![]() There are a couple things worth noting about this commercial. In February of 1973, Magnavox would try to correct their marketing error by releasing this commercial: However, that didn’t stop Magnavox from selling over 300 thousand units along with claiming their spot in history for having released the very first home gaming console. Consumers falsely believed that the Odyssey would only work on a Magnavox television, as consumers had never before encountered a home gaming console. However, poor marketing would kill it before it had a chance to live. This predated the release of the commercially successful Pong by one month. In the summer of 1972, Magnavox unleashed the Magnavox Odyssey onto the world with very high expectations. Video Games were beginning to slowly appear on college campuses and in bars, but what about in our homes? It was all well and good to go to the arcade with a fistful of quarters, but what of those among us who enjoy the comforts of home? A private restroom? Not being harassed to finish so someone else could play?Īsk and ye shall receive. Magnavox then descended upon the other companies creating Odyssey tennis rip-offs, winning or settling every single case.Īs a final one-finger-salute to Magnavox, Atari intentionally delayed or dawdled on all of its projects over the next year, and lied about their progress when Magnavox’s attorneys paid visits to Atari’s facilities, so as not to give Magnavox the satisfaction of owning them.Īfter the release of Computer Space, with minimal commercial success, the video game industry was off to a shaky start. ![]() Magnavox would also own licensing to anything Atari developed within the next year. In 1974, that would be comparable to a $3 million settlement deal today. Magnavox offered Atari the option of becoming a licencee, offering them $0.7 million. “The fact is that I absolutely did see the Odyssey game and I didn’t think it was very clever.” -Nolan BushnellĪfter a grueling court battle, Atari decided to try and settle with Magnavox out of court. Nolan Bushnell, upon being accused of intentionally ripping off the idea for Pong from the Odyssey’s tennis, said this: In April 1974, Magnavox filed suit against Atari. However, his employer at Sander’s Associates put heavy pressure on him to sue Atari for copyright infringement. The inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey, Ralph Baer, had seen all these Odyssey Tennis clones and wasn’t bothered. Sander’s Associates handled the sublicensing for Magnavox, involving copyright protection and cracking down on infringement. Plenty of other unsuccessful games were Odyssey tennis ripoffs at this point. ![]() He’d seen the tennis game on the Odyssey and claimed it was not very clever, so he wanted to improve upon it. In fact, it had been Nolan Bushnell’s idea to task Allan Alcorn with developing Pong. With an arsenal of engineers and programmers behind them, they were Atari, Inc. This would be the first game created by the company headed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. The commercial success of Pong single-handedly began the Video Game industry as we know it. Pong was developed into a full-size arcade game and due to its success, in November 1972, Pong would be released across the country and eventually all over the world. Disheartened, they went to see what was wrong, only to find the machine was literally overflowing with quarters. After a couple days had passed, the owner of the bar called them to tell them something was wrong with the machine. Fingers crossed, they left it there for a few days and waited. Still nervous, they created a small prototype and placed it in a local bar to test it on drunken bar-goers.
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