Editing History of video games (section)

===Introduction of cartridge-based home consoles===
{{Main|Second generation of video game consoles}}
[[File:Intellivision.jpg|thumb|right|An [[Intellivision]] home console system with an assortment of [[ROM cartridge]]s]]
Development costs of dedicated game hardware for arcade and home consoles based on discrete component circuitry and [[application-specific integrated circuit]]s (ASICs) with only limited consumer lifespans drove engineers to find alternatives. Microprocessors had dropped far enough in price by 1975 to make these a viable option for developing programmable consoles that could load in game software from a form of swappable media.<ref name="atari fun chp5">{{cite book | title = Atari Inc: Business is Fun | first1 = Marty | last1 = Goldberg | first2 = Curt | last2 = Vendel | year = 2012 | isbn = 978-0985597405 | publisher = Sygyzy Press | chapter=Chapter 5 }}</ref>

The [[Fairchild Channel F]] by [[Fairchild Camera and Instrument]] was released in 1976. It is the first home console to use programmable [[ROM cartridge]]s - allowing players to swap games - as well as being the first home console to use a microprocessor which reads instructions from the ROM cartridge. Atari and Magnavox followed suit in 1977 and 1978, respectively, with the release of the [[Atari Video Computer System]] (VCS, later known as the Atari 2600) and the [[Magnavox Odyssey 2]], both systems also introducing the use of cartridges. As to complete the Atari VCS quickly, Bushnell sold Atari to [[Warner Communications]] {{USD|28 million|long=no}}, providing the necessary cash infusion to complete the system's design by the end of 1977.<ref name="gamasutra history atari"/> The initial market for these new consoles were initially modest as consumers were still wary after the saturation of dedicated home consoles.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qsa-BAAAQBAJ&q=atari+vcs+christmas+1979&pg=PP10|title=101 Amazing Atari 2600 Facts|last=Russell|first=Jimmy|date=December 3, 2012|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|isbn=9781782344957|language=en}}</ref> However, there was still newfound interest in video games, and new players were drawn to the market, such as [[Mattel Electronics]] with the [[Intellivision]].<ref name="down many times"/> In contrast to the dedicated home ''Pong'' consoles, programmable cartridge-based consoles had a higher barrier of entry with the costs of [[research & development]] and large-scale production, and fewer manufacturers entered the market during this period.<ref name="down many times"/>

This new line of consoles had its breakthrough moment when Atari obtained a license from Taito to create the Atari VCS version of the arcade hit ''Space Invaders'', which was released in 1980. ''Space Invaders'' quadrupled sales of the Atari VCS, making it the first "[[killer app]]" in the video game industry, and the first video game to sell over one million copies and eventually sold over 2.5 million by 1981.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ultimate History of Video Games |first=Steven |last=Kent |page=190 |publisher=[[Three Rivers Press]] |isbn=0-7615-3643-4 |year=2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Weiss |first=Brett |title=Classic home video games, 1972–1984: a complete reference guide |year=2007 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company|McFarland]] |location=Jefferson, N.C. |isbn=978-0-7864-3226-4 |page=108}}</ref>  Atari's consumer sales almost doubled from $119 million to nearly $204 million in 1980 and then exploded to over $841 million in 1981, while sales across the entire video game industry in the United States rose from $185.7 million in 1979 to just over $1 billion in 1981.  Through a combination of conversions of its own arcade games like ''Missile Command'' and ''Asteroids'' and licensed conversions like ''Defender'', Atari took a commanding lead in the industry, with an estimated 65% market share of the worldwide industry by dollar volume by 1981.  Mattel settled into second place with roughly 15%-20% of the market, while Magnavox ran a distant third, and Fairchild exited the market entirely in 1979.<ref name="down many times"/>

