E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Gaming's most notorious failure
The rushed 1982 Atari 2600 game that became synonymous with the video game crash - not because it caused it, but because it symbolised everything wrong with the industry.
Overview
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600 became gaming’s most infamous title - a rushed movie tie-in developed in five weeks that sold millions but was returned in greater numbers. While E.T. didn’t cause the 1983 crash, it became its enduring symbol: millions of unsold cartridges buried in a New Mexico landfill, excavated decades later as archaeological evidence of an industry’s hubris.
Fast Facts
- Developer: Howard Scott Warshaw (solo)
- Publisher: Atari
- Development time: 5 weeks
- Licence cost: $20-25 million
- Units produced: ~5 million
- Units sold: ~1.5 million
- Units returned: Millions
The Impossible Timeline
How E.T. happened:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| July 1982 | Atari secures licence for $20-25 million |
| Late July | Howard Scott Warshaw assigned |
| September 1 | Must be complete for manufacturing |
| December | Must be in stores for Christmas |
Five weeks to create a flagship game. Normal development took 5-6 months.
The Gameplay
What Warshaw created under impossible conditions:
- Objective: Help E.T. find phone pieces to “phone home”
- Mechanic: Search pits for hidden items
- Problem: Pits were confusing and frustrating
- Levitation: E.T. could float out of pits (slowly)
- Result: Most players never understood what to do
Why It Failed
| Factor | Impact |
|---|---|
| No time for playtesting | Broken mechanics shipped |
| Confusing objectives | Players wandered aimlessly |
| Pit falling | Constant frustration |
| High expectations | Movie was massive hit |
| Overproduction | 5 million units for maybe 2 million buyers |
The Landfill
The legend became fact:
- 1983: Atari sends unsold games to Alamogordo, New Mexico
- September 1983: Cartridges crushed and buried
- 1983-2013: Urban legend status
- April 2014: Excavation confirms burial
- Discovery: Hundreds of E.T. cartridges found
Warshaw attended the dig.
Not The Cause
Modern understanding:
- E.T. was a symptom, not the cause
- The market was already collapsing
- Overproduction was industry-wide
- Quality had collapsed across all publishers
- E.T. just became the symbol
The Developer’s Defence
Howard Scott Warshaw’s situation:
- Talented programmer (Yars’ Revenge was excellent)
- Given impossible deadline by management
- Did his best with available time
- Unfairly scapegoated for decades
- Later became a psychotherapist
Critical Reappraisal
Modern takes have softened:
- Documentary coverage - “Atari: Game Over” (2014)
- Design analysis - The game has logic, just poorly communicated
- Management blamed - Not the developer
- Collector interest - Landfill copies are valuable
Cultural Legacy
E.T. endures as:
- Symbol of the 1983 crash
- Warning about rushed development
- Example of licence costs gone wrong
- Gaming’s most famous failure
- Actual buried treasure (the landfill cartridges)