Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Primarily responsible for the formation of the video arcade and modern video game industries, the company was closed and its assets split in 1984 as a direct result of the North American video game crash of 1983. In 1966, Nolan Bushnell saw "Spacewar!" for the first time at the University of Utah. By 1968, Bushnell had become an employee of Ampex in San Francisco, and worked alongside Ted Dabney. The two found they had shared interests, including
Computer Space Computer Space Computer Space is a space combat arcade game developed in 1971 as one of the last games created in the early history of video games. Created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in partnership as Syzygy Engineering, it was the first arcade video game as well as the first commercially available video game. "Computer Space" is a derivative of the 1962 computer game "Spacewar!", possibly the first video game to spread to multiple computer installations. It features a rocket, controlled by the player, engaged in a missile battle with a pair of flying saucers set against a background