When Atari’s Engineers Created Activision

[@top2percent]

Allegedly they chose the name “Activision” because it would come before “Atari” in the phone book.

[@faduci]

They adapted that from Apple doing the same three years earlier. In the pre 2600 era, Nolan Bushnell hired Steve Jobs to design Breakout as a single player version of Pong, who in turn brought in his friend and electronics wizard Steve Wozniak to come up with a minimalist discrete logic (without a processor) arcade cabinet board. When Jobs and Wozniak (and Ronald Wayne, another Atari employee) founded Apple shortly after to sell Wozniak's Apple I kit, they picked Apple as a name both due to Jobs fruitarian diet and the alphabetic order. Jobs: "it sounded fun, spirited and not intimidating ... plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book."

[@Lighthammer18]

​@@faduciSteve also scammed Woz out of his commission. Steve was one of he biggest a-holes in business history.

[@allendsage3381]

Win win 😁

[@incription]

thats why im naming my company !!!!!!!!ABC Inc.

[@faduci]

@@incription A wise move that avoids any potential conflicts with Christian Wolff"s ZZZ Accounting.

[@enderking6904]

Atari: YOU CANT DO THAT Activision: Free Money. No Risk Atari: WITHOUT a nice warm cup of coffee pal, bring it in!

[@Shadow_of_Christ]

RIGHT?!?!?! LMFAO 🤣

[@jomarcentermjm]

No risk, not a single money would be spent for Atari while Activision will need to spend money for most part of the production.

[@hencytjoe]

HAHAHAA

[@sheaross3124]

That is the most late 80s early 90s thing I have seen on the Internet and I was Around for some of that XD

[@wpoitras]

Not only did they focus on games, they created some of the best games for the platform. Less flicker, better sound, more fun, etc.

[@rich4444hrsm]

Pitfall, River Raid, etc etc etc ... Activision should STILL be making games, I'd play them! (wait, they probably do hahahaha)

[@jmvh59]

I was gonna say River Raid!

[@justsomenamelesssoul8097]

​@@rich4444hrsmnow Activision is a publisher

[@AG-yc7vt]

@@rich4444hrsmThey went out of business. Some investment group bought the name Activision. But the employees and OG mindset is gone. It’s just a shell used for brand recognition now.

[@Mithinco]

Old Activision was great. Not so much in the later years

[@swolleneyes]

So, young activision?

[@paristo]

When ever I hear "Activision" it fiddles with warm place in my heart from the past. But then I recall that they as well did horrible things like with call of duty and so on...

[@G3rmanhenry]

Money does change people/company

[@araisannanoda3688]

They used to make good Marvel games

[@Uncl3M3at]

Bobby Kotick

[@jeffreywong5112]

Magical words. No capital risk. I want to hear that all the time.

[@tomaszstarzZz]

Never knew Activision is exAtari

[@PoppinRoofie]

Good thing you knew that

[@tommo5884]

Shame what the company has now become, a long long way from their roots

[@Itsameemario]

you are gen z and a waste. how do you not know this?

[@LiveTUNA]

​@@tommo5884 is always only been about the money for them. 😢

[@ggourmetmeals]

chck gaming historian

[@TL-xv9of]

My all time favourite from Activision for the Atari 2600 was Pitfall, i also liked Decathlon a lot. Still have an original Atari 2600.

[@jt-moneyHockey]

Pitfall was awesome!!!!

[@therevolutionwillnotbeyoutubed]

I love how happy they are discussing this. It was actually super wholesome. I miss loving something that much. Pray that I can get back to that tomorrow.

[@tonysoprano12345]

how you doin bro

[@therevolutionwillnotbeyoutubed]

​@@tonysoprano12345Not good. My first dog I've ever raised just passed away and it most likely could have been avoided.

[@worndown8280]

River Raid was my first Activision game. Fun as hell back in the day.

[@ObscureManifesto]

I read this as Riley Reid

[@professormancaptain4210]

River raid is a superior game. I was an snes 90s kid, but also had my dad's atari 5200. River Raid was my goto. Moon patrol, mineral 2049er, so many fun games. Nothing beat River raid for that system imo

[@hinzster]

And many don't know this either, but they probably got the idea from one of the biggest software companies (no, not Microsoft, SAP) who did exactly that - the founders of SAP were IBM engineers who saw that IBM just didn't care about applications, and companies buying IBM hardware and systems software actually needed applications, and a lot of them. So they started SAP explicitly to make business applications for IBM gear. And the rest, as they say, is history.

