How many Atari E.T. games were buried?

Contrary to the urban legend that claims millions of cartridges were buried there, Heller stated that only 728,000 cartridges were buried. Remnants of E.T. and other Atari games were discovered in the early hours of the excavation, as reported by Microsoft's Larry Hryb.
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

How many E.T. games were buried?

James Heller, the former Atari manager who was in charge of the burial, was at the excavation, and admitted to the Associated Press that 728,000 cartridges of various games (not just E.T.) were buried.
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

Why did they bury the E.T. games?

They decided to bury the games in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, to prevent people from scavenging them. The Atari video game burial was a mass burial of unsold video game c... Why did Atari bury millions of copies of E.T.? Because they overproduced copies of the game for retail….
Takedown request View complete answer on quora.com

What company buried 700000 video games?

In 1983, rumors circulated: Atari was bankrupt, and was dumping truckloads of games into a New Mexico landfill. Victim to the "Video Game Crash," the company buried 700,000 cartridges in the desert. The story became an obscure pop culture legend -- until "The Atari Tomb" was unearthed in 2014.
Takedown request View complete answer on thehenryford.org

What is the rarest Atari games?

Top 10 Most RARE Atari 2600 Games as of 2024
  • Extra Terrestrials:
  • Gamma-Attack: ...
  • Video Life: ...
  • Atlantis II: ...
  • Killer Satellites: ...
  • Red Sea Crossing: ...
  • Save Mary: Save Mary, a prototype, is another rare title for the Atari 2600. ...
  • Birthday Mania: Birthday Mania is a rare and sought-after game for the Atari 2600. ...
Takedown request View complete answer on metaljesusrocks.com

Excavating the Atari E.T. Video Game Burial Site-Game|Life-WIRED

Is Atari ET worth anything?

Unearthed copies containing what's hailed as the worst video game of all time proved to be a valuable commodity as an online auction of E.T. the Extra Terrestrial Atari cartridges netted over $108,000.
Takedown request View complete answer on rollingstone.com

What Atari game is worth $10000?

Red Sea Crossing

The only known ad for the game was in Christianity Today. Red Sea Crossing is the most expensive Atari 2600 game when it is cartridge only, by about $10,000. Air Raid sells for more when it comes with a box.
Takedown request View complete answer on blog.pricecharting.com

Did they ever find the E.T. Atari games?

On April 26, 2014, the excavation revealed discarded games and hardware. Only a small fraction, about 1,300 cartridges, were recovered, with a portion given for curation and the rest auctioned to raise money for a museum to commemorate the burial.
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

What video game was buried in a landfill?

(It was bad. Very bad.) Legend has it that Atari buried millions of unsold and returned copies of E.T., and perhaps other titles, in a New Mexico dump as the company struggled to stay afloat.
Takedown request View complete answer on archaeology.org

Were Atari E.T. games found in the landfill?

The myth had been half true. More than 1,300 cartridges were found at the dig. Former Atari manager James Heller was at the excavation, and confirmed that 728,000 games had been buried there, many of them successful titles, as well as inoperable spare parts. It was a warehouse dump by a company in trouble.
Takedown request View complete answer on theguardian.com

Why did the E.T. game fail?

It was panned at the time for its plot, visuals, and gameplay, and its commercial and quality failures hurt Atari's brand reputation, and this along with overproduction of this cartridge and others at least partially contributed to a Atari's decline and a major, multi-year video game industry crash beginning in 1983.
Takedown request View complete answer on ign.com

Why did Atari fail?

The combined impact of the underperforming sales and poor quality of Pac-Man and E.T. reflected on Atari as it caused consumers to become wary of the company's future products, leading to a slowdown in sales entering 1983.
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

How many copies of E.T. were returned?

According to Ray Kassar, about 3.5 million of the 4 million produced were sent back to the company as unsold inventory or customer returns. A popular rumor was that there were more E.T.
Takedown request View complete answer on atari.fandom.com

What happened when E.T. died?

Elliot weakly explains that E.T. needs to go home, but as they talk, E.T. soon detaches himself from Elliot, and finally succumbs to the illness, leaving Elliott to recover. Michael realizes this when the plants E.T. had revived begin to wilt and die. The medical team attempts to revive E.T., but he eventually dies.
Takedown request View complete answer on imdb.com

Which game was considered so violent that a ratings system was introduced?

Two games of this era were specifically cited in the hearings for their content; the fighting game Mortal Kombat featured realistic, digitized sprites of live-action actors, blood, and the ability to use violent "fatality" moves to defeat opponents, while Night Trap featured 90 minutes of FMV content, with scenes that ...
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

What was the saddest death in gaming history?

Saddest Video Game Death of All Time - Aerith

“Final Fantasy VII” (1997) There aren't many deaths in video games that can match Aerith's from “Final Fantasy VII.” With her bubbly demeanor, her compassion for others, and her incredibly useful healing capabilities, Aerith quickly became a fan favorite character.
Takedown request View complete answer on watchmojo.com

What company buried 700000 unsold video games in 1983?

Atari emptied out a warehouse and paid Alamogordo to dump nearly 800,000 games in its city landfill in 1983, according to Joseph Lewandowski, who was on site when it happened and later bought the garbage company that buried them.
Takedown request View complete answer on money.cnn.com

What was the first video game death?

Berzerk was the first video game known to have been involved in the death of a player. In January 1981, 19-year-old Jeff Dailey died of a heart attack soon after posting a score of 16,660 on Berzerk.
Takedown request View complete answer on videogamehistory.fandom.com

How much did Atari lose on E.T. game?

With customers returning unsold cartridges in their millions, E.T. posed an immediate problem for Atari. A game with an RRP of $49 was being sold for a dollar in bargain baskets, and by the time Atari pulled the plug, losses of $100m were being mooted.
Takedown request View complete answer on allbusiness.com

What was the last game made for Atari?

Atari released the last batch of games in 1989–90 including Secret Quest and Fatal Run. By 1986, over 20 million Atari VCS units had been sold worldwide. The final Atari-licensed release is the PAL-only version of the arcade game KLAX in 1990.
Takedown request View complete answer on en.wikipedia.org

Are there fake Atari games?

There were knockoff Atari cartridges, ersatz “100-in-1" NES games, and enough PlayStation CD-Rs to reach the moon and back during their time. But those bootlegs were easily identifiable by their shoddy quality. More to the point, most people buying them knew they were fake. They just wanted to play the games.
Takedown request View complete answer on kotaku.com

What is the rarest video game?

Game attack for the Atari 2600 is possibly the rarest video game ever produced. Only one cartridge was produced by gaming company Gammation. The cartridge is owned by collector Antony DeNardo.
Takedown request View complete answer on quora.com

Is Atari still profitable?

Now, Atari is debt-free and profitable (with $20m in revenue) thanks largely to RollerCoaster Tycoon Touch (a mobile-friendly version of the PC classic) — its best-selling game, with almost 200k active users.
Takedown request View complete answer on thehustle.co

Why is air raid so rare?

Air Raid was the only game produced from the small Men-A-Vision studio in Ontario Canada, making this the first Canadian made Atari 2600 title. The title is best known for its handle shaped cartridge and very low production volume. Only 12 copies of this extremely rare game have ever been found.
Takedown request View complete answer on atari.com

Previous question
Do GameCube games work on Wii?
Next question
What color are Yoshis eggs?