Nolan Bushnell
Nolan Bushnell | |
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Computer software | |
Institutions | Atari Chuck E. Cheese |
Nolan Kay Bushnell (born February 5, 1943) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established
He is credited with Bushnell's Law, an aphorism about games that are "easy to learn and difficult to master" being rewarding.[5]
Personal life
Bushnell was born in 1943 in Clearfield, Utah, in a middle-class family who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[6][7] He attended Davis High School in the nearby town of Kaysville, Utah.[8] Bushnell enrolled at Utah State University in 1961 to study engineering and then later business. In 1964, he transferred to the University of Utah's (U of U) College of Engineering, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.[9] He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.[10] He was one of many computer science students of the 1960s who played the historic Spacewar! game on DEC mainframe computers.[10]
He married his first wife, Paula Rochelle Nielson, in 1966 and had two daughters; in 1969, they moved to California.[11] They divorced in 1975, just prior to Warner Communication's purchase of Atari.[12][13] Around the end of 1977, he married Nancy Nino, with whom he had six children.[14] He also used his profit from selling Atari to Warner to purchase the former mansion of coffee magnate James Folger in Woodside, California.[15]
Although he was a
Business career
Early career and Syzygy
Bushnell worked at
While in college, he worked for several employers, including Litton Guidance and Control Systems, Hadley Ltd, and the industrial engineering department at the U of U. For several summers, he built his own advertising company, Campus Company, which produced blotters for four universities and sold advertising space around a calendar of events. He also sold copies of Encyclopedia Americana.[9]
After graduating, Bushnell had moved to California from Utah with the hopes of being hired by
In 1969, Bushnell and Dabney formed Syzygy with the intention of producing a Spacewar clone known as Computer Space. Dabney built the prototype and Bushnell shopped it around, looking for a manufacturer. They made an agreement with Nutting Associates, a maker of coin-op trivia and shooting games, that produced a fiberglass cabinet for the unit that included a coin-slot mechanism.[19][20][21]
Computer Space was a commercial failure, though sales exceeded $3 million.[22] Bushnell felt that Nutting Associates had not marketed the game well,[10] and decided that his next game would be licensed to a bigger manufacturer. Bushnell also knew that the next game they developed would need to be simpler and not require users to read instructions on the cabinet, since their target audience would likely be drunken bar patrons.[11]
Atari, Inc.
In 1972, Bushnell and Dabney set off on their own, and learned that the name "Syzygy" was in use; Bushnell has said at different times that it was in use by a candle company owned by a
They rented their first office on Scott Boulevard in Sunnyvale, California, contracted with Bally Manufacturing to create a driving game, and hired their second employee, engineer Allan Alcorn.[10] Bushnell originally wanted to develop a game similar to Chicago Coin's Speedway, which at the time was the biggest-selling electro-mechanical game at his arcade.[27]
After Bushnell attended a Burlingame, California demonstration of the Magnavox Odyssey, he gave the task of making the Magnavox tennis game into a coin-op version to Alcorn as a test project. He told Alcorn that he was making the game for General Electric, in order to motivate him, but in actuality he planned to simply dispose of the game.[10] Alcorn incorporated many of his own improvements into the game design, such as the ball speeding up the longer the game went on, and Pong was born. Pong proved to be very popular; Atari released a large number of Pong-based arcade video games over the next few years as the mainstay of the company. After the release of Pong, Bushnell and Dabney had a falling-out: Dabney felt he was being pushed to the side by Bushnell,[28] while Bushnell felt Dabney was holding back the company from larger financial success.[29] Bushnell purchased Dabney's share of Atari for $250,000 in 1973.[29]
To get more arcade games to market and bypass exclusivity limitations that coin-op game distributors had set, Bushnell discreetly had his neighbor Joe Keenan establish Kee Games in 1973 to manufacture near-copies of Atari's games.[30] Even with Kee's output, Atari had difficulty meeting demand for arcade games, and by 1974 Atari was facing financial hardships in part due to the competition in the arcade game market. Bushnell opted to merge Kee Games into Atari in September 1974 just ahead of the release of Tank, a wholly original arcade game from Kee. Tank was an arcade success and helped bolster Atari's finances. Keenan became president of Atari and managed its operations while Bushnell retained his CEO role.[31]
With the company financially stable, Atari entered the consumer electronics market, with its home Pong consoles first released in 1975. Atari continued to make variants of its existing arcade games for dedicated home consoles until 1977.
