10 REAL Reasons Why These Video Games Failed
1. Rushed Out In Five Weeks Because No One Knew What They Were Doing - E.T. (Atari 2600)
The most infamous failure in video game history, the story of E.T for the Atari 2600 had to be at the top of this list.
EA, Blizzard, and all the rest may have their cardinal sins when it comes to how they manage the development of their games, but even they know better now than to make the mistakes Atari made when making E.T.
Game development at the time was the wild west: uncharted territory, where no one really knew what they were doing, and yet were pouring a sinful glut of video games into the market.
Atari demanded this game be made in just five weeks to be able to come out in time for Christmas. An unrealistic timeframe for even the simplest video game, but again, no one from bottom to top really knew that yet. Or if they did, they didn't listen to the guys sounding alarm bells. What resulted was a game that broke the camel's back of the game industry and crashed the whole thing.
ET failed because no one was being careful with this then experimental new medium. And when you're traveling uncharted territory, someone's gonna fall into a bottomless pit they didn't know was there. Almost makes the content of this game prophetic.