1981 in video games

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Overview of the events of 1981 in video games

List of years in video games

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Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing Pac-Man, the audience for arcade video games in 1981 became much wider. Pac-Man influenced maze games began appearing in arcades and on home systems. Pac-Man was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. Nintendo's Donkey Kong defined the platform game genre, while Konami's Scramble established scrolling shooters. The lesser known Jump Bug combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include Defender, Frogger, and the Galaxian sequel Galaga.

On the Apple II, Ultima I and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord each kicked off a long running role-playing game series. Atari's VCS port of Asteroids was a major hit with the console. The best selling home system around the globe was Nintendo's Game & Watch for the second year in a row.

## Financial performance

[edit]

* The arcade video game market in the US generates $4.8 billion in revenue.[1]
* The home video game market in the US generates $1 billion in sales revenue,[2] with Atari remaining the market leader.[3]
* The home video game market in Europe is worth $200 million.[4]

### Highest-grossing arcade games

[edit]

The year's highest-grossing video game was Pac-Man with $1.2 billion in arcade game revenue, three times the box office revenue of the highest-grossing film Star Wars (1977) in five years.[5]

#### Japan

[edit]

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1981, according to the annual Game Machine chart.[6]

Rank  | Title  | Manufacturer  | Genre

|
|
|

1  | Donkey Kong | Nintendo | Platform
2  | Janputer | Sanritsu | Mahjong
3  | Pro Golf | Data East | Sports
4  | Pac-Man | Namco | Maze
5  | Qix | Taito | Puzzle
6  | Galaga | Namco | Shoot 'em up
7  | Bosconian
8  | Crazy Climber | Nichibutsu | Climbing
9  | Crush Roller | Kural  | Maze
10  | Grand Champion | Taito | Racing

#### United States

[edit]

In the United States, the following titles were the top three highest-grossing arcade games of 1981, according to the annual Cash Box and RePlay arcade charts.

Rank  | Play Meter[7] | Cash Box[8] | RePlay[9] | Revenue  | Genre

|
|
|
|
|

1  | Pac-Man | $1,000,000,000[10] | Maze
2  | Defender | Un­known  | Shoot 'em up
3  | Un­known  | Asteroids | Un­known

The following titles were the top-grossing arcade games of each month in 1981, according to the Play Meter and RePlay arcade charts.

Month  | Play Meter | RePlay | Ref

|
|
|

January | Pac-Man[11] | Asteroids | [12]
February | [13]
March | [14]
April | Defender | [15]
May | [16][17]
June | Scramble | [18]
July | Un­known  | Pac-Man | [19]
August | Defender[20] | Defender | [21]
September | Gorf[22] | [23]
October | Donkey Kong[24] | [25]
November | Un­known  | [26]
December | Vanguard | Pac-Man | [27][28]
1981  | Pac-Man | [7][9]

### Best-selling home video games

[edit]

The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1981.[29]

Rank  | Title  | Platform  | Developer  | Publisher  | Release Year  | Genre  | Sales

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Space Invaders | Atari VCS | Taito | Atari, Inc. | 1980 | Shoot 'em up | 2,964,137
2  | Warlords | Atari VCS  | Atari, Inc. | 1981 | Action | 936,861
3  | Breakout | Atari VCS  | Atari, Inc.  | 1978 | Action | 838,635
4  | Night Driver | Atari VCS  | Atari, Inc.  | 1980 | Racing | 779,547
5  | Asteroids | Atari VCS  | Atari, Inc.  | 1981 | Shoot 'em up | 407,090
Football | Atari VCS  | Atari, Inc.  | 1979 | Sports (American football)  | Un­known

### Best-selling home systems

[edit]

Rank  | System(s)  | Manufacturer(s)  | Type  | Generation  | Sales  | Ref

|
|
|
|
|
|

1  | Game & Watch | Nintendo | Handheld | —  | 4,000,000+  | [30]
2  | Atari Video Computer System (VCS)  | Atari, Inc. | Console | Second | 3,600,000  | [31][32]
3  | Intellivision | Mattel | Console  | Second  | 1,000,000+  | [33]
4  | Atari 400/800 | Atari, Inc.  | Computer  | 8-bit | 300,000  | [34]
5  | ZX81 | Sinclair Research | Computer  | 8-bit  | 250,000+  | [35]
6  | TRS-80 | Tandy Corporation | Computer  | 8-bit  | 250,000  | [34]
7  | Apple II | Apple Inc. | Computer  | 8-bit  | 210,000  | [34]
8  | PET | Commodore | Computer  | 8-bit  | 40,000  | [34]
9  | IBM PC | IBM | Computer  | 8-bit / 16-bit  | 35,000  | [34]

