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((Use mdy dates|date=March 2016))
((More citations needed|date=March 2015))
((Year nav topic5|1981|video games))

Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing ''[[Pac-Man]]'', the audience for [[arcade video game]]s in 1981 became much wider. ''Pac-Man'' influenced [[List of maze video games|maze games]] began appearing in arcades and on home systems. ''Pac-Man'' was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. [[Nintendo]]'s ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]'' defined the [[platform game]] genre, while [[Konami]]'s ''[[Scramble (video game)|Scramble]]'' established [[scrolling shooter]]s. The lesser known ''[[Jump Bug]]'' combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]'', ''[[Frogger]]'', and the ''Galaxian'' sequel ''[[Galaga]]''.

On the [[Apple II series|Apple II]], ''[[Ultima I]]'' and ''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'' each kicked off a long running role-playing game series. Atari's VCS port of ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]'' was a major hit with the console. The best selling home system around the globe was Nintendo's [[Game & Watch]] for the second year in a row.

==Financial performance==
* The [[arcade video game]] market [[Video games in the United States|in the US]] generates $4.8 billion in revenue.<ref>[http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/video-game-myth-buster-did-crash-of.html Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?], The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)</ref>
* The home [[Video gaming in the United States|video game market in the US]] generates $1 billion in sales revenue,<ref>[http://www.droidmaker.com/Droidmaker.Ch18.pdf#page=12 George Lucas and the Digital Revolution] ((Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129112138/http://www.droidmaker.com/Droidmaker.Ch18.pdf#page=12 |date=January 29, 2015 )), p. 296, 2006</ref> with [[Atari, Inc.|Atari]] remaining the market leader.<ref>((cite book |last1=Lindner |first1=Richard |title=Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview |date=1990 |publisher=[[Nintendo of America]] |location=United States |url=https://archive.org/details/06Kahle001551))</ref>
* The home video game market in [[Europe]] is worth $200 million.<ref>((cite web |url=http://2600connection.com/library/magazines/spectrum/spectrum_dec82.pdf#page=7 |title=Videogames: the electronic big bang |website=2600connection.com |page=20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107055201/http://2600connection.com/library/magazines/spectrum/spectrum_dec82.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2014))</ref>

===Highest-grossing arcade games===
The year's highest-grossing video game was ''[[Pac-Man]]'' with ((US$|1.2 billion|long=no)) in [[arcade game]] revenue, three times the box office revenue of the [[highest-grossing film]] ''[[Star Wars (film)|Star Wars]]'' (1977) in five years.<ref>((cite news |last1=Culhane |first1=John |title=Special Effects Are Revolutionizing Film |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/04/movies/special-effects-are-revolutionizing-film.html |access-date=28 February 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=4 July 1982))</ref>

====Japan====
In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing [[arcade video game]]s of 1981, according to the annual ''[[:ja:ゲームマシン|Game Machine]]'' chart.<ref>((cite magazine|title="Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — ''Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines"'' —|magazine=[[:ja:ゲームマシン|Game Machine]]|issue=182|publisher=[[:ja:アミューズメント通信社|Amusement Press, Inc.]]|date=15 February 1982|page=30|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19820215p.pdf#page=16))</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank
! Title
! Manufacturer
! Genre
|-
| 1
| ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]''
| [[Nintendo]]
| [[Platformer]]
|-
| 2
| ''[[List of Sanritsu/SIMS games|Janputer]]''
| [[Sanritsu]]
| [[Mahjong video game|Mahjong]]
|-
| 3
| ''[[DECO Cassette System|Pro Golf]]''
| [[Data East]]
| [[Sports video game|Sports]]
|-
| 4
| ''[[Pac-Man]]''
| [[Namco]]
| [[Maze game|Maze]]
|-
| 5
| ''[[Qix]]''
| [[Taito]]
| [[Puzzle video game|Puzzle]]
|-
| 6
| ''[[Galaga]]''
| rowspan="2" | [[Namco]]
| rowspan="2" | [[Shoot 'em up]]
|-
| 7
| ''[[Bosconian]]''
|-
| 8
| ''[[Crazy Climber]]''
| [[Nichibutsu]]
| [[Platform game|Climbing]]
|-
| 9
| ''[[Crush Roller]]''
| Kural
| [[Maze game|Maze]]
|-
| 10
| ''[[List of Taito games|Grand Champion]]''
| [[Taito]]
| [[Racing video game|Racing]]
|}

