What if the '83 crash never happened?

[Gorse]

That thread about video game generations you'd like to go back to got me thinking: What do you think today's video game industry would be like if the 1983 crash (where, put simply, American console manufacturers lost all relevance) never happened?

Would it be better? Worse? Would Atari still rule the roost? Would we be buying copies of Concord on our Colecovision 420 Pro? Would the latest instalment of the Missile Command franchise be a gacha game where you have sex with the tank? Let's theorize, baby!

 

[dropsmegamega]

well digging in the desert would be safer at the very least

 

[Cu-Neo]

I think it would have happened anyways because if ET had been a success, Atari would have made more games with a week of development for the Atari 2600, and the people at the end would have become tired of paying a lot of money for a 2-minute game.

Also Finding Cartridges in the desert would be more harder XD

 

[pl1sk1n]

ET would be a respected game that everyone loved.. Rather then a collection of burred games.

I would say that imo the gaming crash is a case study of how business operate today generally, trying to scam their customers and flooding the market with cr*p and then expecting the consumer to buy it.

It is a shame they never learned from it and will always practice the art of abusing their customer.

One could go a step further and argue that this is why societies crumble, excuse making as long as the ones at the top get their coin

*sorry if i am coming off as antsy today, might be the season messing with my sinus*

Post automatically merged: Today at 2:05 AM

I think it would have happened anyways because if ET had been a success, Atari would have made more games with a week of development for the Atari 2600, and the people at the end would have become tired of paying a lot of money for a 2-minute game.

Also Finding Cartridges in the desert would be more harder XD

100% we would have been in the hell scape of today sooner. Right on the money!

 

[lttrbmb]

tbh I think something similar will happen again sooner or later, not like a full blown crash or anything, maybe like a bubble burst? just because of the absurdity of budgets nowadays, something's gotta give at some point
I only think the market won't crash and burn like it did back in 83 because indie games and smaller studios will likely soften the blow (and also nintendo might do their thing again because nintendo has avoided most of sony's modern bullshit, even if they've had their own issues)

 

[RageBurner]

Better, worse... that's difficult to even fathom. At the very least it would be radically different. Perhaps Nintendo wouldn't have been able to exercise their unfair market wresting for as long as they did, and it would have turned Sega's fortunes.

 

[ProcolKrautSprout73]

The Video Game Crash was a necessary evil that had to happen, without it we wouldn't have half the standards companies would have nowadays (even if it's still bad today, it would be worse without the crash if one never happened in my opinion). The huge abudance of consoles, pong clones, bootleg games that also flooded market, lack of time for game development (rushed Pac Man, E.T). There's probably other things i'm missing, it's was a complex event, feel free to correct me. I'm just giving an abridged version of events. I don't think it affected the industry outside of America, the UK was on the ZXSpectrium, personal computer craze and doing well, and arcades were becoming outrageously popular in Japan (famicom distributed in 83, one computer I know that was popular was the NEC PC-8801)

But then again, I can't predict what would happen. I'm not a time traveller, historian, or an economist. It would be quite different, who's to say.

Addition: On games, I couldn't tell you which games would or would not exist without the video game crash, probably thousands. It's like a domino effect. Way too big to really comprehend, especially considering how far this hypothetical scenario could go. A good example would be, would Sega be as much as a success during it's golden age in early 90s America if the crash never happened? Would they still get that same recognition in the West?

 

[DunkeyKong]

Let's see…there wouldn't be any Mario and Sonic, Nintendo and Sega, Playstation and Xbox, games would still exist, but there wouldn't be much of a difference for consoles and arcades.

I think as much as most of us hate Nintendo (or almost every company), the impact Nintendo have made with the NES is such a historical feat. Not only did it saved gaming, but they also revolutionized the way games are made

 

[ProcolKrautSprout73]

Let's see…there wouldn't be any Mario and Sonic, Nintendo and Sega, Playstation and Xbox, games would still exist, but there wouldn't be much of a difference for consoles and arcades.

