1978 in video games

1978 saw the release of new video games such as Space Invaders. The year is considered the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. The year's highest-grossing video game was Taito's arcade game Space Invaders, while the best-selling home system was the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS).

Financial performance

= Highest-grossing arcade games =

Space Invaders was the top-grossing video game worldwide in 1978.{{cite magazine |title=After Pong |magazine=ACE |date=4 February 1988 |issue=6 (March 1988) |pages=29–32 (29) |url=https://archive.org/details/ACE_Issue_06_1988-03_Future_Publishing_GB/page/n28/mode/1up}} The following table lists the top-grossing arcade games of 1978 in Japan, the United Kingdom, United States, and worldwide.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" ! Market ! Title ! Gross revenue ! Inflation ! Cabinet sales ! Developer ! Distributor ! Genre ! class="unsortable" \| {{Abbr\|Ref\|Reference(s)}}
Japan \| Space Invaders \| $670,000,000 \| {{US$\|{{Inflation\|US\|670000000\|1978\|r=-8}}\|long=no}} \| 100,000 \| Taito \| Taito \| Shoot 'em up \|
United Kingdom \| Space Invaders \| {{Unknown}} \| {{Unknown}} \| {{Unknown}}{{efn\|Space Invaders sold 85,000 cabinets in the United Kingdom between 1978 and 1979.}} \| Taito \| Midway Manufacturing \| Shoot 'em up \|
United States \| Space Wars \| {{Unknown}} \| {{Unknown}} \| 10,000 \| Cinematronics \| Cinematronics \| Shooter \| {{cite book \|last1=Kubey \|first1=Craig \|title=The Winners' Book of Video Games \|date=1982 \|publisher=New York: Warner Books \|isbn=978-0-446-37115-5 \|page=90 \|url=https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n106/mode/1up}}{{cite magazine \|title=Video Games \|magazine=RePlay \|date=November 1978}}{{cite book \|last1=Bloom \|first1=Steve \|title=Video Invaders \|year=1982 \|publisher=Arco Publishing \|isbn=978-0-668-05520-8 \|page=18 \|url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders/page/n38}}
Worldwide ! Space Invaders ! ! ! ! Taito ! ! Shoot 'em up !

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! Market

! Title

! Gross revenue

! Inflation

! Cabinet sales

! Developer

! Distributor

! Genre

! class="unsortable" | {{Abbr|Ref|Reference(s)}}

Japan

| Space Invaders

| $670,000,000

| {{US$|{{Inflation|US|670000000|1978|r=-8}}|long=no}}

| 100,000

| Taito

| Shoot 'em up

United Kingdom

| Space Invaders

| {{Unknown}}

| {{Unknown}}{{efn|Space Invaders sold 85,000 cabinets in the United Kingdom between 1978 and 1979.}}

| Taito

| Midway Manufacturing

| Shoot 'em up

United States

| Space Wars

| {{Unknown}}

| 10,000

| Cinematronics

| Shooter

| {{cite book |last1=Kubey |first1=Craig |title=The Winners' Book of Video Games |date=1982 |publisher=New York: Warner Books |isbn=978-0-446-37115-5 |page=90 |url=https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games/page/n106/mode/1up}}{{cite magazine |title=Video Games |magazine=RePlay |date=November 1978}}{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Steve |title=Video Invaders |year=1982 |publisher=Arco Publishing |isbn=978-0-668-05520-8 |page=18 |url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders/page/n38}}

Worldwide

! Space Invaders

! Taito

! Shoot 'em up

== Japan ==

In Japan, the following titles were the highest-grossing arcade games of 1978, according to the third annual Game Machine chart, which lists both arcade video games and electro-mechanical games (EM games) on the same arcade game chart. Taito's Space Invaders was the first video game to become highest-grossing overall arcade game on the annual Game Machine charts, after the two previous charts were topped by an EM game, F-1 by Namco.{{cite magazine|title=人気マシン・ベスト3|trans-title=Popular Machines: Best 3 |magazine=Game Machine|issue=113|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=February 1979|pages=2–3|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19790201p.pdf#page=2}}{{cite magazine|title=調査対象5年間のベスト1|trans-title=Best 1 of the 5 Years Surveyed|magazine=Game Machine|issue=159|publisher=Amusement Press, Inc.|date=15 February 1981|page=1|lang=ja|url=https://onitama.tv/gamemachine/pdf/19810215p.pdf}}

