[game_preservation] Release date of the Odyssey?

[Benj Edwards]

Hi Devin,

     I'm new to the list -- hope you don't mind if I jump in.

 From my experience, the concept of a firm "release date" for a product 
was much different in 1972 than it is today.  As far as I know, 
companies didn't set a single date for a worldwide or even nationwide 
release back then -- the supply chain to pull something off just wasn't 
that efficient at the time.  The marketing and communication methods of 
the day weren't as instantaneous as today either, so a simultaneous 
nationwide release, even if they could pull it off, wouldn't have meant 
as much for the product PR wise.

What you'd probably find if you dug into the release dates for the 
Odyssey is that Magnavox started shipping units to retail distributors 
on a certain date (this might be the most definitive single date you 
could find), but the actual Odyssey units probably trickled into stores 
throughout the month of August 1972 and even further throughout the rest 
of the year.  So you'd have Odyssey units first available at different 
retailers at different times. (And by the way, it's possible -- I don't 
recall -- that the Odyssey 1 was only sold through authorized Magnavox 
retailers.)

Whenever I search for a single release date for a tech product released, 
say, before 1990, I almost never find one.  It's obvious through 
contemporary press reports that the companies did not announce such 
precise dates to the media.  Even if they did, the press didn't find it 
important enough to report the specifics of availability beyond a season 
like "Fall 1981" or a certain month (although even the specific month is 
rare, and it gets more uncommon the further back in the past you look) 
-- probably for the reasons I described above.  As far as I know, the 
precision to get product into every store nationwide by a certain date 
just hadn't been achieved in the electronics industry yet.  Either that 
or nobody cared enough to try to pull it off until much later.

Kind Regards,
Benj


On 8/7/2012 11:17 AM, Devin Monnens wrote:

> Do we have a more accurate release date for the Odyssey than 'August 

> 1972'? I know there was a big hullaballoo about how nobody knows the 

> release date of Super Mario Bros., but one would think there would be 

> better documentation from Magnavox (such as Sears ads).

>

> -Devin

>

> -- 

> Devin Monnens

> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>

> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>

>

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-- 
Freelance Writer / Editor in Chief VC&G
http://www.benjedwards.com
http://www.vintagecomputing.com

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