10 Video Games That Broke The Rules
6. The First Gaming Secret - Adventure
As has been explained in Ready Player One, 1980's Adventure for the Atari 2600 was the first video game to harbour an Easter egg. If the square-shaped hero makes its way into a supposedly inaccessible room, they'll find a text that reads, "Created by Warren Robinett," which is name of the lead designer.
This room was so well-hidden, Atari didn't know about it until Adventure was released. Although the secret itself seems simple, its origins are anything but.
In the early days of gaming, publishers rarely credited their employees to ensure they couldn't be recruited by competitors. When Atari refused to credit Adventure's creators or pay them royalties, many of them walked away and formed their own company, Activision.
Just before Robinett stormed out, he decided to embed his name into Adventure, without his superiors' knowledge. When Atari discovered Robinett's cipher a year later, they realised it would cost a small fortune to have it removed.
One of the company's directors, Steve Wright, believed secrets like this would encouraged players to play more and thought it best to leave the defiant signature in.
Sadly, this wasn't the last time publishers refused to acknowledge the developers' work. Which leads us to...