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1982 was the peak year for the golden age of arcade video games as well as the second generation of video game consoles. Many games were released that would spawn franchises, or at least sequels, including Dig Dug, Pole Position, Mr. Do!, Zaxxon, Q*bert, Time Pilot and Pitfall! The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, for the third year in a row, while the year's best-selling home system was the Atari 2600 (Atari VCS). Additional video game consoles added to a crowded market, notably the ColecoVision and Atari 5200. Troubles at Atari late in the year triggered the video game crash of 1983.

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

The highest-grossing arcade game of 1982 was Pac-Man, which had accumulated a total revenue of $6 billion worldwide ($18.9 billion adjusted for inflation) by 1982.[4][5]

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1982, according to the annual Game Machine chart.[6]

Rank Title Genre Manufacturer
1 Pole Position Racing Namco
2 Dig Dug Maze
3 Galaga Shoot 'em up
4 Pengo Maze Sega
5 Time Pilot Shoot 'em up Konami
6 Donkey Kong Platform Nintendo
7 Front Line Shoot 'em up Taito
8 Donkey Kong Jr. Platform Nintendo
9 Burnin' Rubber (Bump 'n' Jump) Vehicular combat Data East
10 Mr. Do! Maze Universal

United States

In the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1982, according to RePlay and Cash Box magazines and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA).

Rank RePlay Cash Box[7] AMOA[8] Play Meter[9]
1 Donkey Kong[10] Ms. Pac-Man
2 Un­known Pac-Man Pac-Man,
Centipede,
Donkey Kong,
Defender,
Zaxxon 		Un­known
3 Un­known Donkey Kong,
Centipede
4 Un­known
5 Un­known —
6 Un­known —

The following table lists the top-grossing titles of each month in 1982, according to the RePlay and Play Meter charts.

Month RePlay Play Meter Ref
Upright cabinet Cocktail cabinet
January Pac-Man — Un­known [11]
February Pac-Man Un­known [12]
March Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man Un­known [13]
April Ms. Pac-Man Donkey Kong[14][15] [16]
May Turbo [17][14]
June Zaxxon Un­known Un­known [18]
July Ms. Pac-Man Ms. Pac-Man Un­known [19]
August Pac-Man / Ms. Pac-Man Un­known [20]
September Un­known [21]
October Jungle King Un­known [22]
November Ms. Pac-Man Un­known [23]
December Ms. Pac-Man [24][25]
1982 Donkey Kong Ms. Pac-Man [10][9]

Best-selling home video games

The following titles were 1982's best-selling home video games.

Rank Title Platform(s) Developer Publisher(s) Release Year Sales Revenue Inflation Ref
1 Pac-Man VCS, Coleco, Nelsonic Namco Atari, Coleco, Nelsonic 1982 9,271,844 $200,000,000+ $630,000,000+ [a]
2 Donkey Kong ColecoVision, VCS Nintendo Coleco 1982 4,550,000 $100,000,000+ $320,000,000+ [b]
3 Frogger Atari VCS Konami Parker Brothers 1982 4,000,000 $80,000,000 $250,000,000 [33]
4 Defender Atari VCS Williams Atari, Inc. 1982 3,006,790 Un­known [26]
5 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Atari VCS Universal Atari, Inc. 1982 2,637,985 Un­known [26]
6 Berzerk Atari VCS Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. 1982 1,798,773 Un­known [26]
7 Space Invaders Atari VCS Taito Atari, Inc. 1980 1,373,033 Un­known [26]
8 Asteroids Atari VCS Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. 1981 1,331,956 Un­known [26]
9 Pitfall! Atari VCS Activision Activision 1982 1,000,000+ Un­known [34][35]
10 Night Driver Atari VCS Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. 1980 457,058 Un­known [26]

Best-selling home systems

Rank System(s) Manufacturer Type Generation Sales Ref
1 Atari 2600 (Atari VCS) Atari, Inc. Console Second 5,100,000 [36]
2 Game & Watch Nintendo Handheld — 4,600,000+ [37]
3 Coleco Mini-Arcade Coleco Dedicated — 3,000,000 [29]
4 Intellivision Mattel Console Second 1,100,000 [38]
5 Timex Sinclair 1000 Timex Sinclair Computer 8-bit 750,000 [39]
6 Atari 400 / Atari 800 Atari, Inc. Computer 8-bit 600,000 [40]
Commodore 64 / VIC-20 Commodore International Computer 8-bit 600,000 [39]
TI-99/4 / TI-99/4A Texas Instruments Computer 16-bit 600,000 [39]
9 ColecoVision Coleco Console Second 550,000 [31][38]
10 Nelsonic Game Watch Nelsonic Industries Handheld — 500,000+ [41]

