1980-1984
The boom,
the clones and the crash

The entire tech industry radically changed in the early 80s, starting with the arrival of IBM in the home computer market.

An established tech giant that dominated mainframe computers, its IBM Personal Computer (or IBM PC) forced the home computer segment to professionalise. While Apple discouraged third-party developers, IBM shared all information and had an open architecture. Empowered by the company's legendary reputation and a powerful marketing campaign, IBM PCs quickly dethroned Apple and became the leading standard, with an extensive catalogue of software and components.

But these were still costly, high-end products. Vital in popularising home computers were new low-end machines like the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and the MSX line. Costing a fraction of an Apple II or IBM PC, they plugged into common TVs (instead of expensive monitors), began to be used as educational tools in schools and were great gaming machines, helping to introduce a whole new generation to computers.

Meanwhile, the console market had become a free-for-all mayhem. Fuelled by the success of the Atari 2600, several companies decided to jump on the bandwagon and make their own consoles, with over a dozen console models now competing side-by-side on store shelves.

Countless companies also followed Activision, becoming third-party developers and publishing their own games. Most were of terrible quality or cheap copies of popular titles. Atari themselves also had poor standards, with failures like its crude port of Pac-Man and the infamous E.T. game.

Still, profit was at a record high and companies and retailers kept betting on ever-increasing sales for the holidays of 1982. However, customers got so burnt out that they stopped buying. Left with massive dead stocks and no way to recover their investments, the US market crashed in 1983.

What was a 3 billion dollar business in 1982 barely made 100 million in 1985. Video games went from prized products directly to bargain bins, and the US console industry was for all purposes dead.

The crisis also affected arcades, since many companies were active on both markets, and the whole video game business declared a fad. Despite this, computers were eager to satisfy those hungry for more. No longer curiosities sold in ziplock bags, computer games started to professionalise. EA, Interplay, Origin, Infocom, Brøderbund, SSI, Sierra On-line and New World Computing were all founded around this time, and would rule the market until the late 90s.

Meanwhile, in Japan, an odd coincidence occurred. On the same day – July 15, 1983 – two companies released their first consoles: the Nintendo Famicom and the SEGA SG-1000. It was a sign of things to come.