As Atari faced more competition in both arcade and home consoles from 1975 onward, Bushnell recognized that the costs in developing both types of systems with only limited shelf life were too high, and directed Atari's engineers at
The first year of Atari VCS sales were modest and limited by Atari's own supply. While many of initial games were arcade conversions of Atari arcade games, the second wave of games in 1983 were more abstract and difficult to promote. Warner placed Ray Kassar, a former vice president of Burlington Industries, to help with Atari's marketing.[37] Kassar created successful advertising and marketing throughout 1978, positioning the Atari VCS for a larger sales period at the end of the year.[37] However, Bushnell had concerns on Kassar's plans and feared they had produced too many units to be sold, and at a board meeting with Warner near the end of the year, reiterated this position. Bushnell recommended that funds be used in R&D for developing a new, technologically superior console, as he feared rising competition would make the aging tech specs of the VCS obsolete. Bushnell's concerns never materialized as a combination of Kassar's marketing and the popularity of Taito's Space Invaders at the arcade drove Atari VCS sales. Both Warner Communications and Bushnell commonly recognized he was no longer a good leader for the company, removing him as CEO and Chairman in early 1979. Warner offered Bushnell the opportunity to stay as a director and creative consultant, but Bushnell refused. Before leaving, Bushnell negotiated the rights to Pizza Time Theatre from Atari for $500,000. Keenan replaced Bushnell but left a few months later, with Kassar being named as Atari's CEO by mid-1979.[38]
Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre
In 1977, while at Atari, Bushnell purchased Pizza Time Theatre back from Warner Communications. It had been created by Bushnell, originally as a place where kids could go and eat
Through 1981 and 1982, Bushnell concentrated on PTT subsidiaries Sente Technologies and Kadabrascope. Sente was a reentry into the coin-operated game business. Arcade cabinets would have a proprietary system with a cartridge slot so operators could refresh their games without having to buy whole new cabinets.[39] Kadabrascope was an early attempt at computer assisted animation. In 1983 as the restaurants started to lose money, Sente, though profitable, was sold to Bally for $3.9 million and Kadabrascope was sold to Lucasfilm which became the beginnings of what became Pixar.
During this time Bushnell was using large loans on his Pizza Time stock to fund Catalyst. By the end of 1983, Chuck E. Cheese was having serious financial problems. President and long-time friend Joe Keenan resigned that fall. Nolan tried to step back in, blaming the money problems on over-expansion, too much tweaking of the formula and saturation in local markets by the management team. He resigned in February 1984, when the board of directors rejected his proposed changes. Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theaters (now named after its famous rat mascot) entered bankruptcy in the fall of 1984.
ShowBiz Pizza Place, a competing Pizza/Arcade family restaurant, then purchased Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre and assumed its debt. The newly formed company, ShowBiz Pizza Time, operated restaurants under both brands before unifying all locations under the Chuck E. Cheese brand by 1992. Today over 560 locations of this restaurant are in business.
Catalyst Technologies Venture Capital Group
Bushnell founded Catalyst Technologies, one of the earliest business incubators. The Catalyst Group companies numbered in the double digits and included Androbot, Etak, Cumma, and Axlon.
Axlon launched many consumer and consumer electronic products successfully, most notably AG Bear, a bear that mumbled/echoed a child's words back to him/her. In the late 1980s, Axlon managed the development of two new games for the Atari 2600, most likely as part of a marketing attempt to revive sales of the system, already more than a decade old. This included Motorodeo, a monster truck-themed games that was one of the last games developed for the Atari 2600 system, being released in 1990.[40] The company was largely sold to Hasbro.
Etak, founded in 1984, was the first company to digitize the maps of the world, as part of the first commercial
While many of the ideas eventually led to current-day innovations, most of Catalyst's companies eventually failed due to a lack of underlying technology available in the 1980s to sustain these high-tech innovations. For example, Catalyst's companies included CinemaVision, which attempted to develop high-definition television. Cumma attempted to distribute video games using special vending machines that would write the game onto discs on demand. ByVideo developed an early online shopping experience using kiosks and Laser Discs that allowed shoppers to virtually purchase products that would then be delivered later.[41]
PlayNet/Aristo
In 1996 Nolan Bushnell became senior consultant to the small game developer Aristo International
uWink
Before BrainRush, Bushnell's most recent company was
Atari, SA
On April 19, 2010, Atari announced Nolan Bushnell along with Tim Virden would join the company's board of directors.[50]
Modal VR
Bushnell is also one of the founders of Modal VR,[51] a company that develops a portable large-scale VR system for enterprises to train e.g., security forces.