## Events

[edit]

### Magazines

[edit]

* January – Atari computer magazine ANALOG Computing begins 9 years of publication. Most issues include at least one BASIC game and one machine language game.
* November – The British video game magazine Computer and Video Games (C&VG) starts.
* Winter – Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found Electronic Games, the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of video game journalism.

### Business

[edit]

* New companies: DK'Tronics, Games by Apollo, Gebelli Software, Imagic, Spectravision, Starpath, Synapse Software
* Defunct: APF Electronics

## Births

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2024)

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### May

[edit]

* May 6 – David 'mamehaze' Haywood: Legendary MAME programmer

## Notable releases

[edit]

### Games

[edit]

Arcade
Donkey Kong

* February – Konami releases Scramble, the first side-scrolling shooter with forced scrolling and multiple distinct levels.[36]
* February – Williams Electronics releases influential scrolling shooter Defender.
* July 9 – Nintendo releases Donkey Kong, which introduces the characters of Donkey Kong and Mario, and sets the template for the platform game genre. It is also one of the first video games with an integral storyline.[37]
* August – Konami releases Frogger.
* September – Namco releases Galaga, the sequel to Galaxian which becomes more popular than the original.
* October – Frogger is distributed in North America by Sega-Gremlin.
* October 18 – Sega releases Turbo, a racing game with a third-person rear-view perspective.
* October 21 – Williams Electronics releases Stargate, the sequel to Defender.
* October – Rock-Ola's Fantasy is the first game with a continue feature.
* October – Atari, Inc. releases Tempest, one of the first games to use Atari's Color-QuadraScan vector display technology. It was also the first game to allow the player to choose their starting level (a system Atari dubbed "SkillStep").
* November – Namco releases Bosconian, a multidirectional shooter with voice.
* December – Jump Bug, the first scrolling platform game, developed by Hoei/Coreland and Alpha Denshi, is distributed in North America by Rock-Ola under license from Sega.
* Midway releases fixed-shooter Gorf with multiple distinct stages.
* Taito releases abstract, twin-stick shooter Space Dungeon.
* Data East releases the vertically-scrolling isometric maze game Treasure Island.

Console

* Atari, Inc.'s port of Asteroids is a major release for the Atari VCS, and is the first game for the system to use bank-switching.
* Mattel releases Utopia for Intellivision, one of the first city construction games and possibly the first sim game for a console.

Computer

* June – Ultima is released, beginning a successful computer role-playing game series.
* September – Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord for the Apple II is the first in a computer role-playing franchise that eventually spans eight games.
* IBM and Microsoft include the game DONKEY.BAS with the IBM PC, arguably the first IBM PC compatible game.
* Muse Software releases the stealth action adventure Castle Wolfenstein for the Apple II.
* The Atari Program Exchange publishes Caverns of Mars, a vertically scrolling shooter, and wargame Eastern Front (1941), both for the Atari 8-bit computers. APX also sells the source code to Eastern Front.
* Epyx releases turn-based monster game Crush, Crumble and Chomp!.
* BudgeCo's Raster Blaster sparks interest in more realistic Apple II pinball simulations and is the precursor to Pinball Construction Set.
* Infocom releases Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz.

### Hardware

[edit]

Arcade

* July – the Namco Warp & Warp arcade system board is released.
* October – the VCO Object, the first arcade system board dedicated to pseudo-3D, sprite-scaling graphics, debuts with the release of Turbo.

Computer

* March 5 – Timex releases the Sinclair Research ZX81 in the UK, which is significantly less expensive than other computers on the market.
* June – Texas Instruments releases the TI-99/4A, an update to 1979's TI-99/4.
* August 12 – the IBM Personal Computer is released for USD$1,565, with 16K RAM, no disk drives, and 4-color CGA graphics.
* Astrovision distributes the Bally Computer System after buying the rights from Bally/Midway.
* Acorn Computers Ltd releases the BBC Micro home computer.
* Commodore Business Machines releases the VIC-20 home computer.
* NEC releases the PC-8801 home computer in Japan.