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" ! colspan="6" \| Arcade video games ! colspan="6" \|Arcade electro-mechanical games (EM games)
Rank ! Title ! #1 ! #2 ! #3 ! Points ! Rank ! Title ! #1 ! #2 ! #3 ! Points
1 \| Space Invaders \| 48 \| 7 \| 4 \| {{#expr:(483)+(72)+4}} \|1 \| F-1 \| 2 \| 4 \| 0 \| {{#expr:(23)+(42)+0}}
2 \| Super Speed Race V \| 1 \| 18 \| 8 \| {{#expr:(13)+(182)+8}} \| 2 \| Shoot Away \| 0 \| 2 \| 7 \| {{#expr:(03)+(22)+7}}
3 \| {{nihongo foot\|Block Kakuhi\|ブロック各被\|Burokku Kakuhi\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 4 \| 9 \| 8 \| {{#expr:(43)+(92)+8}} \|3 \| {{nihongo foot\|Flipper (Pinball)\|フリッパー\|Furippā\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 1 \| 3 \| 1 \| {{#expr:(13)+(32)+1}}
4 \| Scratch \| 3 \| 4 \| 5 \| {{#expr:(33)+(42)+5}} \|4 \| Mogura Taiji (Whac-A-Mole) \| 1 \| 2 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(13)+(22)+2}}
5 \| Speed Race DX \| 3 \| 4 \| 3 \| {{#expr:(33)+(42)+3}} \| 5 \| Submarine \| 0 \| 3 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(03)+(32)+2}}
6 \| Cosmic Monsters \| 2 \| 3 \| 0 \| {{#expr:(23)+(42)+0}} \| 6 \| {{nihongo foot\|Magnetic Crane\|各磁クレーン\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 1 \| 1 \| 1 \| {{#expr:(13)+(12)+1}}
7 \| Acrobat \| 1 \| 2 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(13)+(22)+2}} \| 7 \| {{nihongo foot\|Pai Pai 45\|パイパイ 45\|Paipai 45\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 0 \| 1 \| 1 \| {{#expr:(03)+(12)+1}}
8 \| Gee Bee \| 1 \| 1 \| 3 \| {{#expr:(13)+(12)+3}} \| 8 \| {{nihongo foot\|Bank Robbers\|バンクロバーズ\|Banku Robāzu\|group=lower-alpha}} {{nihongo foot\|(Kasco)\|湘阿織機\|Kansai Seiki\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 1 \| 0 \| 0 \| {{#expr:(13)+(02)+0}}
9 \| Super Breakout \| 0 \| 2 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(03)+(22)+2}} \| rowspan="2" \|9 \| Clay Champ \| 0 \| 0 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(03)+(02)+2}}
10 \| {{nihongo foot\|Castle Take\|キャッスルテイク\|Kyassuru Teiku\|group=lower-alpha}} (Sankyo) \| 0 \| 1 \| 2 \| {{#expr:(03)+(12)+2}} \| {{nihongo foot\|Oni Nakase\|鬼泣かせ\|group=lower-alpha}} \| 0 \| 1 \| 0 \| {{#expr:(03)+(12)+0}}

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="6" | Arcade video games

! colspan="6" |Arcade electro-mechanical games (EM games)

Rank

! Title

! #1

! #2

! #3

! Points

! Rank

! Title

! #1

! #2

! #3

! Points

| Space Invaders

| 48

| 7

| 4

| {{#expr:(48*3)+(7*2)+4}}

| F-1

| 2

| 4

| 0

| {{#expr:(2*3)+(4*2)+0}}

| Super Speed Race V

| 1

| 18

| 8

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(18*2)+8}}

| 2

| Shoot Away

| 0

| 2

| 7

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(2*2)+7}}

| {{nihongo foot|Block Kakuhi|ブロック各被|Burokku Kakuhi|group=lower-alpha}}

| 4

| 9

| 8

| {{#expr:(4*3)+(9*2)+8}}

| {{nihongo foot|Flipper (Pinball)|フリッパー|Furippā|group=lower-alpha}}

| 1

| 3

| 1

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(3*2)+1}}

| Scratch

| 3

| 4

| 5

| {{#expr:(3*3)+(4*2)+5}}

| Mogura Taiji (Whac-A-Mole)

| 1

| 2

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(2*2)+2}}

| Speed Race DX

| 3

| 4

| 3

| {{#expr:(3*3)+(4*2)+3}}

| 5

| Submarine

| 0

| 3

| 2

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(3*2)+2}}

| Cosmic Monsters

| 2

| 3

| 0

| {{#expr:(2*3)+(4*2)+0}}

| 6

| {{nihongo foot|Magnetic Crane|各磁クレーン|group=lower-alpha}}

| 1

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(1*2)+1}}

| Acrobat

| 1

| 2

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(2*2)+2}}

| 7

| {{nihongo foot|Pai Pai 45|パイパイ 45|Paipai 45|group=lower-alpha}}

| 0

| 1

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(1*2)+1}}

| Gee Bee

| 1

| 3

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(1*2)+3}}

| 8

| {{nihongo foot|Bank Robbers|バンクロバーズ|Banku Robāzu|group=lower-alpha}} {{nihongo foot|(Kasco)|湘阿織機|Kansai Seiki|group=lower-alpha}}

