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1981 in video games

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:More citations needed Template:Year nav topic5

Fueled by the previous year's release of the colorful and appealing Pac-Man, the audience for arcade video games in 1981 became much wider. Pac-Man influenced maze games began appearing in arcades and on home systems. Pac-Man was the highest grossing video game for the second year in a row. Nintendo's Donkey Kong defined the platform game genre, while Konami's Scramble established scrolling shooters. The lesser known Jump Bug combined the two concepts into both the first scrolling platform game and the first platform shooter. Other arcade hits released in 1981 include Defender, Frogger, and the Galaxian sequel Galaga.

On the Apple II, Ultima I and Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord each kicked off a long running role-playing game series. Atari's VCS port of Asteroids was a major hit with the console. The best selling home system around the globe was Nintendo's Game & Watch for the second year in a row.

Financial performanceEdit

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Highest-grossing arcade gamesEdit

The year's highest-grossing video game was Pac-Man with Template:US$ in arcade game revenue, three times the box office revenue of the highest-grossing film Star Wars (1977) in five years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

JapanEdit

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade video games of 1981, according to the annual Game Machine chart.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Rank Title Manufacturer Genre
1 Donkey Kong Nintendo Platform
2 Janputer Sanritsu Mahjong
3 Pro Golf Data East Sports
4 Pac-Man Namco Maze
5 Qix Taito Puzzle
6 Galaga Namco Shoot 'em up
7 Bosconian
8 Crazy Climber Nichibutsu Climbing
9 Crush Roller Kural Maze
10 Grand Champion Taito Racing

United StatesEdit

In the United States, the following titles were the top three highest-grossing arcade games of 1981, according to the annual Cash Box and RePlay arcade charts.

Rank Play Meter<ref name="PM81">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Cash Box<ref name="C18">Template:Cite magazine</ref> RePlay<ref name="C91">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Revenue Genre
1 Pac-Man $1,000,000,000<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Maze
2 Defender Template:Unknown Shoot 'em up
3 Template:Unknown Asteroids Template:Unknown

The following titles were the top-grossing arcade games of each month in 1981, according to the Play Meter and RePlay arcade charts.

Month Play Meter RePlay Template:Abbr
Template:Dts Pac-Man<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Asteroids <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Defender <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Scramble <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Template:Dts Template:Unknown Pac-Man <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Defender<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Defender <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Gorf<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Donkey Kong<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Template:Unknown <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Template:Dts Vanguard Pac-Man <ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
1981 Pac-Man <ref name="PM81"/><ref name="C91"/>

Best-selling home video gamesEdit

The following titles were the best-selling home video games in 1981.<ref name="Atari">Template:Cite book Via Template:Cite episode</ref>

Rank Title Platform Developer Publisher Release Year Genre Sales
1 Space Invaders Atari VCS Taito Atari, Inc. 1980 Shoot 'em up 2,964,137
2 Warlords Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1981 Action 936,861
3 Breakout Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1978 Action 838,635
4 Night Driver Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1980 Racing 779,547
5 Asteroids Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1981 Shoot 'em up 407,090
Football Atari VCS Atari, Inc. 1979 Sports (American football) Template:Unknown

Best-selling home systemsEdit

Rank System(s) Manufacturer(s) Type Generation Sales Template:Abbr
1 Game & Watch Nintendo Handheld Template:N/A 4,000,000+ citation CitationClass=web

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2 Atari Video Computer System (VCS) Atari, Inc. Console Second {{#expr:4,500,000*0.80}} <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
3 Intellivision Mattel Console Second 1,000,000+ <ref name="csmonitor">Template:Cite news</ref>
4 Atari 400/800 Atari, Inc. Computer 8-bit 300,000 citation CitationClass=web

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5 ZX81 Sinclair Research Computer 8-bit 250,000+ <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
6 TRS-80 Tandy Corporation Computer 8-bit 250,000 <ref name=":222" />
7 Apple II Apple Inc. Computer 8-bit 210,000 <ref name=":222" />
8 PET Commodore Computer 8-bit 40,000 <ref name=":222" />
9 IBM PC IBM Computer 8-bit / 16-bit 35,000 <ref name=":222" />

EventsEdit

MagazinesEdit

  • January – Atari computer magazine ANALOG Computing begins 9 years of publication. Most issues include at least one BASIC game and one machine language game.
  • November – The British video game magazine Computer and Video Games (C&VG) starts.
  • Winter – Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found Electronic Games, the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of video game journalism.

BusinessEdit

BirthsEdit

Template:Expand section

MayEdit

Notable releasesEdit

GamesEdit

Arcade
File:Donkey Kong arcade at the QuakeCon 2005.png
Donkey Kong

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Console
Computer

HardwareEdit

Arcade
Computer
Handheld

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

Template:History of video games

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