Atari Arcade Sales & Pricing

[AtariHero]

Hello all - just joined the forums after hearing about it elsewhere. No worries about where but I've been around the community for ...crap, twenty years now that I think about it. Started in 1997 with Jaguar Interactive II and have bounced around many a forum since. Generally I went by Shaggy or Shaggy the Atarian. Now AtariHero.

 

Anyways, I own and operate an arcade in Utah and along with the blog Arcade Heroes, most of my focus is on the arcade side of things these days. I see the arcade forum here is a bit slow so perhaps this might help a tiny bit:

 

http://atarigames.com/atarinumbers90s.pdf

 

That right there is the only list I have ever seen for any game manufacturer that shows potential sales numbers and original MSRP. It isn't complete as you can tell off the bat with no production numbers until Breakout; also no production numbers after Radikal Bikers. I know that Marty of Atari Museum has also commented on it being inaccurate although to what degree I do not recall him elaborating on that.

 

That said, it's "better than nothing" by a long shot and no other, more up-to-date list exists that I have seen. It sure would be fascinating to see similar documents for Exidy, Midway, Namco, Sega, etc...or if such a list exists for Atari's home consoles and what the cartridge production numbers were.

 

Taking it at face value, Star Wars was the last game in the 80s to achieve 5-digit numbers for the company, until you come to Area 51 and combine all of the numbers to reach over 11k (not counting the "Duo Kit", which I'm 99% sure was the Area 51/Maximum Force kit). Gauntlet might have also achieved above 10k but the 2 player model is missing a number. Atari Games did change ownership a few times over this period and that certainly affected things along the way. Then other outside changes in the market, etc. You can also see where Rush and California Speed did well for the company...it's too bad the numbers are missing on Rush 2049 and War as I've always been curious about those.

 

Also at face value that puts Asteroids as their best-selling arcade game of all time (56,565 when including cocktails; cabaret is missing the number though so it could mean Asteroids was around/above 60k depending) with Centipede not far behind (56,006, all cocktail & cabaret models included).  

 

So there we go...discuss!

[RickR]

Fascinating info.  Thanks for sharing!

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I can't that I wouldn't enjoy having an Asteroids cab or even a cocktail table version would be nice.  And that is some interesting info.  Out of all of the "Speed" games I think Rush 2049 was my favorite.  As far as early to mid-80's games from Atari...Tempest & Centipede would have to be my top picks.  Owning one cab or table would be nice...but there is no way I could afford one let alone have room for such a thing right now.

[AtariHero]

I can't that I wouldn't enjoy having an Asteroids cab or even a cocktail table version would be nice.  And that is some interesting info.  Out of all of the "Speed" games I think Rush 2049 was my favorite.  As far as early to mid-80's games from Atari...Tempest & Centipede would have to be my top picks.  Owning one cab or table would be nice...but there is no way I could afford one let alone have room for such a thing right now.

 

Keep and eye out for deals and you might get lucky - I have an Asteroids Deluxe that was my 3rd game. A friend of mine found it being thrown away so he picked it up and held it for me as I was out of the country. Would have been free if not for the repairs required!

 

Rush 2049 is my favorite racing game period - I set one up back when they were new at my first arcade job. After that, it was almost exclusively playing Rush during breaks and after-hours. I understand that people love Daytona a great deal but Rush 2049 is a bit more interesting to me with the changing details between each lap, the way the shortcuts were setup, the difficulty/handling, the cars, etc.