1978-1986

1978

In June, the arcade game Space Invaders is released by Taito Corporation. This game, developed by Tomohiro Nishikado, has a huge success all over the world: it begins the golden age of arcade video games.
In October, Namco releases in Japan their first arcade video game, Gee Bee.
Block Game, the first arcade video game of Konami Corporation, is internationally released.

The first playable Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) is created by Richard Bartle¹ and Roy Trubshaw².
22 June, Infocom, a software company, is founded in Massachusetts by some students of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
October 1, after leaving Atari, the programmers David Crane, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead found Activision, the world's first independent developer and distributor of video games for consoles.
In October, Namco releases Galaxian, a copy of Taito's Space Invaders.
Konami releases Space King, a copy of Space Invaders.
Space Fever³, a clone of Space Invaders, is released by Nintendo.

In May, Pac-Man is released by Namco.
In December, the first Zork⁴, Zork I is released by Infocom. This is their first video game.
Mattel releases the Intellivision, one of the greatest and most sold video games consoles of the second generation

In July, Nintendo releases the arcade game known as Donkey Kong, which has been developed by Shigeru Miyamoto.
In November, Namco released Bosconian⁵, the first video game with the continue feature.

In January, the home computer known asCommodore 64 is realised by Commodore Business Machines⁶. This computer would be reminded as the best selling machine of all time. With the release of this computer begins the era of software cracking. with
March, a version of Pac-Man for Atari 2600⁷ is released. This is considered one of the main facts that caused the North American video game crash of 1983.
In May, George Lucas found his own video game publisher company, Lucasfilm Games (nowadays known as LucasArts).
May 28, Electronic Arts⁸, a company specialised in developing and publishing of video games, is founded by Trip Hawkins.
In December, Atari releases E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, an adventure video game based on the film with the same name. It is believed to be one of the causes of the North American video game crash of 1983.
Tron arcade game is released before the movie by Bally Technologies⁹ and Midway Games.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is released by Parker Brothers¹⁰. It is the first Star Wars

Begins a huge shakeout of the video game industry.
Atari sues Coleco¹¹ for violating the Atari's patents on Atari 2600 console. A year before, Coleco published a device to run Atari 2600 game cartridges on the ColecoVision console.
This is a real war between consoles.
In June, Nintendo publishes the Mario Bros. arcade game.
In June, Cinematronics¹² releases Dragon's Lair¹³, the first laserdisc video game.
Family Computer console is released in Japan by Nintendo. This 8-bit machine is the first console of the third generation.

In May, King's Quest, the first game of a series, is released. This is the first animated adventure video game.
In June, the Tetris video game is developed by Alexei Pajitnov in the Soviet Union.
In September, the programmers David Braben and Ian Bell release Elite¹⁴, a space trading video game. It was one of the earliest home computer games to use wire-frame 3D graphics.

In September, Super Mario Bros. is released by Nintendo. It would become the best-selling video game of all time.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), an home console of third generation, is published in the United States.

In February, The Legend of Zelda¹⁵, the first game of a series with the same name, is published by Nintendo.
In May, Enix Corporation¹⁶, a Japanese company specialised in development of video games, releases Dragon Quest. This role-playing game is the first of a series.
In July, Taito Corporation releases Arkanoid, an arcade game that starts a series. This is known as the first game for Commodore 64 to feature music that used digitized samples.
In August, Metroid¹⁷, an action and adventure video game, is published by Nintendo. It is just the first game of a series.
Bethesda Softworks, an american video game developer company, is founded by Christopher Weaver¹⁸.