10 Little-Known Decisions That Changed The Course Of Gaming History

10. Nolan Bushnell Attends A Magnavox Event

Many recognise Nolan Bushnell as the founding father of the gaming industry. Having first developed Computer Space, a coin-operated adaptation of a game he enjoyed playing at college, he and colleague Ted Dabney then formed a company called Atari in 1972. The same year, Magnavox launched the Odyssey, the first home video game console. Though it sold around 350,000 units during its lifetime, it was hardly a success and may have been long forgotten by now had a certain Mr. Bushnell not attended a trade show demonstration of the system. Taking a liking to a tennis game that was programmed into the device, he had engineer Allan Alcorn develop a more sophisticated version, incorporating scoring and sound. Thus, Pong was born. The game caught on with the public, who flocked to buy home Pong units and the countless imitators that followed. Said imitators almost killed the industry in 1977 as the market became inundated with products, but Atari, who settled a plagiarism lawsuit with Magnavox at around the same time, survived to lead the market in its infancy.