[game_preservation] Release date of the Odyssey?

[Martin Goldberg]

Hey guys, just taking a quick break from some last minute layout fixes
from the Atari Inc. book.

Ralph's a good friend of mine and I've discussed most of this stuff at
length with him many times over - May and the Caravan were just the
public showings to generate dealer interest, not a release date. Not
very different than showing off a console at CES was or E3 now before
it's actual shipping date.

The August date is the shipping time for Odyssey (I believe it was
early August,) when it was sent out to Magnavox dealers - which also
means it would be when it was put on the shelves as well. As far as a
coordinated "release date," as Benj mentions (btw glad you finally
made it here) that simply didn't exist back then. The Odyssey was just
another Magnavox product, no different than releasing a new TV.
Release dates didn't start to be coordinated until the Christmas
season was specifically targeted in '75 (with the release of both
Magnavox's and Atari's PONG units), but even then they were just
seasonal releases vs. a specific date.

BTW, I'm heading out to CGE this week to promote the book then I'll be
back in SF on Monday through the following weekend doing more
interviews for the next book and attending a private 40th Anniversary
renion of Atari coin people. If anyone out that way would like to get
together, just let me know.


On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 11:16 AM, Frank Cifaldi <fcifaldi at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Benj! Great to see you here. I agree 100% too, there was no firm release

> date for the Odyssey. In fact, I'd be curious to know where August even came

> from, do you have a source for that Devin?

>

> My go-to source for this would be Ralph Baer himself, who took meticulous

> notes. I have in front of me a production copy of his book and a pre-release

> manuscript (JUST IN CASE!). According to Baer, Magnavox started showing the

> Odyssey on the traveling Magnavox Profit Caravan show on May 3, 1972, and

> "over the following months Magnavox began supplying the dealers with

> production units."

>

>

> On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 8:40 AM, Benj Edwards <editor at vintagecomputing.com>

> wrote:

>>

>> 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

>>

>> 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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-- 
Marty