1978
3 games in archive from 1978
Space Invaders Lands and the Golden Age Begins
Taito's Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game in the world in 1978, and its success is generally taken as the start of the golden age of arcade games. The same year Namco, Konami and Nintendo released their first arcade games, Atari popularised the trackball, and Magnavox launched the Odyssey² in the home.
One Game Changes the Arcade
In Japan alone, Space Invaders sold about 100,000 cabinets and grossed an estimated $670 million in 1978. Its success abroad followed within months: Midway's North American release came in October, and the game went on to be the top-grossing video game in the world for 1978 and again for 1979. It is the conventional starting point for the golden age of arcade video games.
In the United States the arcade business was already worth about $1 billion that year, against $200 million for home video games. The year's top earner in American arcades, according to Play Meter and RePlay, was still Cinematronics' vector game Space Wars — Space Invaders' effect there would show in 1979.
New Names
1978 is notable for how many future industry leaders made their first moves. Namco, Konami and Nintendo released their first arcade video games, and companies founded that year included SNK, Koei, Muse Software and Automated Simulations, which would later become Epyx. On the home front the Atari VCS sold about 300,000 units, still a modest start for the console that would dominate the next four years.
Games from 1978
Sources & further reading
- 1978 in video games — Wikipedia
- Space Invaders — Wikipedia