====United States====
In the United States, the following titles were the top three highest-grossing arcade games of 1981, according to the annual ''[[Cash Box]]'' and ''RePlay'' arcade charts.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank
! ''[[Play Meter]]''<ref name="PM81">((cite magazine |title=1981 |magazine=[[Play Meter]] |date=December 1994 |volume=20 |issue=13 |page=66 |url=https://archive.org/details/play-meter-volume-20-number-13-december-1994/Play%20Meter%20-%20Volume%2020%2C%20Number%2013%20-%20December%201994/page/66))</ref>
! ''[[Cash Box]]''<ref name="C18">((cite magazine |title=1981 Jukebox/Games Route Survey |magazine=[[Cash Box]] |date=31 October 1981 |page=C-18 |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox43unse_22/page/n75 |publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co.))</ref>
! ''RePlay''<ref name="C91">((cite magazine |title=Authoritative Industry Sources Acclaim: Pac-Man Top Video Game of the Year |magazine=[[Cash Box]] |date=26 December 1981 |page=91 |url=https://archive.org/details/cashbox43unse_30/page/91 |publisher=Cash Box Pub. Co.))</ref>
! Revenue
!Genre
|-
| 1
| colspan="3" | ''[[Pac-Man]]''
| $1,000,000,000<ref>((cite journal |title=Pac-Man leads video game invasion of Europe |journal=Europe |date=1982 |volume=217-234 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WahQAQAAMAAJ |publisher=[[Commission of the European Communities|Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities]] |quote=Introduced in the United States in 1981 as a coin-operated video game, Pac-Man swallowed in its first year an estimated ((US$|1 billion|long=no)) in quarters. Although it is probably the most popular, Pac-Man is, however, only one of several hundred))</ref>
|[[List of maze video games|Maze]]
|-
| 2
| colspan="3" | ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]''
| ((Unknown))
| rowspan="2" |[[Shoot 'em up]]
|-
| 3
| ((Unknown))
| colspan="2" | ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]''
| ((Unknown))
|}

The following titles were the top-grossing arcade games of each month in 1981, according to the ''[[Play Meter]]'' and ''RePlay'' arcade charts.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Month
! ''[[Play Meter]]''
! ''RePlay''
! class="unsortable" | ((Abbr|Ref|Reference))
|-
| ((dts|January))
| rowspan="6" | ''[[Pac-Man]]''<ref>((cite book |last1=Sullivan |first1=George |chapter=The First Big Hits |title=Screen Play: The Story of Video Games |date=1983 |publisher=[[F. Warne]] |isbn=978-0-7232-6251-0 |pages=38–47 (44) |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/ScreenPlaytheStoryofVideoGames/page/n53))</ref>
| rowspan="3" | ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]''
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=January 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|February))
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=February 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|March))
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=March 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|April))
| rowspan="2" | ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]''
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=April 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|May))
| <ref>((cite journal |title=Top Coin-Op Video Game Earners |journal=[[Play Meter]] |date=May 20, 1981))</ref><ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=May 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|June))
| ''[[Scramble (video game)|Scramble]]''
| <ref>((cite book |last1=Kubey |first1=Craig |title=The Winners' Book of Video Games |date=1982 |publisher=New York: [[Warner Books]] |isbn=978-0-446-37115-5 |page=118 |url=https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n134))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|July))
| ((Unknown))
| ''[[Pac-Man]]''
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=July 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|August))
| ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]''<ref>((cite book |last1=Kubey |first1=Craig |title=The Winners' Book of Video Games |date=1982 |publisher=New York: [[Warner Books]] |isbn=978-0-446-37115-5 |page=34 |url=https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n50/mode/1up))</ref>
| rowspan="4" | ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]''
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=August 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|September))
| ''[[Gorf]]''<ref>((cite book |last1=Kubey |first1=Craig |title=The Winners' Book of Video Games |date=1982 |publisher=New York: [[Warner Books]] |isbn=978-0-446-37115-5 |page=121 |url=https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n137))</ref>
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=September 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|October))
| ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]''<ref>((cite journal |title=Donkey Kong |journal=Joystik |date=November 1982 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=12–19 (13) |url=https://archive.org/details/joystik_magazine-1982-11/page/n14))</ref>
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=October 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|November))
| ((Unknown))
| <ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=November 1981))</ref>
|-
| ((dts|December))
| ''[[Vanguard (video game)|Vanguard]]''
| ''[[Pac-Man]]''
| <ref>((cite journal |title=Equipment Poll |journal=[[Play Meter]] |date=December 1981))</ref><ref>((cite magazine |title=RePlay: The Players' Choice |magazine=RePlay |date=December 1981))</ref>
|-
! 1981
! colspan="2" | ''[[Pac-Man]]''
!<ref name="PM81"/><ref name="C91"/>
|}

