Word: videos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Warner Communications' Atari, which pioneered home video games with such classics as Space Invaders and Asteroids, has lost $356 million so far this year, dropped 3,000 employees from its payroll of 10,000 and finished moving all its manufacturing facilities to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Plagued partly by sluggish sales of Intellivision games, the electronics division of Mattel has run a $201 million deficit in 1983, while laying off 37% of its 1,800-member work force. Activision estimated that it lost $3 million to $5 million in the past three months despite scoring hits with...
...many games and then watched the cartridges pile up on their shelves. The industry now has an inventory of some 35 mil lion games, or more than half the number sold all last year. "Everybody's expectations were too high," says Frank O'Connell, president of Fox Video Games. To keep the stock moving, stores are slashing prices. Games that sold for $30 last year now go for as little as $5.99. As a result, sales revenues have been flat despite an estimated 33% increase in the number of units sold. Ordinarily, October would be the time...
Slow-selling inventories, price discounts and huge advertising costs have caused the manufacturers' profits to vaporize. Industry experts predict that perhaps one-fourth of the video-game competitors will go out of business. Says Michael Ayers, director of corporate communications at Activision: "A lot of guys who got in for the fast buck are going to disappear." Some firms have already flashed the GAME OVER sign. Quaker Oats closed its U.S. Games division in April after a year in the market. "None of our games became a hit," says Spokesman Ronald Bottrell. "Instead of pouring in a lot more...
...market for home video games may also be approaching a saturation point. Even some incorrigible joystick junkies are getting a bit jaded. Says Rawson Stovall, 11, an Abilene, Texas, sixth-grader who writes a weekly newspaper column for the Universal Press Syndicate under the name Vid Kid: "A lot of manufacturers flooded the market with some poor products. My friends are confused and disappointed by all of the stuff out there. A lot of the games are just not very exciting any more...
While trying to keep customers excited, the video-game industry is being buffeted by the boom in home computers, which can be used to play electronic games. Price wars have pushed the cost of some home computers, including models from Commodore and Texas Instruments, below $200. As a result, Atari and Mattel machines that do nothing but play games are becoming less attractive and must often be discounted. An Atari 2600 game player, which once cost $150, is now available for as little...