Handheld

* November – Nintendo's Game & Watch is released in Sweden.
* Microvision is discontinued.

## See also

[edit]

* 1981 in games

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Video Game Myth Busters - Did the "Crash" of 1983/84 Affect Arcades?, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (December 27, 2013)
2. ^ George Lucas and the Digital Revolution Archived January 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, p. 296, 2006
3. ^ Lindner, Richard (1990). Video Games: Past, Present and Future; An Industry Overview. United States: Nintendo of America.
4. ^ "Videogames: the electronic big bang" (PDF). 2600connection.com. p. 20\. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014.
5. ^ Culhane, John (July 4, 1982). "Special Effects Are Revolutionizing Film". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
6. ^ ""Donkey Kong" No.1 Of '81 — Game Machine's Survey Of "The Year's Best Three AM Machines" —" (PDF). Game Machine. No. 182\. Amusement Press, Inc. February 15, 1982. p. 30.
7. ^ a b "1981". Play Meter. Vol. 20, no. 13\. December 1994. p. 66.
8. ^ "1981 Jukebox/Games Route Survey". Cash Box. Cash Box Pub. Co. October 31, 1981. p. C-18.
9. ^ a b "Authoritative Industry Sources Acclaim: Pac-Man Top Video Game of the Year". Cash Box. Cash Box Pub. Co. December 26, 1981. p. 91.
10. ^ "Pac-Man leads video game invasion of Europe". Europe. 217–234\. Delegation of the Commission of the European Communities: 26. 1982. "Introduced in the United States in 1981 as a coin-operated video game, Pac-Man swallowed in its first year an estimated $1 billion in quarters. Although it is probably the most popular, Pac-Man is, however, only one of several hundred"
11. ^ Sullivan, George (1983). "The First Big Hits". Screen Play: The Story of Video Games. F. Warne. pp. 38–47 (44). ISBN 978-0-7232-6251-0.
12. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. January 1981.
13. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. February 1981.
14. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. March 1981.
15. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. April 1981.
16. ^ "Top Coin-Op Video Game Earners". Play Meter. May 20, 1981.
17. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. May 1981.
18. ^ Kubey, Craig (1982). The Winners' Book of Video Games. New York: Warner Books. p. 118\. ISBN 978-0-446-37115-5.
19. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. July 1981.
20. ^ Kubey, Craig (1982). The Winners' Book of Video Games. New York: Warner Books. p. 34\. ISBN 978-0-446-37115-5.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
21. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. August 1981.
22. ^ Kubey, Craig (1982). The Winners' Book of Video Games. New York: Warner Books. p. 121\. ISBN 978-0-446-37115-5.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
23. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. September 1981.
24. ^ "Donkey Kong". Joystik. 1 (2): 12–19 (13). November 1982.
25. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. October 1981.
26. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. November 1981.
27. ^ "Equipment Poll". Play Meter. December 1981.
28. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. December 1981.
29. ^ Cartridge Sales Since 1980. Atari Corp. Via "The Agony & The Ecstasy". Once Upon Atari. Episode 4. Scott West Productions. August 10, 2003. 23 minutes in.
30. ^ "昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？" [How many old (1970s) video games sold?]. Classic Videogame Station Odyssey (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
31. ^ Pollack, Andrew (June 9, 1982). "The Video Game Sales War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
32. ^ Urschel, Joe (March 6, 1982). "Gobbling up the home video market". The Day. p. C-6. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
33. ^ Sklarewitz, Norman (May 24, 1982). "Computerized games hit profits jackpot for Mattel company". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
34. ^ a b c d e Reimer, Jeremy (December 15, 2005). "Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on June 7, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
* Jeremy Reimer (December 7, 2012). "Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010". Jeremy Reimer.
35. ^ "More Sinclair Computers Than Any Other!". Creative Computing. Vol. 8, no. 4\. April 1982. p. 6.
36. ^ Game Genres: Shmups[permanent dead link], Professor Jim Whitehead, January 29, 2007, Accessed June 17, 2008
37. ^ "donkey kong [coin-op] arcade video game, nintendo co., ltd. (1981)". Arcade-history.com. Retrieved February 28, 2013.

