Images courtesy Atari
Forty years ago today, on June 27, 1972, Atari Incorporated was born.
What started with Pong grew into a revolutionary videogame company that dominated the arena for more than a decade, went into relative hibernation for most of the 1990s and 2000s, and has seen a recent resurgence, fueled in large part by those of us who grew up with the original Atari 2600 and arcade games like Battlezone.
As part of the celebration entering its fifth decade, Atari has put together a fun timeline, printed below, that should jog more than a few memories.
I know — can you believe they didn’t retire the 2600 until 1992?
Also: Interesting juxtaposition there, with the release of Atari’s ill-fated E.T. game in 1982 followed by the note about the video game crash of 1983-85.
Atari fans have had much to enjoy over the past few years, with the company’s classic games coming back in various formats like smartphones and tablets, the relaunch this year of Atari.com and a Pong Indie Developer Challenge that attracted 90 submissions and is now taking votes for its finalists.
Heck, the Adventure key even made it onto the first-edition cover of Ready Player One.
Happy birthday, Atari! Now who’s up for some Combat?