Anti-Aging Games, LLC
Nolan is on the advisory board of Anti-AgingGames.com and was a co-founder of the company,[52] featuring online memory, concentration, and focus games for healthy people over 35.[2]
BrainRush
BrainRush is a company that uses video game technology in educational software where he is Founder, CEO and chairman. The company was venture capital funded in 2012. It is based on the idea that many curriculum lessons can be turned into mini-games. Developers can take any body of knowledge from English language arts to foreign language, geography, multiplication table or chemistry tables, to parts of the human body and gamify the experience. BrainRush calls their underlying technology "Adaptive Practice." They have also developed an open-authoring system allowing users to quickly create games in different topic areas.
Between 2010 and 2012, BrainRush ran a test in Spanish language vocabulary learning with over 2200 teachers and 80,000 students across the country and got an increase in learning speed of between 8–10 times traditional learning.[citation needed] BrainRush rolled out the full platform in the fall of 2013.
Global Gaming Technologies Corp (CSE – GGAM.U)
On March 6, 2019, Nolan was appointed CEO and Chairman of publicly traded company Global Gaming Technologies Corp.[53]
Other ventures
- In 1981, Bushnell created the TimberTech Computer Camp in Scotts Valley, California.
- In 1982, Bushnell commissioned Charley, a 67-foot racing yacht designed by Ron Holland. Charley went on to win Line honours in the 1983 TransPacific Yacht Race.
- In 1983, Bushnell introduced the first "Androbot" TOPO. It was shown at the First Annual Consumer Robotics Show in Albuquerque, NM.[54]
- In 1984, Bushnell purchased the arcade game company Videa and renamed it Hat Trick.
- In 1991, Bushnell endorsed the 500 computer repackaged for the consumer electronics market.
- In Summer 1995 Bushnell announced a new line of amusement centers called E2000, which would be similar to Chuck E. Cheese's, but based on a video game theme.Merrill Lynch prompted most of E2000's investors to back out, leaving him unable to fund the project.[7]
- In June 1999, Bushnell joined the board of directors of Wave Systems Corp.
- In 2005, he served as a judge on the USA Network reality series Made in the USA.
- In 2007, Bushnell joined the board of NeoEdge Networks as chairman.
- In 2007, Bushnell joined the advisory board of GAMEWAGER.[56]
- In 2008, Bushnell became a member of AirPatrol Corporation's board of directors.
- In 2009, Bushnell announced his intention to move into the game-education market with a venture called Snap. He also announced that he would make an appearance at SGC, a gaming convention organized by ScrewAttack.
- In May 2016, Bushnell joined the board of directors of MGT Capital Investments. John McAfee, proposed Executive Chairman and chief executive officer of MGT Capital, stated, "Nolan is one of the brightest minds in cyber technology. In his career, he has founded more than 20 high tech companies, giving him unprecedented knowledge of the tech industry. As a director, he will help MGT identify and cultivate the necessary strategic partnerships to position the company as the world leader in cyber security."[57]
- In January 2017, Bushnell joined the board of directors of Perrone Robotics, a maker of robotics software platforms for autonomous vehicles and mobile robots.[58]
- In March 2021, Bushnell co-founded Moxy.io, a blockchain powered esport competition, tournament, and event platform.
Media appearances
Bushnell was featured in the documentary film
Accolades
Bushnell is considered to be the "father of electronic gaming" due to his contributions in establishing the arcade game market and creation of Atari.[62][63] There had been debate between whether Bushnell or Ralph H. Baer, who is credited with creating the first home video game console, should be considered the father of video games, which had led to some bad blood between the two inventors. However, the industry recognized that Baer should be considered the father of home video gaming, while Bushnell is credited with innovating the arcade game.[64][65]
At the
Planned biographical film
Since 2008, there has been interest to a biographical film about Bushnell's life. While Bushnell had been approached by others to make such a film and turned these offers down, he accepted an offer made by Paramount Pictures in June 2008 with a script by Craig Sherman and Brian Hecker, with Leonardo DiCaprio envisioned to star as Bushnell.[67][68] While news of the film was quiet over the next ten years, in March 2018, film financing company Vision Tree was working to start an initial coin offering for cryptocurrency to raise up to US$40 million for the film, which was set to be produced by DiCaprio's studio Appian Way Productions, Vision Tree, and Avery Productions.[69]
GDC Pioneer Award controversy
In January 2018, the Advisory Committee of the
The following day, the Advisory Committee reconsidered the selection of Bushnell for the award[71] and announced the Pioneer Award would not be awarded, and instead it would be used that year to "honor the pioneering and unheard voices of the past".[74] GDC further stated that they believed their selections "should reflect the values of today's game industry".[72] Bushnell released a statement agreeing with the committee's decision:[75]
I applaud the GDC for ensuring that their institution reflects what is right, specifically with regards to how people should be treated in the workplace. And if that means an award is the price I have to pay personally so the whole industry may be more aware and sensitive to these issues, I applaud that, too. If my personal actions or the actions of anyone who ever worked with me offended or caused pain to anyone at our companies, then I apologize without reservation.