[@Itsameemario]

yes. because CPU + moore's law meant the power of mainframe shrunk down to personal end units..................... my god how are you even operating the world wide web on the internet?

[@JL-qb3rc]

SAP is a shit software

[@ONAIRwithDYLAN]

Whoa 🤯 I worked in video games and had no idea! THIS is why I love these guys!

[@bogdanstefan83]

just so you know, today activison is not the same company. the real activision company got bankrupt 25-30 years ago. infogrames bought the name.

[@adam-nw5cn]

these 2 guys are so charismatic 😆

[@The-Cosmic-Hobo]

Know a guy who worked in a government IT department. None of the workers liked the boss. A group of them all quit, set up their own IT company, and convinced the government to outsource IT to them. Their boss as such - unemployed - whilst they reaped the rewards.

[@tentaklaus9382]

I'm just glad Adam Driver and Ben Shapiro can finally discuss this hot topic.

[@chuckspoke]

Atari 2600 was the beginning of the best to come in gaming. We used to trade and buy used games from friends on that system.

[@bryanmanx]

its like how microsoft made the smart card for apple. which made apple actually usable. those two scratched each others backs for years

[@redjoker365]

Microsoft also rescued Apple with a massive investment when Steve Jobs made his return to save the company to get the Justice Department off its back about it being a monopoly, which then also gave other investors confidence in Apple. Apple then launched the iMac desktop and laptop series, which would begin the whole iSeries and lead to the iPod and later iPhone

[@billkaroly]

And then the Commodore VIC-20 killed the 2600. I worked for a company who started life making 2600 games. One of their most popular games was Fast Food.

[@oaf-77]

I think the nes killed Atari

[@EdwinChenLoo]

The vic20 was a computer. You could play video games but most people bought it to run Basic so a different demographic.

[@billkaroly]

@EdwinChenLoo true. I was in the business when the 2600 died. It was heavily influenced by the VIC-20. NES probably had a lot to do with the downfall. I worked for Telesys in Fremont Calif when they switched from 2600 games to printer interfaces for Commodore computers. It didn't help then though.

[@captain-poppleton]

People overlook that the market was swamped by other brands of consoles at half the price of the 2600. The console market simply became saturated.

[@montebrodie4086]

I can still hear the music from Pitfall after 40 years.

[@ianglenn2821]

be me, starting to enjoy classical music, first time hearing Handel's Mars and realize it's the Activision intro song from long ago, "classical" music in multiple ways now

[@tomo9126]

River Raid was my favorite. Activision made the best games.

[@BenjaminVestergaard]

Grew up 5km from their Danish office... at that time they were also making software for C64 and Amiga

[@ThomasConover]

Activision ❤❤❤ a legendary game dev thanks for all the childhood memories

[@manfredpalla161]

Yes! Thanks! 😊

[@Lighthammer18]

Well they are beyond terrible these days

[@matvarela]

​@@Lighthammer18yep, video game nazis with an army of enlsaved devs that are sacrificed on the altar of capitalism. I hope things are getting better now that their slimy troll of a CEO got "golden parachuted" the F out.

[@Bam-o5f]

Spiderman 1 on PS1.Great game

[@backslide311]

They're evil now

[@MrAlanlaing]

Activision's Kaboom! was one of the greatest Atari games

[@tommyo17]

I took half the summer, but I got my patch!

[@schoolemailchannel101]

CoMpanies do not actually think this way anymore They have such grey haired and tired minded investors and executives now where they do not even want you using their name even if it makes them money How they see it is completely different these days They have the “we make enough as is” mentality They see more business as potential for loss of profit The new grey hairs that run industry are very mentally fatigued The do not let the little guys make them more money by using their “big guy” names

[@mrz80]

Activision Skiing was a highlight of my adolescence :D

[@cw8jwh]

The 2600 was my most favorite baby-sitter. ;-)

[@wedge3591]

Nice simplistic story is being told here.

[@yurisoares2596]

So what happened was "Decoupling", not so rare. When responsibilities that originally was to only one company, are separated, that will boost management because each will have it's own focus, and thus sales. A lot of companies did that, but by creating a parent company, which holds a lot of stocks of "children" companies.

[@ThomasJH268]

Some of the best games came from Activision "Pitfall", "River Raid", "Lazer Blast", "Kaboom" and "Fishing Derby" to name a few.

[@srsh12345]

Cool info. Didn't Activation also have a hardware system for a short while?

[@viscountalpha]

it's a bit more complicated then that. Ray Kassar didn't want them to have credits. They wanted their fair share. The game designers said "We want our fair share" My source was a few of the designers met at PRGE. Ray treated their game developers poorly.

