ATTENTION:  This is a re-upped version of the episode with corrected audio.  We apologize for the previous entry.

On December 8th, 1982, Warner Communications, parent company of Atari, announced that their guidance to investors concerning their profit outlook would be dramatically lower than it had expected.

While many in the video game space had felt unease at the meteoric rise of the industry over the previous 12 months, the news about Atari missing its targets would be the spark that would ultimately crash the North American console market and almost wipe the industry out completely. How could it come to this? What mistakes were made that caused this new medium to be so fragile?

Hello, and welcome to a very special episode of the Video Game Newsroom Time Machine. This first part of our look back at the Video Game Crash focuses on Atari, its role in creating the console industry, the business decisions that laid the foundation of its demise and its fall.

I'm your host Karl and we have gathered three luminaries in the area of video game history and friends of the show to break down this most formative event in the history of video games. Regular listeners will be familiar with our resident Warden of the Department of Corrections and author of the History of How We Play blog, Ethan Johnson. Dale Geddes, the world renowned FCC regulation specialist.And the master historian, and the man behind the They Create Worlds podcast and book, now available from fine retailers everywhere, Alex Smith.

Recorded November 2022

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Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@play_history/featured Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Games That Weren't - https://www.gamesthatwerent.com/

Copyright Karl Kuras