INTELLIVISION: A Tale of History, Survival, and Blue Sky Rangers
The Intellivision video game system was introduced by Mattel Toys in 1980 to compete with the Atari 2600. Before the world's largest toy company entered the market, video games were dismissed by many as a passing fad. But as the Intellivision vs. Atari battle heated up with an aggressive ad campaign starring author/actor George Plimpton, the world took notice. The question was no longer "Should I get my family a video game system?" but rather "WHICH video game system should I get?"
The video game industry quickly hit $1.5 billion in sales, with the success or failure of dozens of companies basically in the hands of the inexperienced fresh-from-college kids hired to design and program the games. In a three-year roller-coaster ride, Intellivision soared into three million homes and made tens of millions of dollars - then crashed and almost bankrupted Mattel.
In 1984, most companies got out of the video game business. Mattel sold the Intellivision rights to a new company, INTV Corp., founded by a former Mattel employee. Thanks to the support of millions of Intellivision fans, INTV was able to continue publishing new games, using many of the original Mattel programmers. By 1985, Intellivision was the only video game console still being sold in the United States. New consoles and games continued to be made until 1990, well into the Nintendo era.
 The Intellivision programmers, dubbed "The Blue Sky Rangers" by TV Guide in 1982, have remained a close-knit group. They meet annually for an Intellivision reunion, and over the years many have worked together at a number of companies on scores of projects.
 In 1997, Intellivision Productions, Inc. was founded by two of these programmers, Keith Robinson and Stephen Roney. The company acquired the rights to the Intellivision system and its games. Thanks to the continued loyalty of the Intellivision fans, Intellivision Productions has released four CD-ROMs of the games for play on PC and Mac: Intellivision Lives!, Intellivision Rocks, and two Intellivision Greatest Hits collections. The company has also licensed collections for PlayStation and for wireless phones. And Intellivision will be on more platforms soon!
Intellivision Productions is dedicated not only to keeping the classic games alive, but to telling the often-funny, often-bizarre story of Intellivision and the birth of the video game industry. |
A group of the original Intellivision programmers at a recent reunion.
Former Intellivision programmer and current president of Intellivision Productions, Inc.