[@PloopChute]

There's a sad irony with the entire thing knowing that Activision, the original 3rd part studio, is now owned by Microsoft. The consolidation of the videogame industry is just out of control. It feels like we're moving backwards at this point.

[@tommyo17]

The coolest thing about Activision was sending in Polaroids of high scores for embroidered patches!

[@rx42711]

Long before Steve Jobs build Apple Inc 😅

[@MrTacosAndBurritos]

Joel Osteen talking about games 😂

[@Hawkers02]

And now Activision is one of the most hated companies rn

[@dixalex02]

Where does collecovision fit into the time line?

[@nigh_anxiety]

ColecoVision was second gen console and came out in 1982. There were 14 variants of the Coleco Telstar from 76-78, only 1 of which took cartridges. The rest just had built in games. Atari 2600 came out in 1977 in NA. Intellivision came out in 1979. Activision was founded in 1979.

[@vincentmarcellino7183]

The definition of fighting for no reason

[@SenorPPMan]

Activision the company that went from a AAA power house to a small indie company that recreates the same games over and over again that’s slightly worse than the last

[@greezooo]

Activision made some pretty sweet games.

[@vladalexeev8529]

Atari 65xe and Activision games are my childhood

[@shanerorko8076]

I'm 36, I think the first activision game I played was mech warrior on PC. It was too much for the old PC's would like to see a modern one. I know two or three have been released. I might have to jump on steam and have a look at the latest one.

[@m4inline]

Amazing time in history here!

[@LarsRyeJeppesen]

I had the 2600, loved it to death. Atari forever

[@EmmnauelUkachukwu]

Subscribed.

[@Blutwind]

Another factor was that under Atari the programmers got no aknowledgment and only got their normal wages all credit itself was given to Atari which is kinda ironic when you see Activision today

[@robertthomas5906]

The 2600 seems to be making a comeback. My nephew gave a new version of it to his sons.

[@halivudestevez2]

but ... if there are software for a machine ... that means more selling of that machine.... so also without royalty, Atari benefitted from the outer softwares.

[@trumpsmum9210]

The 70s were the best! Love Atari

[@Ryan-me9ge]

Where’s the full video please?

[@fr3treaper]

Then they made microtransactions with layers some odd 30 years later

[@teebob21]

Everything gets enshittified.

[@joesalgadSF415]

I just now realized as shown here some Atari games said Activision on their label. That’s crazy

[@conroypaw]

What wasn't mentioned in this clip was the employees that left Atari to form Activision did so because Atari wasn't paying them their worth. They created, developed, programmed outstanding games, but weren't rewarded or even given credit for their work. One example was David Crane. Soon, everyone would see his name in the credits on every cartridge of Actvision's "Pitfall!". Almost immediately, Activision surpassed Atari as the fastest growing company in the world and made a lot more money. Atari obviously wasn't happy about this, but I think Activision's folks were smart enough to settle out of court and hand Atari over some free money.

[@rahulshah1408]

They had THE best games too.

[@aaronlee1060]

Pitfall! was the GOAT 🐐

[@HarshJain-it2bg]

The royalty was only 15%

[@MrPartch]

that's huge!

[@HarshJain-it2bg]

@MrPartch Yes, but it was mutually agreed.

[@jonlamontagne]

And this is the reason why a brand new console doesn't cost a couple thousand dollars like the equivalent gaming PC most likely would. The console maker is willing to take a loss on the hardware knowing that the profit is in the software.

[@jeffreybell436]

I'm not sure I believe that Atari wanted to let them go. When the 7800 came out they added encrypted checksums so that no one else could make cartridges.

[@bobby4tw]

And they created a blasphemy of a company that eventually turned one of the best studios in the world to one of the worst, Blizzard.

[@simonebernacchia5724]

1982 Activision was a completely different beast from what is now

[@darrenlim86]

We call this win win.

[@Genotypic-and-Genes]

Fun fact: the advertisement for Activision's game pitfall stars a young Jack Black

[@rareforever9623]

Mr. Smiles over here

[@caeserromero3013]

There was a lot of flip-flopping and movement in the Computer/Gaming industry back then. The thing that always blew my mind was that the rival 16bit machines Atari ST and Commodore Amiga, were developed by their rivals. Atari guys left Atari in the early development of the ST and went to Commodore. Then when Jack Trammiel left Commodore, he took the development team working on the Amiga with him to Atari. So the Ex Commodore team ended up developing the ST and the Ex Atari team got hired by Commodore and worked on the Amiga.

