Matt Weinberger
But the video game market crashed in 1983. Atari never recovered.
At this week's Game Developers Conference 2015, the Videogame History Museum celebrated the first big video game company with a showcase of Atari artifacts from back in the day.
"Atari started it all. Atari is what brought video games into the mainstream," says Sean Kelly, director of the Videogame History Museum, which plans on opening its doors to its first permanent location in Frisco, Texas later this year.
You're not going to believe some of the stuff they've got.