===Best-selling home video games===
The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1981.<ref name="Atari">((cite book |title=Cartridge Sales Since 1980 |publisher=[[Atari Corp.]])) Via ((cite episode |title=The Agony & The Ecstasy |series=Once Upon Atari |date=August 10, 2003 |number=4 |minutes=23 |publisher=Scott West Productions))</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank
! Title
! Platform
! Developer
! Publisher
! Release Year
! Genre
! Sales
|-
| 1
| ''[[Space Invaders]]''
| [[Atari 2600|Atari VCS]]
| [[Taito]]
| [[Atari, Inc.]]
| [[:Category:1980 video games|1980]]
| [[Shoot 'em up]]
| 2,964,137
|-
| 2
| ''[[Warlords (1980 video game)|Warlords]]''
| Atari VCS
| colspan="2" |[[Atari, Inc.]]
| [[:Category:1981 video games|1981]]
| [[Action game|Action]]
| 936,861
|-
| 3
| ''[[Breakout (video game)|Breakout]]''
| Atari VCS
| colspan="2" |Atari, Inc.
| [[:Category:1978 video games|1978]]
| [[Action game|Action]]
| 838,635
|-
| 4
| ''[[Night Driver (video game)|Night Driver]]''
| Atari VCS
| colspan="2" |Atari, Inc.
| [[:Category:1980 video games|1980]]
| [[Racing game|Racing]]
| 779,547
|-
| rowspan="2" | 5
| ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]''
| Atari VCS
| colspan="2" |Atari, Inc.
| [[:Category:1981 video games|1981]]
| [[Shoot 'em up]]
| 407,090
|-
| ''[[Football (1978 video game)|Football]]''
| Atari VCS
| colspan="2" |Atari, Inc.
| [[:Category:1979 video games|1979]]
| [[Sports video game|Sports]] ([[List of American football video games|American football]])
| ((Unknown))
|}

=== Best-selling home systems ===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
! Rank
! System(s)
! Manufacturer(s)
! Type
! Generation
! Sales
! class="unsortable" | ((Abbr|Ref|Reference))
|-
|1
|[[Game & Watch]]
|[[Nintendo]]
|[[Handheld electronic game|Handheld]]
|((N/A))
|4,000,000+
|<ref>((cite web|title=昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？|trans-title=How many old (1970s) video games sold?|url=https://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109231757/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html|archive-date=2014-01-09|access-date=16 April 2021|website=Classic Videogame Station Odyssey|language=ja))</ref>
|-
|2
|[[Atari 2600|Atari Video Computer System]] (VCS)
|[[Atari, Inc.]]
|[[Home console|Console]]
|[[Second generation of video game consoles|Second]]
|((formatnum:((#expr:4500000*0.80))|))
|<ref>((Cite news|last=Pollack|first=Andrew|last2=|first2=|date=1982-06-09|title=The Video Game Sales War|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/09/business/the-video-game-sales-war.html|access-date=2021-12-02|issn=0362-4331))</ref><ref>((cite news|last1=Urschel|first1=Joe|date=March 6, 1982|title=Gobbling up the home video market|page=C-6|work=[[The Day (New London)|The Day]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1915&dat=19820306&id=jQEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SXUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4884,1190162|access-date=1 December 2021))</ref>
|-
|3
|[[Personal computer]] (PC)
|Various
|[[Home computer|Computer]]
|[[8-bit]] / [[16-bit]]
|1,400,000
|<ref name=":222" />
|-
|4
|[[Intellivision]]
|[[Mattel]]
|Console
|Second
|1,000,000+
|<ref name="csmonitor">((cite news|last=Sklarewitz|first=Norman|date=1982-05-24|title=Computerized games hit profits jackpot for Mattel company|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1982/0524/052434.html|access-date=2019-03-16|issn=0882-7729))</ref>
|-
|5
|[[Atari 8-bit family|Atari 400 / 800]]
|Atari, Inc.
|Computer
|[[8-bit]]
|300,000
|<ref name=":222">((Cite web|last=Reimer|first=Jeremy|date=2005-12-15|title=Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures|url=https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-27|website=[[Ars Technica]]|language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607023023/http://arstechnica.com:80/features/2005/12/total-share/ |archive-date=June 7, 2012))
*((cite web |author=Jeremy Reimer |date=2012-12-07 |title=Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010 |url=https://jeremyreimer.com/rockets-item.lsp?p=137 |website=Jeremy Reimer))</ref>
|-
|6
|[[ZX81]]
|[[Sinclair Research]]
|Computer
|8-bit
|250,000+
|<ref>((Cite magazine|date=April 1982|title=More Sinclair Computers Than Any Other!|url=http://archive.org/details/creativecomputing-1982-04-a|magazine=[[Creative Computing]]|volume=8|issue=4|pages=6))</ref>
|-
|7
|[[TRS-80]]
|[[Tandy Corporation]]
|Computer
|8-bit
|250,000
|<ref name=":222" />
|-
|8
|[[Apple II series|Apple II]]
|[[Apple Inc.]]
|Computer
|8-bit
|210,000
|<ref name=":222" />
|-
|9
|[[Commodore PET|PET]]
|[[Commodore International]]
|Computer
|8-bit
|40,000
|<ref name=":222" />
|-
|10
|[[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]]
|[[IBM]]
|Computer
|8-bit / 16-bit
|35,000
|<ref name=":222" />
|}