I think as much as most of us hate Nintendo (or almost every company), the impact Nintendo have made with the NES is such a historical feat. Not only did it saved gaming, but they also revolutionized the way games are made

Another thing to note is that the Famicom had it's exterior radically modified in order to fit consumer tastes for it's western release. Changing it's name to an Entertainment System rather than the computer connotation would have it be more marketed as a toy or vcr-like equipment rather than a console. It had a more bulkier look compared to the wholesome, homely design of the Famicom. Nintendo needed a way to break into the broken industry in America and had to impress the public in the best way possible. Without the crash, there's no motivation to really do that or to change the landscape. The Famicom would still exist in 83', but it's release in America would probably be either very different or might not happen at all.

 

[Clippy]

The world wouldn't change much at all. American console manufacturers were inconsequential outside North America. Perhaps we would've seen a few more minor players like Vectrex or Fairchild but all of that would've died in the 90s at the latest just like 3DO and CDi did. More serious hardware manufacturers like Atari and Commodore survived the crash and limped along until the mid-90s before their attempts at selling outdated and underpowered hardware finally did them in. Commodore kept trying to get into the console market by re-badging their old stock of computers and removing keyboards. It went so far that they sold one of their 'consoles' with a pack-in game that required you to press enter to get into the menu which is hilarious af in hindsight. Atari could've shipped the 5200 about 2 years earlier than they did if they hadn't shafted the design team who proceeded to sue them and get an injunction until they got what they were owed iirc.

The crash got the minor players. The bigger players did themselves in. Same could be said for N-word and Sega in the 90s. Sega died to the infighting and other numerous bad decisions while the N-word's draconian policies that brought them success in the mid-80s and early 90s also made sure that everyone jumped ship as soon as a viable competitor (Playstation) showed up because everyone was done with their crap. They survived the same way Atari did in the 80s - they had huge stockpiles of cash and as far as I'm concerned it took them until Switch to recover as a serious gaming platform and even that happened only because both Microsoft and Sony dropped the ball hard. They would've been stuck as a kiddie/casual console maker if it wasn't for that.

 

[Waffles]

I do believe Atari would have remained a key player, and the quality of their games would have easily outclassed all of its competitors. That said, Nintendo and SEGA would probably still over take them at some point, but I don't think it'd be because of Atari's increasingly desperate bids like in our timeline.

 

[DunkeyKong]

Another thing to note is that the Famicom had it's exterior radically modified in order to fit consumer tastes for it's western release. Changing it's name to an Entertainment System rather than the computer connotation would have it be more marketed as a toy or vcr-like equipment rather than a console. It had a more bulkier look compared to the wholesome, homely design of the Famicom. Nintendo needed a way to break into the broken industry in America and had to impress the public in the best way possible. Without the crash, there's no motivation to really do that or to change the landscape. The Famicom would still exist in 83', but it's release in America would probably be either very different or might not happen at all.
View attachment 9677

Definitely, it is one of the most modern looking designs too

 

[ATenderLad]

The year is 1985; the Atari 2601 has cut humans out of the loop of missile defense systems, launching on every Famicom and Colecovision purchase. Jeff Bridges and the kid from The Last Starfighter go back to give a young Ray Kassar terrible economic advice, and maybe, hit the Reset Button on Armageddon.

 

[Zerpina]

That thread about video game generations you'd like to go back to got me thinking: What do you think today's video game industry would be like if the 1983 crash (where, put simply, American console manufacturers lost all relevance) never happened?

If the Crash of 83 had never happened...
We would be Playing on our Atari LynxLionaur's 720X60's, Trying to beat E.T. 2, Electric Boogaloo!

 

[Strategist]

No doubt the industry would be in a worse place. Shovelware would be the name of the game. Sometimes companies need to fail to open up opportunities for the next big thing. I feel like we are close to another crash in the industry given how disconnected many gamers feel from modern games.

 

[ProcolKrautSprout73]

No doubt the industry would be in a worse place. Shovelware would be the name of the game. Sometimes companies need to fail to open up opportunities for the next big thing. I feel like we are close to another crash in the industry given how disconnected many gamers feel from modern games.

There would also be 8000 more Custer's Revenge-esque games out there too. I shudder to think about that.