The Atari Syndrome

This is a phenomenon between video games I like to all "The Atari Syndrome" based on the idiot company that it is named after, Atari. In it, games with big names (members of a big series, big company, big tv show) are more likely to be of low quality. We'll start with the origin - E.T. the Extra Terrestrial.




In E.T., the player has to fall down holes and get 3 telephone pieces while collecting Reese's pieces for energy. The graphics are appalling. Due to the big names, it was a hot-seller and then went cold. It was a huge factor in the video game crash of 1983, the video game burial of 1983 (10-20 truckloads of Atari games (mostly E.T.) were buried), and ultimately the fall of Atari.


The Atari Syndrome still exists to this day, with flawed games such as...

Survivor
Minute To Win It
Press Your Luck
Star Wars

Please see my reviews to see my thoughts.

I tohught MTWI was made by ZOO? And ZOO dosen't make very good games either.

It's not something by Atari itself. They collapsed, remember? It's the idea. If you have a big name, you'll have big sales regardless of quality. It works short-term, but if you try it multiple times, you will always fall flat.