Company:US Games
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | Donald Yu |
| Defunct | March 1983 |
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, California , |
U.S. Games was a video game company founded by Donald Yu, which originally produced handheld electronic sports games. It pivoted to focus exclusively on video game software in 1981, and was acquired by cereal company Quaker Oats in 1982 to develop games for the Atari 2600.[1] U.S. Games used the Vidtec brand name.[2]
U.S. Games released 14 games (with varying cartridge designs) and then closed their doors after only a year in operation during the North American video game crash of 1983.[3] Although sometimes cited as an example of non-technology companies attempting to produce video games,[4][5] Quaker purchased U.S. Games to work with its Fisher-Price toy brand and compete with rival cereal company General Mills, whose video games were very successful. Unlike U.S. Games, General Mills's Parker Brothers division was experienced in producing family and licensed games.[1] "None of our games became a hit," said spokesman Ronald Bottrell. "Instead of pouring in a lot more capital, we decided to drop it."[6]
Published titles
In alphabetical order:
- Commando Raid
- Eggomania
- Entombed
- Gopher
- M.A.D.
- Name This Game
- Picnic
- Piece o' Cake
- Raft Rider
- Sneak n' Peek
- Space Jockey
- Squeeze Box
- Towering Inferno
- Word Zapper
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Prince, Suzan (September 1983). "Faded Glory: The Decline, Fall and Possible Salvation of Home Video". Video Games (Pumpkin Press). https://archive.org/stream/Video_Games_Volume_1_Number_12_1983-09_Pumpkin_Press_US#page/n17/mode/2up. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
- ↑ Goodman, Danny (Spring 1983). "Home Video Games: Video Games Update". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games: 32. http://www.atarimagazines.com/cva/v1n1/vgupdate.php.
- ↑ "AtariAge - Companies - U.S. Games". http://www.atariage.com/company_page.html?SystemID=2600&CompanyID=41. Retrieved 2006-09-19.
- ↑ Chance, Greg (March 17, 1996). "The Crash of 1984". http://www.videogames.org/html/crash.html.
- ↑ "Useful Notes: The Great Video Game Crash of 1983". http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983.
- ↑ Video Games Go Crunch! - TIME magazine, Oct. 17, 1983 issue
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