Atari founder calls today’s games ‘pure, unadulterated trash’

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, has been called the father of video games and is credited with the creation of the coin-operated video game Pong. This iconic figure in the history of gaming was recently quoted by Electronic Design as saying, “Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash, and I’m sad for that.” 

Of course, he didn’t say that without justifying it. He pointed out that people could use more social games and that a lot of video games today are very isolated. What Bushnell wants to see is more group-oriented games where families can sit down together and play.

He notes that this is very important since it represents good mentoring time for families, something that doesn’t happen anymore. It’s no surprise that in one of our older articles he said that he is actually intrigued by the Wii and believes it might expand the market beyond hardcore gamers. This might also be the market that he wishes more game developers to pay attention to.

In fairness to the video game developers, they have been making moves to create more family-oriented games, in addition to the genres that have gained acceptance over the years. While Bushnell probably knows this, it might be that he feels there should be more support towards family-oriented gaming than what we currently have on the market today.

Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, has been called the father of video games and is credited with the creation of the coin-operated video game Pong. This iconic figure in the history of gaming was recently quoted by Electronic Design as saying, “Video games today are a race to the bottom. They are pure, unadulterated trash, and I’m sad for that.” 

Of course, he didn’t say that without justifying it. He pointed out that people could use more social games and that a lot of video games today are very isolated. What Bushnell wants to see is more group-oriented games where families can sit down together and play.

He notes that this is very important since it represents good mentoring time for families, something that doesn’t happen anymore. It’s no surprise that in one of our older articles he said that he is actually intrigued by the Wii and believes it might expand the market beyond hardcore gamers. This might also be the market that he wishes more game developers to pay attention to.

In fairness to the video game developers, they have been making moves to create more family-oriented games, in addition to the genres that have gained acceptance over the years. While Bushnell probably knows this, it might be that he feels there should be more support towards family-oriented gaming than what we currently have on the market today.