== Events ==
=== Magazines ===
* January – Atari computer magazine ''[[ANALOG Computing]]'' begins 9 years of publication. Most issues include at least one BASIC game and one machine language game.
* November – The British video game magazine ''[[Computer and Video Games]]'' (C&VG) starts.
* Winter – Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found ''[[Electronic Games]]'', the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of [[video game journalism]].

===Business===
* New companies: [[DK'Tronics]], [[Games by Apollo]], [[Nasir Gebelli|Gebelli Software]], [[Imagic]], [[Spectravideo|Spectravision]], [[Starpath]], [[Synapse Software]]
* Defunct: [[APF Electronics]]

==Births==
===May===
* May 6 – David 'mamehaze' Haywood: Legendary [[MAME]] programmer

== Notable releases ==
=== Games ===
;Arcade

* February – [[Konami]] releases ''[[Scramble (video game)|Scramble]]'', the first [[side-scrolling shooter]] with forced [[scrolling]] and multiple distinct [[Level (video gaming)|levels]].<ref name="lecture">[http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/classes/cmps080k/Winter07/lectures/shmups.pdf Game Genres: Shmups]((Dead link|date=February 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes )), Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007, Accessed June 17, 2008</ref>
* February – [[WMS Industries|Williams Electronics]] releases influential scrolling shooter ''[[Defender (video game)|Defender]]''.
* July 9 – [[Nintendo]] releases ''[[Donkey Kong (arcade game)|Donkey Kong]]'', which introduces the characters of [[Donkey Kong (character)|Donkey Kong]] and [[Mario]], and sets the template for the [[platform game]] genre. It is also one of the first video games with an integral storyline.<ref>((cite web|url=http://www.arcade-history.com/?n=donkey-kong&page=detail&id=666 |title=donkey kong [coin-op&#93; arcade video game, nintendo co., ltd. (1981) |publisher=Arcade-history.com |access-date=February 28, 2013))</ref>
* August – [[Konami]] releases ''[[Frogger]]''.
* September – [[Namco]] releases ''[[Galaga]]'', the sequel to ''[[Galaxian]]'' which becomes more popular than the original.
* October – ''Frogger'' is distributed in North America by [[Gremlin Industries|Sega-Gremlin]].
* October 18 – [[Sega]] releases ''[[Turbo (video game)|Turbo]]'', a [[racing  game]] with a [[Third-person (video games)|third-person]] rear-view perspective.
*October 21 – [[WMS Industries|Williams Electronics]] releases ''[[Stargate (1981 video game)|Stargate]]'', the sequel to ''[[Defender (1981 video game)|Defender]]''.
* October – [[Rock-Ola]]'s ''[[Fantasy (video game)|Fantasy]]'' is the first game with a [[Continue (video games)|continue feature]].
*October – [[Atari, Inc.]] releases ''[[Tempest (video game)|Tempest]],'' one of the first games to use Atari's Color-[[QuadraScan]] [[Vector graphics|vector]] display technology. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level (a system Atari dubbed "SkillStep").
* November – Namco releases ''[[Bosconian]]'', a multidirectional shooter with voice.
* December – ''[[Jump Bug]]'', the first [[Side-scrolling video game|scrolling]] [[Platform game#Scrolling|platform game]], developed by [[Banpresto|Hoei/Coreland]] and [[ADK (company)|Alpha Denshi]], is distributed in North America by [[Rock-Ola]] under license from Sega.
* [[Midway Games|Midway]] releases fixed-shooter ''[[Gorf]]'' with multiple distinct stages.
* [[Taito]] releases abstract, twin-stick shooter ''[[Space Dungeon]]''.
* [[Data East]] releases the vertically-scrolling isometric maze game ''[[Treasure Island (1981 video game)|Treasure Island]]''.