Events

Major awards

Business

Notable releases

Games

Arcade

Console

Computer

Hardware

Arcade

Console

ColecoVision

Computer

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Atari VCS version sold 7,271,844 cartridges[26] ($200 million).[27] Coleco's Mini-Arcade version sold 1.5 million units.[28][29] Nelsonic Game Watch version sold more than 500,000 units.[30]
  2. ^ ColecoVision version sold 550,000 cartridges.[31] Atari VCS version sold 4 million cartridges ($100 million).[32]

References

  1. ^ Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)
  2. ^ Everett M. Rogers & Judith K. Larsen (1984), Silicon Valley fever: growth of high-technology culture, Basic Books, p. 263, ISBN 0-465-07821-4, Video game machines have an average weekly take of $109 per machine. The video arcade industry took in $8 billion in quarters in 1982, surpassing pop music (at $4 billion in sales per year) and Hollywood films ($3 billion). Those 32 billion arcade games played translate to 143 games for every man, woman, and child in America. A recent Atari survey showed that 86 percent of the US population from 13 to 20 has played some kind of video game and an estimated 8 million US homes have video games hooked up to the television set. Sales of home video games were $3.8 billion in 1982, approximately half that of video game arcades.
  3. ^ "The Home Video-Game Industry (1983-1996) - Competitive Strategy Revolving around Industry Standards" (PDF). gbrc.jp. p. 43.
  4. ^ Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader. Portable Press. September 1999. p. 373. ISBN 978-1-879682-74-0. In 1982 alone, Americans pumped $6 billion in quarters into Pac-Man's mouth—more than they spent in Las Vegas casinos and movie theatres combined.
  5. ^ Uncle John's Legendary Lost Bathroom Reader. Simon and Schuster. November 2012. p. 348. ISBN 978-1-60710-670-8. In 1982 alone, Americans pumped $6 billion in quarters into Pac-Man's mouth—more than they spent in Las Vegas casinos and movie theatres combined.
  6. ^ ""Pole Position" No. 1 Video Game: Game Machine's "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" Survey Results" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 207. Amusement Press, Inc. March 1, 1983. p. 30.
  7. ^ "1982 Jukebox / Games Route Survey". Cash Box. Cash Box Pub. Co. November 20, 1982. p. 53.
  8. ^ "AMOA Announces Jukebox and Games Awards Winners". Cash Box. Cash Box Pub. Co.: 37 October 30, 1982.
  9. ^ a b "1982". Play Meter. Vol. 20, no. 13. December 1994. p. 68.
  10. ^ a b "Top Hits of Last 5 Years". RePlay. March 1987.
  11. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. January 1982.
  12. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. February 1982.
  13. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. March 1982.
  14. ^ a b "Top Videos". Play Meter. May 1, 1982.
  15. ^ "Ten Years Ago". Play Meter. Vol. 18, no. 5. April 1992. p. 52.
  16. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. April 1982.
  17. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. May 1982.
  18. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. June 1982.
  19. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. July 1982.
  20. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. August 1982.
  21. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. September 1982.
  22. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. October 1982.
  23. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. November 1982.
  24. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. December 1982.
  25. ^ Sullivan, George (1983). Screen Play: The Story of Video Games. F. Warne. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7232-6251-0. Before the end of the year Ms. Pac-Man had climbed to the top of the Play Meter chart.
  26. ^ a b c d e f g Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.
  27. ^ Green, Mark J.; Berry, John Francis (1985). The Challenge of Hidden Profits: Reducing Corporate Bureaucracy and Waste. W. Morrow. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-688-03986-8. By 1981, Atari's sales grew to $1 billion as it controlled about 75 percent of the fast-growing video game market. The dizzying climb continued into 1982, with Pac-Man alone bringing in over $200 million.
  28. ^ "Coleco Mini-Arcades Go Gold" (PDF). Arcade Express. Vol. 1, no. 1. August 15, 1982. p. 4.
