1980 saw the release of a number of games with influential concepts, including Pac-Man, Battlezone, Crazy Climber, Mystery House, Missile Command, Phoenix, Rally-X, Space Panic, Stratovox, Zork, Adventure, and Olympic Decathlon. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pac-Man, while the best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch. The Atari VCS (later called the Atari 2600) also grew in popularity with a port of Space Invaders and support from new third-party developer Activision.

Financial performance The arcade video game market in the US generates $2.81 billion in revenueVideo Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013) ($ adjusted for inflation). Home video games sell ( adjusted for inflation) in the United States, with the Atari VCS leading the market with a 44% share.

Highest-grossing arcade games The following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games worldwide in 1980.

Rank Title Gross revenue Inflation Cabinet sales Developer Distributor(s) Genre 1 Pac-Man $1,000,000,000 100,000 Namco Namco / Midway Maze 2 Asteroids $700,000,000 70,000 Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Shoot 'em up Galaxian Namco Namco / Midway Shoot 'em up Space Invaders Taito Taito / Midway Shoot 'em up

Japan and United States In Japan and the United States, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1980.

Rank Japan (Game Machine) United States Title #1 #2 #3 Points Cash Box Play Meter RePlay Cabinet sales 1 Pac-Man 62 46 17 Asteroids < 60,000 2 Galaxian 44 25 18 Galaxian < 40,000 3 Crazy Climber 14 19 30 Space Invaders < 4 Moon Cresta 3 24 15 Missile Command 5 Monaco GP 11 4 11 Rip Off 6 Rally-X 1 6 3 rowspan="7" rowspan="7" rowspan="7" rowspan="7" 7 Heiankyo Alien (Digger) 1 4 4 8 Pitch In 0 1 5 9 Super Speed Race 0 2 2 10 Sasuke vs. Commander 0 0 5 Space Invaders 0 1 3 Missile Command 0 2 1

Best-selling home video games The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1980.

Rank Title Platform Developer Publisher Release year Genre Sales 1 Space Invaders Atari VCS Taito Atari, Inc. 1980 Shoot 'em up 1,318,655 Via 2 Breakout Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1978 Action 256,265 3 Football Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1979 Sports (American football) 248,502 4 Bowling Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1979 Sports 245,670 5 Night Driver Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1980 Racing 161,352 6 Air-Sea Battle Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Shooter 160,093 7 Circus Atari Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1980 Action 148,756 8 Street Racer Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Racing 89,269 9 Video Olympics Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1977 Sports 36,028

Best-selling home systems Rank System(s) Manufacturer Type Generation Sales 1Game & WatchNintendoHandheld 2,000,000+2Atari Video Computer System (VCS)Atari, Inc.ConsoleSecond1,250,0003TRS-80Tandy CorporationComputer8-bit290,0004IntellivisionMattelConsoleSecond200,0005Atari 400 / Atari 800Atari, Inc.Computer8-bit200,0006Commodore PETCommodore InternationalComputer8-bit90,0007Apple IIApple Inc.Computer8-bit79,5008HP 9800 / HP Series 80Hewlett-PackardComputer8-bit11,3009North Star HorizonNorth Star ComputersComputer8-bit8,20010TI-99/4Texas InstrumentsComputer16-bit8,100

Events Awards Electronic Games hosts the first Arcade Awards, the first video game awards ceremony. It awards games released during 1978–1979, with Space Invaders winning the overall Game of the Year award.The Arcade Awards – 1980 – Electronic Games Winter 1981, pages 38-9

Business New companies: Broderbund, Bug-Byte, HAL Laboratory, Human Engineered Software, Mindscape, On-Line Systems, Sirius, Sir-Tech. Mattel creates the original five-programmer Intellivision game design team, later nicknamed the Blue Sky Rangers in 1982 in a TV Guide interview.

Notable releases

Games Arcade May 22 – Namco releases Pac-Man (originally Puckman in Japan). It becomes the highest-grossing game of all time. It has the first gaming mascot character, established the maze chase genre, opened gaming to female audiences,The Essential 50 - Pac-Man, 1UP introduced power-ups,Playing With Power: Great Ideas That Have Changed Gaming Forever, 1UP and told a story through cutscenes.Gaming's Most Important Evolutions , GamesRadar+ May – Stratovox from Sun Electronics is the first game with voice synthesis. July – Atari, Inc. releases the cold-war-inspired Missile Command. October – Nichibutsu releases the vertically scrolling Crazy Climber, the first video game with a climbing mechanic and an objective of climbing to the top of the level. November 12 – Stern Electronics releases Berzerk, with designer Alan McNeil's signature on the monitor glass of each cabinet. November – Namco releases Rally-X, the first game with a bonus round. It also features multi-directional scrolling. November – Universal releases Space Panic, the first game with platforms and ladders. The term platform game was still several years in the future. November – Atari, Inc. releases first-person 3D tank shooter Battlezone. Cinematronics releases Star Castle. In 1982 the Atari 2600 port ends up as Yars' Revenge. Midway's Wizard of Wor is released, allowing two players to fight simultaneously in monster-filled mazes. The multi-stage Phoenix sports one of the first video-game bosses: a purple alien in a mothership.

Console Atari, Inc.'s port of Space Invaders becomes the killer app for the VCS and the first console title to sell a million copies. The first batch of games from Activision, all for the Atari VCS, hits stores: Dragster, Fishing Derby, Boxing, Bridge, and Checkers.

Computer December – Infocom releases its first game, Zork (later called Zork I), which begins the Zork series. The mainframe game Rogue is written by Michael Toy, Glenn Wichman, and Ken Arnold, eventually spawning a crowded genre of Roguelike games. Edu-Ware releases The Prisoner for the Apple II, loosely based upon the 1960s TV series of the same name. Strategic Simulations releases its first game: Computer Bismarck for the TRS-80. Microsoft publishes Olympic Decathlon for the TRS-80, a track and field video game which precedes Konami's Track & Field and The Activision Decathlon by three years. On-Line Systems publishes its first title, the graphic adventure Mystery House for the Apple II.

Handheld Nintendo releases the Game & Watch series of LCD handheld electronic games by Gunpei Yokoi.

Hardware Arcade December – Data East releases the DECO Cassette System, the first standardized arcade platform, for which many games are developed.

Console Mattel releases the Intellivision home video game console. PPZ Ameprod releases the Ameprod TVG-10 dedicated home video game console in Poland. The BSS 01 dedicated home video game console is released only in Germany.

Computer The Sinclair ZX80 and Acorn Atom are the first home computers to play games in the UK. Tandy releases the first version of the Tandy Color Computer.

See also 1980 in games

References