;Console
* [[Atari, Inc.]]'s port of ''[[Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids]]'' is a major release for the Atari VCS, and is the first game for the system to use [[bank-switching]].
* [[Mattel]] releases ''[[Utopia (video game)|Utopia]]'' for [[Intellivision]], one of the first city construction games and possibly the first [[construction and management simulation|sim game]] for a console.

;Computer
* June – ''[[Ultima I|Ultima]]'' is released, beginning a successful [[role-playing video game|computer role-playing game]] series.
* September – ''[[Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord]]'' for the Apple II is the first in a computer role-playing franchise that eventually spans eight games.
* [[IBM]] and [[Microsoft]] include the game ''[[DONKEY.BAS]]'' with the [[IBM PC]], arguably the first [[IBM PC compatible]] game.
* [[Muse Software]] releases the stealth action adventure ''[[Castle Wolfenstein]]'' for the Apple II.
* The [[Atari Program Exchange]] publishes ''[[Caverns of Mars]]'', a vertically scrolling shooter for the [[Atari 8-bit family]], and wargame ''[[Eastern Front (1941)]]''. APX also sells the source code to ''Eastern Front''.
* [[Epyx]] releases turn-based monster game ''[[Crush, Crumble and Chomp!]]''.
* [[BudgeCo]]'s ''[[Raster Blaster]]'' sparks interest in more realistic Apple II pinball simulations and is the precursor to ''[[Pinball Construction Set]]''.
* [[Infocom]] releases ''[[Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz]]''.

=== Hardware ===
;Arcade
* July – the [[Namco Warp & Warp]] [[arcade system board]] is released.
* October – the [[List of Sega arcade system boards#Arcade system boards|VCO Object]], the first [[arcade system board]] dedicated to [[2.5D|pseudo-3D]], [[Sprite (computer graphics)|sprite]]-scaling graphics, debuts with the release of ''Turbo''.

;Computer
* March 5 – [[Timex Sinclair|Timex]] releases the [[Sinclair Research]] [[ZX81]] in the UK, which is significantly less expensive than other computers on the market.
* June – [[Texas Instruments]] releases the [[TI-99/4A]], an update to 1979's TI-99/4.
* August 12 – the [[IBM Personal Computer]] is released for [[United States dollar|USD]]$1,565, with 16K RAM, no disk drives, and 4-color [[Color Graphics Adapter|CGA]] graphics.
* [[Bally Astrocade|Astrovision]] distributes the Bally Computer System after buying the rights from [[Bally Technologies|Bally]]/[[Midway Games|Midway]].
* [[Acorn Computers Ltd]] releases the [[BBC Micro]] home computer.
* [[Commodore International|Commodore Business Machines]] releases the [[VIC-20]] home computer.
* [[NEC]] releases the [[PC-8801]] home computer in Japan.

;Handheld
* November – [[Nintendo]]'s [[Game & Watch]] is released in [[Sweden]].
* [[Microvision]] is discontinued.

==See also==
*[[1981 in games]]

==References==
((reflist))

((History of video games))

[[Category:1981 in video gaming| ]]
[[Category:Video games by year]]

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