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1972 in video games

1972 marked an important landmark in the history of the video game industry with the releases of Pong and the Odyssey home console. The profile of electronic games rose substantially and companies began exploring the distribution of video games on a larger scale. Important mainframe computer games were created in this period which became the basis for early microcomputer games.

List of years in video games
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Events

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  • May 3 – Magnavox initiates their “Magnavox Profit Caravan” series of traveling shows to demonstrate all of their 1972 product line to their dealers and public, including the Odyssey. The first showing occurs in Phoenix, Arizona.[1]
    • May 24 – At a showing in Burlingame, California, three representatives of Nutting Associates including Nolan Bushnell visit the showcase and play the Odyssey demonstration unit. Bushnell takes particular note of the Odyssey game Table Tennis.[2][3]
  • June 26 – Bally Manufacturing formalizes an agreement with Nolan Bushnell for the creation of one video game and one pinball table for the company. Bushnell later describes the creation of a hockey game.[4] The term “video amusement game” is used – one of the earliest instances of the phrase “video game” in print.[5]
  • August – Atari Inc. tests a prototype of Pong at Andy Capp’s Tavern (later the Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club) in Sunnyvale, California.
  • August 13–15 – Chess 3.0 wins the U.S. American Computer Chess Championship in Boston, Massachusetts for the third consecutive year.[6]
  • September 14–16 – The Music Operators of America show is held in Chicago, Illinois. Nutting Associates displays Computer Space for the second year and For-Play Manufacturing showcases Star Trek. Nolan Bushnell attends and fails to interest Bill Nutting in manufacturing Pong during this show.[7]
  • October 19 – The Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics competition is held at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project facilities in California. It is the first formal video game competition and is a central story in the December 7, 1972 issue of Rolling Stone written by Stewart Brand.[8]
  • November 24 – Nolan Bushnell files for US patent #3,793,483 relating to work developed for video game technology. The patent is issued in February 1974 and does not serve as an effective deterrent to video game copycats.[9]

Financial performance

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United States

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Arcade

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Title Arcade cabinet units (Estimates) Manufacturer Developer Genre
Pong 8,500[10]

8,000[3][Note 1]

Atari Inc. Atari Inc. Sports

Home consoles

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Title Game console units (Estimates) Manufacturer Developer
Odyssey 69,000[11]

80,000[3][Note 2]

Magnavox Co. Sanders Associates/Magnavox

Notable releases

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Publications

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Magnavox Odyssey

Arcade

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  • March – The second unit of the Galaxy Game is placed at the Tresidder Student Union at Stanford University. This version features two fiberglass cabinets with two players each, which can be linked to create a four-player game.[10]
  • October – Coin-operated games company For-Play Manufacturing in California releases Star Trek (1972), a presumed clone of Nutting Associates’ Computer Space.
  • November – Atari Inc. releases their game Pong, shipping it to local distributors in the Northern California area. The game becomes a hit in the local area and launches Atari’s business.

Consoles

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  • September – Magnavox releases their Odyssey console in twenty-five major markets. It includes twelve games with the console. A light gun addon with additional games is sold separately. They manufacture 140,000 consoles their first year on the market.[10]

Computer games

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Business

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Notes

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  1. ^ Ralph Baer's numbers compiled in April 1976 are mostly estimates without direct access to sales figures.
  2. ^ Ralph Baer's numbers for Odyssey units sold per year contradict those of official figures disclosed by Magnavox in 1974.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Agreed Statement of Facts". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. November 3, 1976. p. 13. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  2. ^ "Trial Transcript". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. January 5, 1977. pp. 1501–1505. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
  4. ^ Bushnell, Nolan K. (July 10, 1972). ""Letter to John Britz"". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  5. ^ Britz, John A. (June 26, 1972). "Royalty Agreement". Magnavox Company v. Chicago Dynamic Industries, et al. US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  6. ^ "Computer chess championship ends with '6400' winner". The Columbian. August 16, 1972. p. 14.
  7. ^ Goldberg, Marty; Vendel, Curt (2012). Atari Inc.: Business is Fun. Syzygy Press. ISBN 978-0985597405.
  8. ^ Brand, Stewart (December 7, 1972). "Spacewar, Fanatic Life and Death Among Computer Bums". Rolling Stone.
  9. ^ US3793483A, Bushnell, Nolan, "Video image positioning control system for amusement device", issued 1974-02-19 
  10. ^ a b c d Smith, Alexander (2020). They create worlds: the story of the people and companies that shaped the video game industry. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-0-429-42364-2.
  11. ^ "Magnavox will drop". Weekly Television Digest with Consumer Electronics. 14 (19): 9. May 13, 1974.
  12. ^ Dear, Brian (2017). The friendly orange glow: the untold story of the PLATO system and the dawn of cyberculture. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-1-101-87155-3.
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