page_title: Atari 2600
section_title: Launch and success
hierarchical_section_title: Atari 2600 / History / Launch and success
caption_attribution_description: The Atari 2600, a video game console released by Atari in 1977. Originally called the Atari Video Computer System, the system was the most popular gaming console of the late '70s and early '80s. This model is the "Light Sixer", which is the second 2600 model that featured six front switches, and heavy metal RF shielding.
context_page_description: The Atari 2600, originally branded as the Atari Video Computer System until November 1982, is a home video game console from Atari, Inc. Released on September 11, 1977, it is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on ROM cartridges instead of dedicated hardware with games physically built into the unit. The 2600 was bundled with two joystick controllers, a conjoined pair of paddle controllers, and a game cartridge: initially Combat, and later Pac-Man.
  The Atari VCS launched with nine simple, low-resolution games in 2 KiB cartridges. The system found its killer game with its version of Taito's Space Invaders in 1980 and became widely successful, leading to the creation of Activision and other third-party game developers as well as competition from home console manufacturers Mattel and Coleco. By the end of its primary lifecycle in 1983–84, games for the 2600 were using more than four times the ROM of the launch titles with significantly more advanced visuals and gameplay than the system was designed for, such as Pitfall! and its scrolling sequel Pitfall II: Lost Caverns.
context_section_description: At release in September 1977, the unit was originally priced at US$199 ($840 adjusted for inflation), and shipped with two joysticks and a Combat cartridge (eight additional games were available at launch and sold separately). Atari sold between 350,000 and 400,000 Atari VCS units during 1977, attributed to the delay in shipping the units and consumers' unfamiliarity with non-dedicated consoles.
  1978 was a challenging year.  About 800,000 units were manufactured, but only 550,000 were sold by year's end. This required further financial support from Warner to cover losses and caused Bushnell to leave the company. Although Warren Robinett invented in this year the first action-adventure game, Adventure,  changing the fundamentals of gaming with the first game featuring a "virtual space bigger than the screen", Atari had suffered the loss of programmers David Crane, Bob Whitehead, Larry Kaplan, and Alan Miller, the company's "Fantastic Four", who had programmed most of the successful VCS games to that point. The four left Atari, disgruntled over Warner's oversight of the company and treatment of programmers, and formed Activision, which introduced third-party software to the VCS.
  The VCS was the best-selling console during the 1979 holiday season, with more than 1 million units sold, but Atari saw new competition from the Mattel Intellivision and Magnavox Odyssey², which also used ROM cartridges.
  Atari licensed the arcade hit Space Invaders by Taito.  Its release in January 1980 doubled console sales to more than 2 million units. The VCS and its cartridges helped Atari earn more than $2 billion in 1980. Sales then doubled again for the next two years; by 1982, the console had sold 10 million units, while its best-selling game Pac-Man sold 7 million copies. The console also sold 450,000 units in West Germany by 1984.
  In 1982, Atari launched its second home console, which it named the Atari 5200; to standardize its naming, the VCS was renamed to the "Atari 2600 Video Computer System", or "Atari 2600" for short, derived from the manufacture part number CX2600. By 1982 the 2600 console cost Atari about $40 to make and sold for an average of $125. The company spent $4.50 to $6 to manufacture its cartridges, plus $1 to $2 for advertising, and sold them for $18.95 wholesale.
caption: The second VCS model has lighter plastic molding and shielding, and a more angular shape, than the 1977 launch model.
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