  29. ^ a b "More Mini-Arcades Coming From Coleco" (PDF). Arcade Express. Vol. 1, no. 13. January 30, 1983. p. 2.
  30. ^ Shea, Tom (December 20, 1982). "Shrinking Pac-Man leads game-wristwatch market". InfoWorld. Vol. 4, no. 50. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 44–5. ISSN 0199-6649.
  31. ^ a b Carlisle, Rodney P. (April 2, 2009). Encyclopedia of Play in Today's Society. SAGE Publishing. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-4129-6670-2.
  32. ^ Kitchen, Garry E. (March 5, 2010). "Garry E. Kitchen". Expert Report of Garry E. Kitchen (PDF). United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. p. 2. Designed & programmed Atari 2600 adaptation of hit arcade game Donkey Kong, 1982 wholesale revenues in excess of $100 million on 4 million units.
  33. ^ "Ed English: 2600 (Frogger, Mr. Do!, Roc 'n Rope)" (PDF). Digital Press. No. 52. May–June 2003. p. 7. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
  34. ^ Sigel, Efrem; Giglio, Louis (1984). Guide to Software Publishing: An Industry Emerges. Knowledge Industry Publications. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-86729-108-7. Pitfall won the award from Electronic Games magazine as the best video game adventure of 1983, and in 1982 sold more than 1 million copies.
  35. ^ "Our games have birthdays, but they don't get old". Cash Box. Cash Box Pub. Co.: FS-5 October 8, 1983.
  36. ^ Guins, Raiford (January 24, 2014). Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife. MIT Press. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-262-32018-4.
  37. ^ Japan Company Handbook. Toyo Keizai. 1982. p. 729. In Aug. '82 term, sales of "Game & Watch" will increase from 4.6 million to 7 million units
  38. ^ a b Secretan, Lance H. K. (1986). Managerial Moxie: A Basic Strategy for the Corporate Trenches. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-03-928852-5. Industry observers estimate that while Intellivision unit sales sank from 1.1 million units in 1982 to 550,000 in 1983, Coleco Vision unit sales rocketed from 550,000 to 1.2 million
  39. ^ a b c Libes, Sol (April 1983). "Bytelines: Market Share for the PC". BYTE. Vol. 8, no. 4. pp. 457–460 (458). Retrieved December 6, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  40. ^ Reimer, Jeremy (December 15, 2005). "Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
  41. ^ Shea, Tom (December 20, 1982). "Shrinking Pac-Man leads game-wristwatch market". InfoWorld. Vol. 4, no. 50. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 44–5. ISSN 0199-6649.
  42. ^ "Pac-Man Scores!". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 11. January 1983. p. 12.
  43. ^ a b Buchanan, Levi (August 26, 2008). "Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games". IGN.
  44. ^ "ランダム・アクセス・メモ". Oh! FM-7. August 4, 2001. p. 4. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2011. (Translation)
  45. ^ "Dark Age of JRPGS (1): The Dragon & Princess (1982)".
  46. ^ Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier, Hardcore Gaming 101, reprinted from Retro Gamer, Issue 67, 2009
  47. ^ "Danchizuma no Yuuwaku". Legendra. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  48. ^ "Danchi-zuma no Yuuwaku". GameSpot. Retrieved March 16, 2011.
  49. ^ Pesimo, Rudyard Contretas (2007). "'Asianizing' Animation in Asia: Digital Content Identity Construction Within the Animation Landscapes of Japan and Thailand" (PDF). Reflections on the Human Condition: Change, Conflict and Modernity—The Work of the 2004/2005 API Fellows. The Nippon Foundation. pp. 124–160. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 4, 2011.
  50. ^ "Dark Age of JRPGS (2): Some games we cannot play".
  51. ^ "Oh!FM-7：スパイ大作戦（ポニカ）". Archived from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
  52. ^ "Time Zone: An interview with Roberta Williams". Computer Gaming World. May–June 1982. pp. 14–15.
  53. ^ Defanti, Thomas A. (1984). "The Mass Impact of Videogame Technology" (PDF). Advances in Computers. 23: 115.
  54. ^ "MAME | SRC/Mame/Drivers/Polepos.c". Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved 2014-11-06.
  55. ^ Cellan-Jones, Rory (April 23, 2012). "The Spectrum, the Pi - and the coding backlash". BBC News. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
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