| 1

| 0

| {{#expr:(1*3)+(0*2)+0}}

| Super Breakout

| 0

| 2

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(2*2)+2}}

| rowspan="2" |9

| Clay Champ

| 0

| 2

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(0*2)+2}}

| {{nihongo foot|Castle Take|キャッスルテイク|Kyassuru Teiku|group=lower-alpha}} (Sankyo)

| 0

| 1

| 2

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(1*2)+2}}

| {{nihongo foot|Oni Nakase|鬼泣かせ|group=lower-alpha}}

| 0

| 1

| 0

| {{#expr:(0*3)+(1*2)+0}}

The following titles were the highest-grossing games on each Game Machine arcade chart. Nintendo's EVR Race was the highest-grossing medal game for the third year in a row.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! Chart

! Top title

! Gross revenue

! Inflation

! Cabinet sales

! Manufacturer

! Genre

! class="unsortable" | {{Abbr|Ref|Reference(s)}}

Arcade game

| Space Invaders

| $670,000,000{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Daniel |title=Video Games |date=1982 |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |isbn=0-671-45872-8 |page=15 |url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_games/page/n21}}

| {{US$|{{Inflation|US|670000000|1978|r=-8}}|long=no}}

| 100,000

| Taito

| Shoot 'em up

| {{cite magazine |title=Can Asteroids Conquer Space Invaders? |magazine=Electronic Games |date=Winter 1981 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=30–33 (31) |url=http://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/electronic_games/electronic_games_winter81.pdf#page=31 |access-date=12 February 2021}}

Medal game

| EVR Race

| {{Unknown}}

| Nintendo

| Racing

== United States ==

In the United States, the following titles were the top ten highest-grossing arcade video games of 1978, in terms of coin drop earnings according to the annual Play Meter and RePlay charts.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! Rank

! Play Meter{{cite magazine |title=The 'Winners' of '78: Top Arcade Games |magazine=Play Meter |date=1978}}

! RePlay

! Cabinet sales

| colspan="2" | Space Wars

| 10,000

| colspan="2" | Sprint 2

| rowspan="9" {{Unknown}}

| Sea Wolf

| Sprint 1

| Sea Wolf II

| Sea Wolf

| Super Bug

| Breakout

| Starship 1

| Super Bug

| Circus

| Starship 1

| Breakout

| Sea Wolf II

| Night Driver

| Smokey Joe

| Sprint 1

| LeMans

= Best-selling home systems =

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

!Rank

!System(s)

!Manufacturer(s)

!Type

!Generation

!Sales

! class="unsortable" |{{Abbr|Ref|Reference}}

rowspan="2" |1

|Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS)

|Atari, Inc.

|Console

|Second

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:550000-250000}}

}

|{{Cite book|last=Rubin|first=Michael|url=|title=Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution|date=2006|publisher=Triad Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-937404-67-6|pages=291-314 (292-3)|chapter=Eighteen: A Hole in the Desert [1982–1983]|chapter-url=https://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051221/Droidmaker.Ch18.pdf#page=8}}

|Bandai Baseball

|Bandai

|Handheld

|{{N/A}}

|{{formatnum:{{#expr:550000-250000}}|}}

|{{cite web|title=昔(1970年代）のテレビゲームは何台売れた？|trans-title=How many old (1970s) video games sold?|url=https://www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109231757/www.ne.jp/asahi/cvs/odyssey/hyperlink/setframe_dataroom_numbers1.html|archive-date=2014-01-09|access-date=16 April 2021|website=Classic Videogame Station Odyssey|language=ja}}

|150,000

|{{Cite web|last=Reimer|first=Jeremy|date=2005-12-15|title=Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures|url=https://arstechnica.com/features/2005/12/total-share/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-11-27|website=Ars Technica|language=en-us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607023023/http://arstechnica.com:80/features/2005/12/total-share/ |archive-date=June 7, 2012}}

{{cite web |author=Jeremy Reimer |date=2012-12-07 |title=Total Share: Personal Computer Market Share 1975-2010 |url=https://jeremyreimer.com/rockets-item.lsp?p=137 |website=Jeremy Reimer}}

|Commodore PET

|Commodore International

|Computer

|8-bit

|30,000

|Apple II

|Apple Inc.

