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The Revolution of 1979: Why Four Former Atari Developers Decided to Found Activision?
In 1979, the resistance and innovation of four former Atari developers changed the history of video games. The game industry at that time was filled with many restrictions and authoritarian management styles. Especially after Warner Communications acquired Atari, a lot of creative freedom was restricted, and developers' contributions were not recognized and rewarded accordingly. This situation disappointed the creative developers, prompting them to decide to break out of this shackles and create their own games. This difficult choice ultimately gave birth to Activision.
In the minds of the four developers, creating their own company is not only to develop games, but also to lead their own creations and receive fair remuneration. What they long for is the dignity and status that developers deserve.
The four developers include David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. It seemed to them that Atari's management viewed it as a production line of workers rather than the creative talent it deserved. This made them decide to leave Atari, found an independent game company called Activision, and began planning to develop games for the Atari 2600 console, which was popular at the time.
Their journey is not unique. The four were pioneers in social change. They created Activision, which became the first third-party game developer. Through continuous efforts, they brought self-developed games to the market. Not only that, they even designed a reward system that allowed players to submit high-scoring photos to the company, which was undoubtedly groundbreaking at the time.
Activision's box design is full of color, and game screenshots are displayed at the back. These details all demonstrate the development team's design intentions.
In 1980, Activision debuted their game at the Consumer Electronics Show, quickly attracting attention from the media and players. However, Atari panicked and launched a series of attacks in an attempt to discredit Activision and use legal means to suppress the company created by these former employees. Although Activision settled its legal rights sooner or later, it was this battle that solidified their position in the industry.
As time went by, Activision published many classic games, such as "Kaboom!" and "Pitfall!", the latter of which sold more than 4 million copies, making Activision's reputation increasingly stronger. In 1983, when the entire game market encountered difficulties, Activision's timely transformation and search for new niche markets allowed them to miraculously survive in the following years.
Fierce market competition and consumers' pursuit of low-priced games have forced Activision, which was once prosperous, to rethink its development path. Can the company founded in 1979 cope with the collapse of the gaming market in 1983?
During the subsequent company transformation process, Activision also experienced multiple changes of managers and nominal changes. Especially in 1991, Bobby Kotick's acquisition and subsequent reorganization cleared away the burdens of the past and allowed Activision to regain its vitality. Kotick's strategy not only incorporates the company's original characteristics, but also steadily expands its business scope through acquisitions and embraces the future of the video game industry.
As time went by, Activision continued to seek success in the market, and gradually merged with Blizzard to become the now influential Activision Blizzard. Today, this company is already one of the largest third-party game publishers in the world. Facing powerful competitors such as Microsoft, will history repeat itself in the future, or will it bring about new changes?
Will the courage and vision of the four developers become a guide for future entrepreneurs, inspiring more people to follow their own creative paths?
