Oh Atari. You always seem to outdo yourself in the worst way possible. We knew this had to be number one; on every list that includes "video game + worst" you will find this game. So how can this game, one of the primary reasons Atari eventually fell into a financial disaster, have been a commercial success? We don't have the answer, but it did. Initially, the game sold 1.5 million units, which, relatively speaking, meets the criteria of "successful." However, production costs were high, so were buying the rights to the game, and in addition to all this, they had a surplus of copies that weren't getting bought. It was the 3 to 4 million that were returned or not bought that buried Atari, not the actual copies sold. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial goes down as one of the highest-selling video games for the Atari system. The irony. Like Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), it was a mess of plot, gameplay, and visuals. And who could forget the joyous memories of falling down hole after hole after hole. The sad realization? This game could have been somewhat decent if given the time. They forced production, skipped audience testing, and did not predict sales correctly. If given the time, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial could have saved Atari, not killed it.
