ruth_n_d

=D. Analysis (500-650 words) Tips]=

One interpretation of the evidence is that the blame for the crash can be placed almost entirely on Atari and Warner. Kassar's testimonies support this notion, since he went to great lengths to stress the enormity of //E.T.//'s failure. (1) However, as mentioned in Section C, we must bear in mind that Kassar would have wanted to emphasise its failure and exaggerate the role of Ross and others in Atari and Warner, since he felt that he was unjustly made "the fall guy" and ended up getting fired after it released.

Howard Scott Warshaw argued that it was most likely Atari's cutthroat business tactics that forced the industry into a crash. (2) However, Warshaw is speaking as a former programmer, not a former Atari salesman, so his knowledge of their business practices would not be as sound as Kassar's. Despite this, it is impossible to escape the notion that Atari did develop //Pac-Man// and //E.T.//, both of which turned out to be tremendous failures.

On the other hand, it could be argued that factors outside of Atari's control (such as third-party publishers and Commodore) were more to blame. Manny Gerard believed that despite Atari's mistakes, neither Warner nor Atari could be held accountable for the disappearance of the market. (3) However, Gerard would have been desperate to absolve himself of the blame due to the tremendous losses that Warner suffered as a result of the crash. Furthermore, Gerard doesn't actually offer an explanation for why he believed the market disappeared, perhaps indicating that he didn't know much about the industry outside of Atari's influence at the time. The evidence for Coleco's bidding tactics on licenses would also support this interpretation (4), as Coleco was an outside factor. However, we do not know how much Atari lost from those bidding wars, so this is not very useful as hard evidence.

David Crane seemed convinced that the flood of third party publishers sealed the market's fate. (5) Despite this, we must consider that Crane would not have been fully aware of the problems plaguing Atari as clearly as the Atari executives were; in fact, few were aware of any problems at all, as evidenced by the surprise at the stock markets in December when Atari announced their growth predictions.

1 - "It was a disaster...we made five million and practically all of them came back.", Steven L. Kent (2001). //The ultimate history of video games//. Roseville, Calif.: Prima, (ISBN: 0761536434), pp. 237-238 2 - "When they had a hot game, they would force distributors to buy copies of the old games that weren't selling anymore, just to get copies of the new game...So when things started to turn on them, everyone in the industry was waiting to jump on them with both feet. That's what killed Atari, was the ill will that they had generated through their cutthroat business practices on their way up." Keith Phipps (2005). //Howard Scott Warshaw//. The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/howard-scott-warshaw,13912/ 3 - "Neither one of is responsible for the fact that a market just went away in an eye-blink." Steven L. Kent (2001). //The ultimate history of video games//. Roseville, Calif.: Prima, (ISBN: 0761536434), pp. 239 4 - "Basically, we'd zap them. They had last right of refusal, so we'd just come up with a bid that was wild; then, of course, Atari would be forced to beat it." Steven L. Kent (2001). //The ultimate history of video games//. Roseville, Calif.: Prima, (ISBN: 0761536434), pp. 239

5 - "Activision was the main cause of the crash, though indirectly...In one six month period 30 new companies sprang up trying to duplicate our success." Tristan Donovan, (2010). //Replay: The History of Video Games//. Yellow Ant Media Ltd (ISBN: 0956507204), pp. 98