History of video games

* v
* t
* e

Chronology of video games

Early history|

* 1947–1972

1970s|

* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1973
* 1974
* 1975
* 1976
* 1977
* 1978
* 1979

1980s|

* 1980
* 1981
* 1982
* 1983
* 1984
* 1985
* 1986
* 1987
* 1988
* 1989

1990s|

* 1990
* 1991
* 1992
* 1993
* 1994
* 1995
* 1996
* 1997
* 1998
* 1999

2000s|

* 2000
* 2001
* 2002
* 2003
* 2004
* 2005
* 2006
* 2007
* 2008
* 2009

2010s|

* 2010
* 2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016
* 2017
* 2018
* 2019

2020s|

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023
* 2024
* 2025
* In development

* v
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Video game history by platform

By platform|

* Early mainframe games
* History of arcade video games
* Golden age
* Timeline
* History of video game consoles
* Crash of 1983
* Console war
* History of mobile games

By console generation|

* First (1972–1980)
* Second (1976–1992)
* Third (1983–2003)
* Fourth (1987–2003)
* Fifth (1993–2005)
* Sixth (1998–2013)
* Seventh (2005–2017)
* Eighth (2012–)
* Ninth (2020–)

* v
* t
* e

Video game genres

* List of video game genres

Action|

| Platformer|

* Endless runner
* Platform fighter

|

Shooter|

* Arena
* First-person
* Hero
* Light gun
* Shoot 'em up
* Bullet hell
* Rail
* Twin-stick
* Tactical
* Third-person

Survival|

* Battle royale
* Survival horror

Other|

* Beat 'em up
* Hack and slash
* Fighting
* Platform fighter
* Maze
* Pac-Man clone
* Snake
* Stealth

Action-adventure|

* Grand Theft Auto clone
* Metroidvania

Adventure|

* Escape room
* Graphic adventure
* Interactive fiction
* Interactive film
* Visual novel
* Walking sim

Digital tabletop|

* Deck-building
* Roguelike deck-building
* Digital collectible card

Puzzle|

* Hidden object
* Sokoban
* Tile-matching

Role-playing|

* Action role-playing
* Looter shooter
* Soulslike
* Dungeon crawl
* MMORPG
* Monster-taming
* Roguelike
* Roguelike deck-building
* Tactical role-playing
* Turn-based role-playing

Simulation|

| Life|

* Dating
* Farming
* God
* Social
* Virtual pet

|

CMS|

* Business
* City-building
* Government

Sports|

* Fishing
* Racing
* Kart racing
* Sim racing

Vehicle|

* Flight simulation
* Combat
* Lunar Lander
* Space
* Submarine simulator
* Train simulator
* Vehicular combat

Other|

* Falling-sand
* Immersive sim

Strategy|

* 4X
* Auto battler
* MOBA
* Real-time strategy
* Time management
* Real-time tactics
* Tactical role-playing
* Tower defense
* Turn-based strategy
* Turn-based tactics
* Artillery
* Wargame
* Grand strategy

Other genres|

* Cozy
* Fitness
* Horror
* Survival horror
* Incremental
* Music
* Rhythm
* Non-game
* Party
* Photography
* Programming
* Typing

Related concepts|

| Themes|

* Advergame
* Bishōjo
* Christian
* Comedy
* Educational
* Girls
* Licensed
* Otome
* Sexual
* Eroge
* Nonviolent
* Personalized
* Sci-fi
* Serious
* Art
* Climate change
* News

|

Player modes|

* Multiplayer
* Co-op
* PVP
* Single-player

Production|

* AAA
* Indie
* Doujin soft
* Fan game

Design|

* Casual
* Hypercasual
* Emergent gameplay
* FMV
* Gacha
* Kaizo
* Masocore
* Nonlinear gameplay
* Open world
* Sandbox
* Side-scrolling
* Twitch gameplay
* Vertically scrolling

Other|

* Minigame
* Toys-to-life
* Video game clone
* Video game modding
* Video game remake

* v
* t
* e

Video games by country

Africa|

* Ghana
* Kenya
* Nigeria
* South Africa

Americas|

* Latin America
* Brazil
* Colombia
* Canada
* United States

Asia|

* Bangladesh
* China
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Japan
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Malaysia
* Philippines
* Russia
* Taiwan
* Thailand
* Turkey

Europe|

* Belgium
* Czech Republic
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Ireland
* Italy
* Lithuania
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Poland
* Russia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom

Oceania|

* Australia
* New Zealand

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