Overview of the events of 1980 in video games
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 ($9.98 billion adjusted for inflation).
- Home video games sell $464 million ($1.65 billion adjusted for inflation) in the United States, with the Atari VCS leading the market with a 44% share.
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
|
$3,600,000,000
|
100,000
|
Namco
|
Namco / Midway
|
Maze
|
|
2
|
Asteroids
|
$700,000,000
|
$2,500,000,000
|
70,000
|
Atari, Inc.
|
Atari, Inc.
|
Shoot 'em up
|
|
Galaxian
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Namco
|
Namco / Midway
|
Shoot 'em up
|
|
Space Invaders
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Unknown
|
Taito
|
Taito / Midway
|
Shoot 'em up
|
|
Japan and United States
In Japan and the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980.
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
|
|
2
|
Breakout
|
Atari VCS
|
Atari, Inc.
|
1978
|
Action
|
256,265
|
|
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+
|
|
2
|
Atari Video Computer System (VCS)
|
Atari, Inc.
|
Console
|
Second
|
1,250,000
|
|
3
|
TRS-80
|
Tandy Corporation
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
290,000
|
|
4
|
Intellivision
|
Mattel
|
Console
|
Second
|
200,000
|
|
5
|
Atari 400 / Atari 800
|
Atari, Inc.
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
200,000
|
|
6
|
Commodore PET
|
Commodore International
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
90,000
|
|
7
|
Apple II
|
Apple Inc.
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
79,500
|
|
8
|
HP 9800 / HP series 80
|
Hewlett-Packard
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
11,300
|
|
9
|
North Star Horizon
|
North Star Computers
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
8,200
|
|
10
|
TI-99/4
|
Texas Instruments
|
Computer
|
8-bit
|
8,100
|
|
Events
Awards
Business
Notable releases
Games
- Arcade
- May 22 – Namco releases Pac-Man (originally Puckman in Japan). It becomes the highest-grossing game of all time. It has the first gaming mascot character, established the maze chase genre, opened gaming to female audiences, introduced power-ups, and told a story through cutscenes.
- 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.
- 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
- Computer
- Handheld
Hardware
- Arcade
- Console
- Computer
See also
|
---|
|
|
---|
By platform | |
---|
By console generation | |
---|
|
|
Video games by country |
---|
Africa | |
---|
Americas | |
---|
Asia | |
---|
Europe | |
---|
Oceania | |
---|
|