1978 saw the release of new video games such as Space Invaders. The year is considered the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. The year's highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders, while the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game worldwide in 1978. The following table lists the top-grossing arcade games of 1978 in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.

Market Title Gross revenue Inflation Cabinet sales Developer Distributor Genre Japan Space Invaders $670,000,000 100,000 Taito Taito Shoot 'em up United Kingdom Space Invaders Taito Midway Manufacturing Shoot 'em up United States Space Wars 10,000 Cinematronics Cinematronics Shooter Worldwide Space Invaders Taito Shoot 'em up

Japan In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1978, according to the third annual Game Machine chart, which lists both arcade video games and electro-mechanical games (EM games) on the same arcade game chart. Taito's Space Invaders was the first video game to become highest-grossing overall arcade game on the annual Game Machine charts, after the two previous charts were topped by an EM game, F-1 by Namco.

Arcade video gamesArcade electro-mechanical games (EM games) Rank Title #1 #2 #3 Points Rank Title #1 #2 #3 Points 1 Space Invaders 48 7 4 1 F-1 2 4 0 2 Super Speed Race V 1 18 8 2 Shoot Away 0 2 7 3 4 9 8 3 1 3 1 4 Scratch 3 4 5 4 Mogura Taiji (Whac-A-Mole) 1 2 2 5 Speed Race DX 3 4 3 5 Submarine 0 3 2 6 Cosmic Monsters 2 3 0 6 1 1 1 7 Acrobat 1 2 2 7 0 1 1 8 Gee Bee 1 1 3 8 1 0 0 9 Super Breakout 0 2 2 9 Clay Champ 0 0 2 10 (Sankyo) 0 1 2 0 1 0

The following titles were the highest-grossing games on each Game Machine arcade chart. Nintendo's EVR Race was the highest-grossing medal game for the third year in a row.

Chart Top title Gross revenue Inflation Cabinet sales Manufacturer Genre Arcade game Space Invaders $670,000,000 100,000 Taito Shoot 'em up Medal game EVR Race Nintendo Racing

United States In the United States, the following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1978, in terms of coin drop earnings according to the annual Play Meter and RePlay charts.

Rank Play Meter RePlay Cabinet sales 1 Space Wars 10,000 2 Sprint 2 rowspan="9" 3 Sea Wolf Sprint 1 4 Sea Wolf II Sea Wolf 5 Super Bug Breakout 6 Starship 1 Super Bug 7 Circus Starship 1 8 Breakout Sea Wolf II 9 Night Driver Smokey Joe 10 Sprint 1 LeMans

Best-selling home systems RankSystem(s)Manufacturer(s)TypeGenerationSales1Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS)Atari, Inc.ConsoleSecondBandai BaseballBandaiHandheld3TRS-80Tandy CorporationComputer8-bit150,0004Commodore PETCommodore InternationalComputer8-bit30,0005Apple IIApple Inc.Computer8-bit20,0006IMSAI 8080IMS Associates, Inc.Computer8-bit5,000IBM 5110IBMComputer5,0008Altair 8800MITSComputer8-bit4,000HP 9800 seriesHewlett-PackardComputer4,00010Pertec/MITS 300Pertec ComputerComputer8-bit3,000

Events Consumer-oriented video game journalism begins with the golden age of arcade video games, soon after the success of Space Invaders, leading to hundreds of favourable articles and stories about the emerging video game medium being aired on television and printed in newspapers and magazines. In North America, the first regular consumer-oriented column about video games, "Arcade Alley" in Video magazine, is penned by Bill Kunkel, Arnie Katz, and Joyce Worley.

Business New companies: Automated Simulations (later Epyx), Koei, Muse Software, SNK, Supersoft, Synergistic, U.S. Games. The American arcade game market earns a revenue of $1 billion (equivalent to $ in ). The American home video game market is worth $200 million.Yuko Aoyama & Hiro Izushi (2003), Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese video game industry , Research Policy 32: 423-44

Notable releases

Games Arcade June – Taito releases Space Invaders in Japan. The worldwide success of Space Invaders marks the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. It sets the template for the fixed shooter genre and influences most subsequent shooters. October – Midway gives Space Invaders a wide release in North America. October – Namco releases their first arcade video game, Gee Bee, in Japan. Atari, Inc. popularizes the trackball controller with Football. Atari, Inc. releases Super Breakout, the multi-directionall scrolling game Fire Truck, Canyon Bomber, and Avalanche. Avalanche later inspires Activision's Kaboom! Konami Corporation releases their first arcade video game, Block Yard. Nintendo releases their first arcade video game, Computer Othello.

Computer The book BASIC Computer Games, microcomputer edition, is released.

Hardware

Computer Elektor releases the TV Games Computer.

Console December – Magnavox launches the Odyssey². APF Electronics releases the APF-M1000. Bally/Midway releases the Bally Professional Arcade. Entreprex releases the Apollo 2001. Interton releases the VC 4000.

See also 1978 in games

Notes

References