Atari XE Game System

Why did Atari release the XE Game System (XEGS) in 1987 (or ever, for that matter)? Perhaps it was to breathe some life into the Atari 8-bit line, which at this point was represented by the 65XE and the 130XE. Atari tried to sell potential users on the computer aspects of the XEGS. But as a game system, it was in direct competition with Atari's own 7800-- Atari's best weapon against the NES and SMS, given the age of the technology in the XEGS. And as PC clones started to dominate the market, Atari found out the hard way that very few people were interested in a game system that could turn into a computer (didn't Coleco's ADAM teach them anything?).

Related Information

• List of Atari 8-bit Cartridges

Pictures

• Atari XE Game System console
• Atari XE promotional flyer page
• Many types of Atari 8-bit cartridges
  [left-right, top-bottom: first style Atari (400/800 era), second style Atari (XL era), third style Atari (early XE era), fourth style Atari (late XE era), Big Five style 1, Big Five style 2, Epyx style 1, Epyx style 2, Spinnaker, Parker Brothers, Activision. The 5200 cart is included for comparison in size (remember the 5200 and 8-bit computers were nearly identical--Atari really wanted the public not to believe that!)]

Dennis Brown, brownde@cs.unc.edu, creator and maintainer. E-Mail me with corrections and additions. All contents copyright 1997, Dennis Brown. All trademarks are properties of their respective companies.