Video game crash of 1983 (North American video game crash)

Type: Concept

As of November 2026, Video game crash of 1983 (North American video game crash) has been mentioned in one podcast episode on Stuff You Should Know (Dec 2025).

The video game crash of 1983 was a large-scale recession in the video game industry that occurred from 1983 to 1985 in the United States. The crash was attributed to several factors, including market saturation in the number of video game consoles and available games, many of which were of poor quality. Waning interest in console games in favor of personal computers also played a role. Home video game revenue peaked at around $3.2 billion in 1983, and fell to around $100 million in 1985, a drop