1979 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as '' Space Invaders Part II'' and '' Super Speed Race'', along with new titles such as ''

Asteroids An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

'', ''

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

'', ''

Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of alien ...

'', '' Head On'', '' Heiankyo Alien'', '' Monaco GP'', ''

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

'' and ''

Warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

''. For the second year in a row, the highest-grossing video game was

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, Toy, toys, arcade cabinets, and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, Vending machine, vending machines, and Juk ...

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily game of skill, games of skill and in ...

Space Invaders is a 1978 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Taito for Arcade video game, arcades. It was released in Japan in April 1978, with the game being released by Midway Manufacturing overseas. ''Space Invaders'' was the first fixed s ...

'' and the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

'' was the top-grossing

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

worldwide in 1979, having become the

industry's all-time best-seller by 1979. The following table lists the year's top-grossing

in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.

Japan

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade ...

of 1979, according to the annual '' Game Machine'' chart.

's ''

'' was the highest-grossing arcade game for a second year in a row.

United States

The following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1979 in the United States, according to ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'', '' Play Meter'' and ''RePlay'' magazines.

Best-selling home systems

Major awards

Electronic Games ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

'' magazine hosted the first

Arkie Awards ''Electronic Games'' was the first dedicated video game magazine published in the United States and ran from October 15, 1981, to 1997 under different titles. It was co-founded by Bill Kunkel, Joyce Worley, and Arnie Katz. History The h ...

in 1980, for games in 1979.

Business

* New companies:

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

, Edu-Ware,

Infocom Infocom, Inc., was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerston ...

Quicksilva Quicksilva was a British games software publisher active during the early 1980s. Quicksilva was founded by Nick Lambert in 1980. The name Quicksilva was inspired by a particular guitar solo in a track on the album Happy Trails by Quicksilver Me ...

, Strategic Simulations * The US market for

s earn a revenue of ( adjusted for inflation). * The US home video game market generates a revenue of ( adjusted for inflation).

Notable releases

Games

;Arcade * April –

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

's dot-eating driving game, '' Head On'', is released. It becomes a popular concept to clone, especially for home systems. * August –

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French holding company Atari SA (formerly Infogrames) and its focus is on "video games, consumer hardware, licensing and bl ...

releases ''

Lunar Lander A lunar lander or Moon lander is a Lander (spacecraft), spacecraft designed to Moon landing, land on the surface of the Moon. As of 2024, the Apollo Lunar Module is the only lunar lander to have ever been used in human spaceflight, completing s ...

'', the first arcade version of a game concept created on minicomputers ten years earlier. * November –

releases the

vector graphics Vector graphics are a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector displ ...

-based ''

'', which becomes Atari's second best selling game of all time and displaces ''

'' as the most popular game in the US. * November –

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company founded in 1955. It operated video arcades and amusement parks globally, and produced video games, films, toys, and arcade cabinets. Namco was one of the most influential c ...

releases fixed shooter ''

'' in full color. * November – Vectorbeam releases '' Tail Gunner'', a space shooter with a first-person perspective. * December – Nintendo releases '' Radar Scope'', featuring a pseudo-3D, third-person perspective. Later, 2000 out of 3000 manufactured machines are converted to ''

Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. It follows the adventures of Donkey Kong (character), Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla, and other members of the List of Don ...

''. *

Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was an arcade game video game developer, developer that primarily released vector graphics games in the late 1970s and early 1980s. While other companies released games based on raster graphics, raster displays, early ...

releases ''

'', one of the first fighting games without a boxing theme. *

releases the vertically scrolling '' Monaco GP'', featuring full color and day/night driving. It is one of Sega's last discrete logic (no CPU) hardware designs. ;Computer * August – Automated Simulations releases ''

Temple of Apshai ''Temple of Apshai'' is a dungeon crawl role-playing video game developed and published by Automated Simulations (later renamed to Epyx) in 1979. Originating on the TRS-80 and Commodore PET, it was followed by several updated versions for othe ...

'', one of the first graphical role-playing games for

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

s. It remains the best-selling computer RPG through to 1982. * October –

subLOGIC Sublogic Corporation (stylized as subLOGIC) is an American software developer, software development company. It was formed in 1977 by Bruce Artwick, and incorporation (business), incorporated in 1978 by Artwick's partner Stu Moment as Sublogic Com ...

releases ''

Flight Simulator A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they rea ...

'' for the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

. * Richard Garriott creates ''Akalabeth: World of Doom, Akalabeth'', a role-playing video game, computer role-playing game for the

. It launches Garriott's career and is a precursor to his highly successful ''Ultima (series), Ultima'' series. * Richard Bartle and MUD1, Roy Trubshaw create what is commonly recognized as the first playable Multi-user dungeon, MUD. * Atari, Inc.'s 8K ''Star Raiders'' cartridge is released and becomes a system seller for the new Atari 400/800 computer line.

Hardware

;Computer * June –

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

releases the TI-99/4. It is the first home computer with a 16-bit processor and, with TI's

TMS9918 IMAGE:TMS9918A 01.jpg, VDP TMS9918A IMAGE:TMS9918A 02.jpg, VDP TMS9918A The TMS9918 is a video display controller (VDC) manufactured by Texas Instruments, in manuals referenced as "Video Display Processor" (VDP) and introduced in 1979. The TMS9918 ...

video chip, one of the first with hardware sprites. * September –

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

releases the PC-8001, the first in the

PC-8000 series The is a line of personal computers developed for the Japan, Japanese market by NEC. The PC-8001 model was also sold in the United States and Canada as the PC-8001A. Original models of the NEC PC-8001B (or sometimes the NEC PC-8000) were also so ...

of home computers. * November – Atari, Inc. releases the first two models in the Atari 8-bit home computer series: the Atari 400 and Atari 800. They feature custom graphics and sound coprocessors which support sprites, four-channel audio, and programmable display modes. ;Console *

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

test market A test market, in the field of business and marketing, is a geographic region or demographic group used to gauge the viability of a product or service in the mass market prior to a wide scale rollout. The criteria used to judge the acceptability ...

s the

Intellivision The Intellivision (a portmanteau of intelligent television) is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. It distinguished itself from competitors with more realistic sports and strategic games. By 1981, Mattel Electronic ...

console in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. It is released throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1980. ;Handheld * November –

Milton Bradley Company Milton Bradley Company or simply Milton Bradley (MB) was an American board game manufacturer established by Milton Bradley (1836-1911) in Springfield, Massachusetts, Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860. In 1920, it absorbed the game production o ...

releases the

Microvision The Microvision (aka Milton Bradley Microvision or MB Microvision) is the first handheld game console that used interchangeable cartridges and in that sense is reprogrammable. It was released by the Milton Bradley Company in November 1979 for ...

, the first

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the con ...

that uses interchangeable cartridges.

Notes

References

{{History of video games Video games by year

Financial performance

Highest-grossing arcade games

Japan

United States

Best-selling home systems

Major awards

Business

Notable releases

Games

Hardware

See also

Notes

References