7 Beloved Video Game Consoles That Were Almost Completely Different
2. The Original Video Game Console Almost Required A Cable Subscription
Released in 1972, the Magnavox Odyssey was the first video game console. Its games consisted mostly of players moving squares around the screen in slightly different ways, and the software wasn't advanced enough to even keep track of score (but on the other hand, no tutorial levels or microtransactions!).
It has served as the model for virtually every subsequent console, establishing fundamental concepts like hand-held controllers and games stored on external media. But there was one prototypical feature that almost had a major, negative impact on modern gaming.
Before it was bought by Magnavox, Odyssey creator Ralph Baer pitched it to cable television companies. The cable companies would transmit a static background image that would be necessary to play a certain game (like an image of a tennis court for a tennis game), as the Odyssey couldn't handle this on its own. In other words, you would have to have a cable subscription to play the Odyssey.
Baer's deals with the cable companies fell through, which was great in retrospect for gamers; as the seminal game console, it could have set an ugly precedent of certain systems being exclusive to cable (or satellite) subscribers.