16 Little-Known Gaming Stats That’ll Blow Your Mind
11. Around 700,000 Atari E.T Cartridges Were Buried In New Mexico
A story every gamer should know, Atari's ET has often faced claims of being the game that marked the start of mediocre and down-right terrible movie tie-in products. Released amongst the furore of the 1983 gaming industry collapse, and also to a poor critical and commercial reception, Atari decided to take the obvious and sensible decision: bury all the unsold cartridges deep in the New-Mexico desert. Often thought to be an urban legend of the gaming community, a recent dig into the supposed site revealed that the developer had in fact ditched their unsold ET copies underneath the sand - all 700,000 of them. Anyone who wants to find out more should definitely check out the Zak Penn documentary released last year, as it documents Atari's tragic fall from grace and the events that led to the mass grave of cartridges being exhumed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb9jW96MLxg
Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.
