History of video game consoles (second generation)

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The second generation of video game consoles began in 1976. The second generation began with the release of the Fairchild Channel F and Radofin Electronics' 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System. This generation is sometimes called the "early 8-bit era". Many consoles were released in the second generation. The Atari 2600 was the most popular video game console for much of the second generation. Other consoles such as Intellivision, the Odyssey 2, and ColecoVision were also popular.

The second generation ended in 1984. This was because of the video game crash of 1983. As of 2004, the Atari 2600 has sold 30 million units.^[1] As of 1990, the Intellivision had sold 3 million units.^[2][3][4] As of April 1984, the ColecoVision had sold 2 million units.^[5] As of 1977, the Fairchild Channel F had sold 250,000 units.^[6]

1. ↑ "Atari VCS (Atari 2600)". A Brief History of Game Console Warfare. BusinessWeek. Archived from the original on 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2007-12-04.
2. ↑ "Mattel Intellivision - 1980-1984". ClassicGaming. IGN. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2008-05-16.
3. ↑ "Ask Hal: Frequently Asked Questions to the Blue Sky Rangers". Intellivision Productions. Archived from the original on 2017-09-20. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
4. ↑ "playstaion 303". Archived from the original on 2018-10-09. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
5. ↑ Coleco Industries sales report, PR Newswire, 1984-04-17, 'First quarter sales of ColecoVision were substantial, although much less that [sic] those for the year ago quarter,' Greenberg said in a prepared statement. He said the company has sold 2 million ColecoVision games since its introduction in 1982.
6. ↑ Gareth R. Jones; Charles W.L. Hill (2007). Strategic management: an integrated approach (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. C-123. ISBN 978-0-618-73166-4. Retrieved 25 February 2012. By this point, second-place Fairchild sold around 250,000 units of its system.