|Computer

|8-bit

|20,000

|{{Cite magazine|date=May 1979|title=BYTE News... Radio Shack Has Over 50 Percent of Personal Computer Business|url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1979-05/page/n118|magazine=BYTE|volume=4|issue=5|page=117}}

| rowspan="2" |6

|IMSAI 8080

|IMS Associates, Inc.

|Computer

|8-bit

|5,000

| rowspan="2" |

|IBM 5110

|IBM

|Computer

|{{N/A}}

|5,000

| rowspan="2" |8

|Altair 8800

|MITS

|Computer

|8-bit

|4,000

|HP 9800 series

|Hewlett-Packard

|Computer

|{{N/A}}

|4,000

|10

|Pertec/MITS 300

|Pertec Computer

|Computer

|8-bit

|3,000

Events

Consumer-oriented video game journalism begins with the golden age of arcade video games, soon after the success of Space Invaders, leading to hundreds of favourable articles and stories about the emerging video game medium being aired on television and printed in newspapers and magazines.{{cite journal|title=Players Guide To Electronic Science Fiction Games|journal=Electronic Games|date=March 1982|volume=1|issue=2|pages=35–45 [36]|url=https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGames/Electronic%20Games%20Issue%202%20%28March%201982%29/page/n40|access-date=February 1, 2012}}
In North America, the first regular consumer-oriented column about video games, "Arcade Alley" in Video magazine, is penned by Bill Kunkel, Arnie Katz, and Joyce Worley.{{cite magazine|last=Kohler|first=Chris|title=Bill Kunkel, Original Gaming Journalist, Dies at 61|url=https://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/09/bill-kunkel-dies/all/1|magazine=Wired|access-date=March 1, 2012|date=September 6, 2011}}

Business

New companies: Automated Simulations (later Epyx), Koei, Muse, Supersoft, Synergistic, U.S. Games.
The American arcade game market earns a revenue of $1 billion{{cite web |title=Coin-Op history – 1975 to 1997 – from the pages of RePlay |url=http://replaymag.com/history.htm |website=RePlay |year=1998 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980428063132/http://replaymag.com/history.htm |archive-date=April 28, 1998 |access-date=April 21, 2021 }} (equivalent to ${{formatprice|{{inflation|US|1000000000|1978|r=0}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}}).
The American home video game market is worth $200 million.Yuko Aoyama & Hiro Izushi (2003), [https://www.scribd.com/doc/133240085/Aoyama-Izushi-2003-RP-T-Cultural-Japan-Video-Game Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese video game industry] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306233530/http://www.scribd.com/doc/133240085/Aoyama-Izushi-2003-RP-T-Cultural-Japan-Video-Game |date=March 6, 2016 }}, Research Policy 32: 423-44

Notable releases

= Games =

;Arcade

June – Taito releases Space Invaders in Japan. The worldwide success of Space Invaders marks the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games. It sets the template for the fixed shooter genre{{cite web|title=Essential 50: Space Invaders |publisher=1UP.com |url=http://www.1up.com/features/essential-50-space-invaders |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121208230454/http://www.1up.com/features/essential-50-space-invaders |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 8, 2012 |access-date=March 26, 2011 }} and influences most subsequent shooters.{{cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3168373 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226064943/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3168373 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |title=Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Space Invaders |publisher=1UP.com |author=Edwards, Benj |access-date=July 11, 2008 }}
October – Midway gives Space Invaders a wide release in North America.
October – Namco releases their first arcade video game, Gee Bee, in Japan.
Atari, Inc. popularizes the trackball controller with Football.
Atari, Inc. releases Super Breakout, the multi-directionall scrolling game Fire Truck, Canyon Bomber, and Avalanche. Avalanche later inspires Activision's Kaboom!
Konami Corporation releases their first arcade video game, Block Game.
Nintendo releases their first arcade video game, Computer Othello.

;Computer

The book BASIC Computer Games, microcomputer edition, is released.

= Hardware =

File:Bally-Arcade-Console.jpg]]

;Computer

Elektor releases the TV Games Computer.

;Console

December – Magnavox launches the Odyssey².
APF Electronics releases the APF-M1000.
Bally/Midway releases the Bally Professional Arcade.
Entreprex releases the Apollo 2001.
Interton releases the VC 4000.

Notes

References

Category:Video games by year

1978 in video games

Financial performance

= Highest-grossing arcade games =

== Japan ==

== United States ==

= Best-selling home systems =

Events

Business

Notable releases

= Games =

= Hardware =

See also

Notes

References