U.S. Games

U.S. Games Corporation was an American company that made video games. Until 1981, it created handheld electronic sports games. It was bought by cereal company Quaker Oats in 1982 to compete with Parker Brothers (which was then owned by rival company General Mills) in the video game market and so they could use the Fisher-Price brand name. U.S. Games released 14 video games, starting with Space Jockey in January 1982. They named themselves Vidtec for some of their earlier games.

U.S. Games wanted to make quality, licensed games for families, as Parker Brothers had released many popular games in 1982, including Frogger and  The Empire Strikes Back. However, U.S. Games did not sell many copies of their games, and was closed during the video game crash of 1983, before it could use its new Pink Panther license. "None of our games became a hit," said spokesman Ronald Bottrell. "Instead of pouring in a lot more capital, we decided to drop it".Video Games Go Crunch! - TIME magazine, Oct. 17, 1983 issue

U.S. Games is known for being an attempt by a non-technology company to produce video games.

Released games
In order of product number:
Space Jockey
Sneak 'n Peek
Word Zapper
Commando Raid
Name This Game
Towering Inferno
M.A.D.
Gopher
Squeeze Box
Eggomania
Picnic
Piece o' Cake
Raft Rider
Entombed

References

Category:Video game companies
Category:Video game companies of the United States
Category:Defunct companies
Category:1982 establishments in the United States
Category:Atari 2600