Warshaw intended the game to be an innovative adaptation of the film, and Atari thought it would achieve high sales figures based on its connection with the film, which was extremely popular throughout the world. Negotiations to secure the rights to make the game ended in late July 1982, giving Warshaw only five and a half weeks [ 2 ] to develop the game in time for the 1982 Christmas season . The result is often cited as one of the worst video games released and was one of the biggest commercial failures in video gaming history . The game's commercial failure and resulting effects on Atari are frequently cited as a contributing factor to the video game industry crash of 1983 . E.T. is frequently cited as a contributing factor to Atari's massive financial losses during 1983 and 1984. It was generally believed that as a result of overproduction and returns, millions of unsold cartridges were buried in an Alamogordo, New Mexico landfill. In 2013, plans were revealed to conduct an excavation to determine the accuracy of reports about the burial, [ 3 ] and in April of the following year, the diggers confirmed that the Alamogordo Burial did include E.T. cartridges among other titles. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] James Heller, the former Atari manager who was in charge of the original burial, was also on hand at the excavation and revealed to the Associated Press that 728,000 cartridges of various titles were buried. [ 6 ]