[@SyntheToonz]

Yes, there was a big game of musical chairs between Atari and Commodore, but you have the timing and some facts wrong. Jay Miner and other Atari 8-bit hardware engineers left Atari years before Jack Tramiel left Commodore and they founded the Amiga company. Amiga designed and sold game controllers and some games while they were working on the Lorraine custom hardware. Jack took some Commodore hardware engineers with him when he left Commodore and had them working on the ST hardware design which was largely complete before Jack bought Atari. Commodore ended up buying the Amiga company to get a 68000 computer hardware design. In the end Atari was selling the ST designed by Commodore engineers, and Commodore sold the Amiga designed by Atari engineers. Commodore definitely got lucky and had the better result.

[@eppyfemboy]

It looks like somone is forcing him to smile like its uncomfortable

[@ClarkPotter]

The guy at the end contributed so much to what was already said.

[@phillipmccarty4129]

It was more than just money. It was overall treatment. If you made. A game for Atari. You didn't make the game Atari made the game. The only way an artist could get credited was by hiding their name in the game as an easter egg.

[@AzngameFreak03]

And then ET the video game was born.

[@neildennis7294]

Simplification of how Activision happened, but yeah, Atari realized it was more cost effective to take licensing fees than try to sue potential third-party developers, which soon followed Activision’s lead. The Nintendo years sucked for Activision as they were nearly run into the ground focusing on PC gaming, but came back strong starting with the 16-bit console war to eventually become the juggernaut that ultimately got swallowed by bigger juggernaut named Microsoft.

[@Jean-vf3pi]

I dont know these two, but the top one is so hot 🔥

[@gothjim325]

Activision was Great.. very efficient coding.

[@RossFindlay-z9y]

River Raid the greatest atari game ever.

[@cody75]

Frivolous lawsuit

[@prof.tahseen6104]

The “ACQUIRED” title positioning is soo great. Sits just below the typical notch or island.

[@Shedding]

He just described steam. But steam distributes it.

[@PurplePanda1233]

When did Adam Driver learn so much about Atari

[@ZERO-nx9sq]

i wish there was a little bit more context in this short no idea why they are so excited about

[@ColdWarAviator]

Activision had the best games also... 👍 Atari had adventure where you were a dot roaming around a virtual Castle layout, while Activision had pitfall and you start as pitfall Harry swinging over snapping alligators on Vines jumping over logs and actually interacting with your environment. Activision was LIGHT YEARS ahead of Atari in software.

[@LuckyGnom]

Activision ruined Blizzard. I absolutely despise this company, despite all the good games they've done in 00s.

[@robertbrainard5651]

Activision was great when they cared about their customers, now its all about the streamers and not their profit margin.

[@BoominGame]

Activision was it SOF and SOF2?

[@Hexspa]

Didn’t know this

[@idontwanttopickone]

People will do a lot for creative control.

[@dankuchar6821]

Activision games were often better than Atari games because Activision figured out how to add memory to the cartridge So the graphics were better.

[@orion9k]

Why would they give them free money? If they are not breaking any clausal contracts, they can't due them.

[@posivibe989]

Wow, cooperative business interests stop using the government to force others and use voluntary agreements to bring amazing products to us all! What is this magical philosophy called?

[@GhostSamaritan]

A cartel 😎

[@xpez9694]

I worked at Activision

[@agentdas]

Say what you want about the graphics on the Atari. But what you can't deny is that not one single game pandered by shoveling out DEI slop.

[@stachowi]

Love this

[@javabeanz8549]

And Activision made some great games! KABOOM! for one.

[@Dungeon00X]

And that is why Activision is still around and Atari is barely even around anymore while Activision is now a subsidiary of Microsoft.

[@JLa748]

but who made more money? and also this kind of work around solutions where a sue is no longer attained, don't seem to me to happen anymore

[@evertonbrc]

So you're telling one of the most greedy corporations out there was born just because the devs wanted to get more money? Never could imagine it.

[@galacticwarlock2271]

At that time Activision was making the best games and pushing the technology as far as you could take it.

[@cbuc3713]

I had the 130xe, i was a God.....

[@djkeithjust]

Activision: We make games give you 30% Epic: we make games and engine, we pay you nothing to be in your platform

[@pyotrberia9741]

By today's standards, there was practically no money in games in 1995.

[@Shango]

I remember that Activision games were the worst games you could get for the Atari.

[@rkroll17]

And people defend steam taking 30%

[@Taurid-swarm-2032]

I hear Activison i think THPS!

[@gintseine8125]

More sold games means more sold consoles i suppose.