A Brief History of Home Video Games

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Video Game Infrastructure Phenomenon, Part 2

The key occurrence leading to the establishment of a video game specific infrastructure was the deal between Sears and Atari. In 1975, Nolan Bushnell first introduced Atari's Home Pong at a toy industry show. At this show, Tom Quinn, the sporting goods buyer for Sears- not the toy buyer- approached Bushnell and offered to buy every Home Pong game Atari could produce. Bushnell told him that they could produce only 75,000 units. Quinn told Bushnell to double production and he would arrange financing. In exchange, Sears wanted exclusive rights to sell Home Pong through its 900 outlets. Sears would even pay for the advertising and distribution of the units. Had Quinn given the same deal to Magnavox, Atari would have probably gone out of business. Instead, Atari's sales in 1975 were nearly $40 million.₁₀

This deal between Atari and Sears would last until relationships between the two soured in 1979 when Sears would produce its "Tele-Games" line, which was a system based heavily on Atari's VCS/2600 architecture. By this time, however, Atari was well established, and with Warner Communication funding it, the video game industry barely felt a jolt.₆

Video Game Industry Infrastructure Phenomenon, Part 1