In 1976, Fairchild Camera and Instrument released the Channel F system, the first home console with a cartridge support. A year later, followed the Studio II (created by RCA), the second home console in history... And finally, in October 1977, Atari released the Atari VCS (Video Computer System) with 9 games available.
In 1982, Atari accepted that a dozen of third party developers would release games on the console. Financially, Atari came out with profits but playfully, it was a disaster... Although there were still some quality titles, a lot of crap was released on the Atari VCS...
In 1983, more and more companies were producing games and accessories; and what had to happen happened: There were too many products for the demand and many developers closed their doors. It was a crash for the video game world.
In 1984, the price of the Atari 2600 dropped to less than a third of its original price. The years 1984 and 1985 were really poor as far as video games were concerned and only a few games were released, including Cosmic Commuter and Ghostbusters. However, the console still sold well because it had become very cheap and had a huge game library.
In 1986 the NES from Nintendo was released, which was a huge success. Atari then decided to release the Atari 2600 Jr, a redesigned Atari 2600.
In 1987 and 1988, some excellent games were released such as Pac-Man Jr. The Atari VCS was renamed some time later Atari 2600 and dominated the console market for several years, until the early 80's.