Another critical development during this period was the emergence of third-party developers. Atari management did not appreciate the special talent required to design and program a game and treated them like typical software engineers of the period, who were not generally credited for their work or given royalties; this led to [[Warren Robinett]] secretly programming his name in one of the earliest [[Easter egg (media)|Easter eggs]] into his game ''[[Adventure (1980 video game)|Adventure]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/technology/easter-eggs-tesla-google.html|title=The Secret History of 'Easter Eggs'|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=August 8, 2019|last=Pogue|first=David|access-date=August 8, 2019}}</ref><ref name="paste mar2016">{{Cite web | url = http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/03/easter-eggs-the-hidden-secrets-of-videogames.html | title = Easter Eggs: The Hidden Secrets of Videogames | first = Jack | last =Yarwood | work = [[Paste (magazine)|Paste]] | date = March 27, 2016 | access-date = March 27, 2016 }}</ref> Atari's policies drove four of the company's programmers, David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller, and Bob Whitehead, to resign and form their own company [[Activision]] in 1979, using their knowledge of developing for the Atari VCS to make and publish their own games. Atari sued to stop Activision's activities, but the companies settled out of court, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their game sales as a license fee to Atari.<ref name="gamasutra activision">{{Cite web | url = http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131956/a_history_of_gaming_platforms_.php| title = A History of Gaming Platforms: Atari 2600 Video Computer System/VCS | first1 = Matt | last1 = Barton | first2= Bill | last2 = Loguidice | work = [[Gamasutra]] | date = February 28, 2008 | access-date = April 5, 2016 }}</ref> Another group of Atari and Mattel developers left and formed [[Imagic]] in 1981, following Activision's model.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11832 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108225158/http://gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=11832 | url-status=dead | archive-date=January 8, 2007 | title=Playing Catch Up: Night Trap's Rob Fulop | publisher=CMP | work=Gamasutra | access-date=April 9, 2007}}</ref>

Atari's dominance of the market was challenged by Coleco's [[ColecoVision]] in 1982. As ''Space Invaders'' had done for the Atari VCS, Coleco developed a licensed version of Nintendo's arcade hit ''Donkey Kong'' as a bundled game with the system. While the Colecovision only had 17% of the hardware market in 1982 compared to the Atari VCS' share of 58%, it outsold Atari's newer console, the [[Atari 5200]].<ref name="gallager innovation">{{cite journal | title = Innovation and Competition in Standard-Based Industries: A Historical Analysis of the U.S. Home Video Game Market | first1 = Scott | last1=  Gallager | first2 = Seung | last2 =Ho Park | date = February 2002 | journal = IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management | volume = 49 | issue = 1 | pages = 67–82 | doi = 10.1109/17.985749 }}</ref><ref name="down many times"/>

A few games from this period have been considered milestones in the history of video games, and some of the earliest in popular genres. Robinett's ''Adventure'' was inspired from the text adventure ''Colossal Cave Adventure'', and is considered the one of the first graphic adventure and [[action-adventure game]]s,<ref>{{cite journal | title = Adventure Before Adventure Games: A New Look at Crowther and Woods's Seminal Program | journal = [[Games & Culture]] | first1 = Jonathan | last1 =Lessard | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages =119–135 | doi =  10.1177/1555412012473364 | date = February 21, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = [[Replay: The History of Video Games]] | first = Tristan | last = Donovan | publisher = Yellow Ant | date = 2010 | isbn = 978-0956507204 | pages = 119 }}</ref> and first cartridge fantasy-themed game.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Electronic Games]]|date=June 1983|volume=1|issue=16|editor-last=Katz|editor-first=Arnie|title=The Players Guide to Fantasy Games|pages=50, 53|quote=When Atari picked "Adventure" as the title of the video game field's first fantasy cartridge, the company did so with a profound sense of history.}}</ref> Activision's ''[[Pitfall!]]'', beside being one of the more successful third-party games, also established the foundation of side-scrolling [[platform game]]s.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Morales|first=Aaron|date=January 25, 2013|title=The 10 best Atari games|url=http://www.ew.com/article/2013/01/25/the-10-best-atari-games|access-date=April 17, 2016|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115174334/http://ew.com/article/2013/01/25/the-10-best-atari-games/|archive-date=January 15, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Utopia (1981 video game)|Utopia]]'' for the Intellivision was the first [[city-building game]] and considered one of the first [[real-time strategy game]]s.<ref name="arstechnica2">{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/build-gather-brawl-repeat-the-history-of-real-time-strategy-games/|title=Build, gather, brawl, repeat: The history of real-time strategy games|last=Moss|first=Richard|date=September 15, 2017|website=[[Ars Technica]]|access-date=October 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928023807/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/09/build-gather-brawl-repeat-the-history-of-real-time-strategy-games/|archive-date=September 28, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Loguidice">{{cite book|title=Vintage Games: An Insider Look at the History of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the Most Influential Games of All Time|last1=Loguidice|first1=Bill|last2=Barton|first2=Matt|date=2009|publisher=[[Focal Press]]|isbn=978-0240811468|location=Boston|page=238}}</ref>