When people talk about video games from the early 1980s, certain names always come up — Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders. But there’s one game that comes up for a very different reason: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial on the Atari 2600. It’s often called one of the worst video games ever made, and for many, it symbolizes the fall of the early video game industry.

But why? What really happened? Was it really that bad? And how did a game based on one of the most beloved movies of all time end up being such a disaster? The story of E.T. for Atari 2600 is full of rushed decisions, business pressure, and lessons the gaming world would never forget.

🎬 The Movie That Inspired the Game

In 1982, Steven Spielberg’s film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” was a massive hit. It was emotional, magical, and touched audiences of all ages. Naturally, video game companies saw it as a golden opportunity.

Atari, which was dominating the home console market at the time, wanted the rights to make an E.T. game — and they paid a fortune for it. Reports say they paid between $20 to $25 million just for the license. It was one of the most expensive deals in gaming at that time.

But the real problem wasn’t the price — it was the timeline.

⏱️ The Game That Was Made in Just 5 Weeks

Normally, a game on the Atari 2600 would take 6 to 8 months to develop. But because Atari wanted to release the game in time for Christmas 1982, they gave programmer Howard Scott Warshaw just five and a half weeks to develop the entire game — from scratch.

Warshaw was already known for creating Yars’ Revenge, one of the most popular games on the Atari 2600. He even had Spielberg’s personal approval to make the E.T. game. But five weeks? That was almost impossible.

To his credit, Warshaw actually finished the game in time. But the result was… let’s just say, far from what fans expected.

🕹️ The Gameplay – Confusing and Frustrating

So, what was the game actually like?

In the E.T. video game, you played as the alien trying to assemble a phone to “call home.” You walked around a series of screens, searching for the phone pieces, while trying to avoid falling into deep, hard-to-get-out-of pits and dodging government agents.

Sounds simple, right? But the execution was messy.

• The graphics were extremely basic — even for Atari standards.
• The pits were everywhere, and players would fall in repeatedly.
• Getting out of a pit required precise movement, which was hard due to clunky controls.
• There was no real tutorial or guidance — players were left confused.

Many people had no idea what to do, especially kids expecting something fun and magical like the movie.

Within days of its release, word of mouth was brutal. Kids returned the game. Parents complained. Retailers couldn’t sell it.

📉 A Massive Commercial Failure

Atari had high hopes for E.T. They produced around 4 to 5 million cartridges, expecting it to be a blockbuster. But only about 1.5 million copies were sold. The rest? Mostly returned or left to rot in warehouses.

The financial loss was devastating for Atari. They lost tens of millions of dollars, and the failed E.T. game became a symbol of the video game crash of 1983.

Of course, E.T. wasn’t the only reason the industry crashed. There were too many consoles, too many bad games, and not enough quality control. But E.T. was the tipping point. It showed what could go wrong when profits came before product.

🪦 The “Buried in the Desert” Legend (That Turned Out to Be True)

One of the most famous urban legends in gaming was that millions of unsold E.T. cartridges were buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

For years, people joked about it. No one knew if it was true or not.

Then in 2014, a team of documentary filmmakers, along with city officials and Microsoft, actually went to that landfill, dug it up — and found hundreds of cartridges, including copies of E.T., Centipede, Defender, and others.

The legend was true. And with that, the game’s legacy was sealed forever.

🧠 Was It Really the Worst Game Ever?

Here’s the thing — E.T. isn’t completely unplayable. For a game made in just over a month, it’s impressive that it works at all. Some players have even said that once you understand the gameplay, it can be… not great, but not awful either.

Many now say that E.T. was more of a victim of hype and corporate mismanagement than a bad idea. If Warshaw had been given proper time and testing, the game might’ve been something truly memorable.

Even Warshaw himself has defended the game in recent interviews, saying it was the best game that could be made under the circumstances — and he’s probably right.

🕹️ Legacy and Lessons

The legacy of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial isn’t just that it was a bad game. It’s what it taught the industry:

• Rushing development leads to disaster.
• Big licenses don’t guarantee a good game.
• Gamers deserve quality, not just marketing.

These lessons shaped the future of gaming. After the crash, companies like Nintendo stepped in with stricter quality control, game testing, and a renewed focus on the player experience. In a strange way, E.T. helped clean up the industry — by showing everyone what not to do.

🧑‍🚀 Final Thoughts

The E.T. game for Atari 2600 may be infamous, but it’s also important. It represents a moment in history when games got too big, too fast, and the industry had to stop and rethink its path.

Howard Scott Warshaw, once blamed for the disaster, has since become a cult hero in the gaming world. He even embraced the title of making “the worst video game of all time,” turning a bad moment into part of gaming history.

And really, how many games — even bad ones — are still talked about 40 years later?