Marketplace

MARKETPLACE
NEWSLETTER
PAGE 8, AUGUST 30, 1975
what about
\JIDEO
"Do you agree the industry has given very little encouragement to the small video
game manufacturer?" That's the question we were asked.
Our answer: Frankly, friend, that's not the case. The smaller video game manufactur-
ers, just like the smaller pinball manufacturers of over 40 years ago, were given every
chance to prove themselves and their products. Unless the video game was absolutely sen-
sational, the more experienced operators would rather pay a few dollars more per game
and buy from the long established manufacturers whom they knew would be in business and
from whom they would be able to get parts two and three years after the game was intro-
duced to the field.
What happened to most of the small video game manufacturers? Very, very few even ad-
vertised their firms so that the industry could become better acquainted with them.
Most have already faded out of the picture. A few have turned the sale of their games
over to sharp salesmen vho are attempting to bring new people into the field and who
also sell direct to locations. The press as well as Better Business Bureaus have quickly
jumped on these salesmen as soon as complaints came into being. "The Chicago Tribune"
ran a series on such sellers that brought in the Justice Dept., IUS, Postal Inspectors,
State and District Attornies, etc., etc.
Most important, the great majority of these small firms were very much undercapital-
ized. After their very first games, few produced anything but a duplicate game with a
new name and then folded immediately afterwards. It takes great marketing ingenuity and
even greater engineering skill plus a well loaded bank account to continue in production
on a successful basis. Especially after the first big flush of sales that closed out so
many operating outlets. Furthermore, prices of the video games weren't exactly cheap,
even compared to potential income. A few flops at such prices and operators became vary
of plunging in any further. Repairs, too, became a problem. The average operator and his
mechanic were unaccustomed to solid state repairs. Nor did these smaller video game man-
ufacturers send out trouble shooters or arrange for consistent service schools.
With conununication as speedy as it is today, it took a lot less time than it did for
pinball, and only a few large video game manufacturers remain today. In fact, after 45
years, only a handful of pinball manufacturers remain from the dozens who plunged into
the pinball field to produce games. Perhaps video games will still be around 45 years
from today. You can then recall all the many small manufacturers who so daringly jumped
into this field so totally unprepared for produ::tiveness. Most of the small video game
manufacturers, you must admit, were opportunists. Very few were qualified engineering-
manufacturing organizations fully capitalized to carry on beyond their first attempts.
There's a long, long road yet ahead. It shall be most interesting to see what will re-
sult, even at this same time next year.