Retrogaming - A Couple of Ironies?

The exact definition of irony aside, I would like to discuss two ... how shall we say, interesting situations? Throughout the course of video game history, many times a company would ignore an opportunity and later come to rue that decision. This is not limited only to the small companies or the larger ones, the software programmers or the hardware manufacturers. Two instances hold in my mind and have immense significance to the entire industry. The companies who were at fault are first Atari, then later Nintendo.

The year is 1983. Atari has a veritable corner on the market, both in software and hardware. Despite the events of the year, the company is still holding strong. A popular company from Japan wants to enter the market in the US. They approach Atari about licensing their first ROM cartridge based console. A deal is reached between the two companies, at the Consumer Electronic Show of 1983. Unfortunately, some controversy concerning a game, the two companies, and the Coleco Adam computer cause the demise of the deal. Later, the company released the console on their own. The company was Nintendo, and the console was the Nintendo Famicom, released in the US a couple of years later as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Atari would regret this decision in the intervening years, as the video game crash of 1983 debilitated them. Nintendo goes on to sweep the market away from Atari, and achieve such a high position that the name Nintendo becomes synonymous with video game.

After this turn of events, you would think that Nintendo would do well after this. In fact, they did. However, they would soon make a similar mistake to the one Atari made.

The year is not important. (It's the beginning of the 1990s.) Nintendo is riding on its success from the NES and popular game franchises like the Super Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda. Previously, they had shown interest in and started up negotiations with another company for a CD add-on for the Super NES, successor of the NES. Unfortunately, Nintendo decides that the previous contract with the first company is not acceptable and changes to be allied with another company, Philips. Therefore, the Nintendo Play Station never comes to be. Later, the slighted company would rework the prototype and release it for themselves as the Sony Playstation. Other nasty side effects occurred too. Philips was able to release some games of the Mario and Zelda franchises for one of their systems - and from all I've read, they are horrible games. Nintendo here loses its first opportunity to enter into CD based consoles, and continues with cartridges in their next system, the Nintendo 64. Finally, a new rival is put into the market of Nintendo, Sega and the dying Atari.

The important thing to take away is this: Both Atari and Nintendo made a mistake. They underestimated the potential of the companies with whom they dealt. The author feels that it would be amusing if the same thing were to happen to Sony. A small company goes to them with a console idea, but are turned away for whatever reason. They then go on to sweep the market. However, that is but a dream. The industry now seems locked in a three company system. However, to conclude, I merely remind you to never underestimate the competition encountered: it might come back and haunt you one day.