Associates ships, becoming the first commercially available coin-operated video game. [3]

Computer

Business

See also

Notes

  1. Ralph Baer's numbers compiled in April 1976 are mostly estimates without direct access to sales figures.

References

  1. Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 58–59. ISBN   978-0-9643848-1-1.
  2. "Plaintiff's Responses to First Interrogatories to Plaintiffs by Defendant Chicago Dynamic Industries, Inc". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. 1974-08-28. p. 6. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Smith, Alexander (2021-05-12). "Worldly Wednesdays: A Timeline of Computer Space". They Create Worlds. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  4. Baer 2005, p. 62–63.
  5. "Trial Transcript". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. 1976-11-03. pp. 473–474. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  6. Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN   978-0985597405.
  7. Baer 2005, p. 69–70.
  8. Smith, Alexander (November 27, 2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry. Vol. 1: 1971 – 1982. CRC Press. p. 134. ISBN   978-1-138-38990-8.
  9. Smith 2019, p. 135.
  10. Baer 2005, p. 10.
  11. 1 2 Smith 2019, p. 133.
  12. "Star Trek". Games of Fame. 2013-04-28. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  13. Smith 2019, p. 243–244.
  14. Rankin, Joy Lisi (2018). A people's history of computing in the United States. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard university press. ISBN   978-0-674-97097-7.
  15. Kendall, Mark (2013-06-26). "Putting Bytes into the Old Ball Game". Pomona College Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  16. Wrede, Jim (1971-05-20). "Games people play". The Carleton: 4.