In a later statement to Kotaku, Bushnell cautioned that "exploring these kinds of issues through a finite, 40-year-old prism [does not offer] a productive reflection of our company", and referred to feedback from his former employees.[72] Kotaku spoke to a dozen female former Atari employees, some whom had already spoken out on social media. All who agreed that while the company's 1970s and 1980s workplace was influenced by the broader Sexual Revolution, the allegations made against Bushnell were exaggerated or false, and that the culture was one that they all freely participated in.[73][72] Some of the more notable female employees of Atari spoke further of the situation at the company and Bushnell during the 1970s:
- Elaine Shirley, who worked at Atari during the Bushnell years, said, "Those were the times. He [Nolan Bushnell] hit on women and they hit on him. If the #MeToo movement was active when Atari was alive, I think half our company would be charged. To my knowledge, no one ever did anything they did not want to do."[77]
- Loni Reeder, who was responsible for communications, security, and facilities at Atari and later cofounded uWink with Bushnell, stated, "I was treated fairly and paid well. I have fellow Atari women friends who also know Nolan. None of us were offended by him."[78][79] Reeder further stated of the workplace at Atari, "I take great offense of people coming in today and saying we were oppressed...We had a united and cohesive environment. That was what the ’70s were about. It wasn't like we all got together to have an orgy."[80]
- Carol Kantor, the first games user researcher and who led an all-female games user research team at Atari,[81] said, "I know there are people out there who are accused and really were guilty of sexual harassment. But not Nolan. It wasn't in his character. I certainly stand up for the Nolan that I knew. He certainly didn't hold his power over people."[80]
The women interviewed by Kotaku generally considered the attack and decision related to Bushnell's award as unfair, and expressed anger at those that had raised the issue with the committee.[72] Some stated that those who accused Bushnell of sexism did not take into consideration the culture of the time, and there was a clear and distinct difference between the sexualized occurrences at Atari in the 1970s, and the real harassment and threats faced by women in the current #MeToo movement.[80]
The situation has led to discussion of how the Atari workplace may have influenced the current video game industry. Kotaku observed that the percentage of females in the video game industry has declined since 1991 to as low as 15% as of 2016, which is difficult to attribute, but suggested may be tied to a portion of women that would not be able to withstand the type of workplace of the 1980s Atari.[72] In an editorial, Dean Takahashi suggested the current environment within the video game industry was more heavily influenced by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, which took drastically different approaches to workplace culture.[73]
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- OCLC 1004376487.)
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Further reading
- Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun, by Curt Vendel, Marty Goldberg (2012), ISBN 0985597402
- Zap: The Rise and Fall of Atari, by Scott Cohen (1984), ISBN 0-7388-6883-3
- Gaming 101: A Contemporary History of PC and Video Games, by George Jones (2005). ISBN 1-55622-080-4
- The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokémon—The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World, by Steven L. Kent (2001), ISBN 0-7615-3643-4
- High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games, by Rusel DeMaria, Johnny L. Wilson (2003), ISBN 0-07-223172-6
- The First Quarter: A 25-year History of Video Games, by Steven L. Kent (2000). Bothell, WA: BWD Press. OCLC 45849134.
External links
- Nolan Bushnell: A Life in Video Games, filmed BAFTAevent
- San Jose Mercury News Podcast Interview with Bushnell
- Podcast Interview Nolan Bushnell on "We Talk Games." [Timecode, 00:38:05].
- The Dot Eaters entry on Bushnell and Atari
- An interview with Bushnell
- Discovery Channel Interview with Bushnell
- gigaom.com Archived September 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine on Bushnell and NeoEdge Networks
- Nolan Bushnell Keynote Address at Game Based Learning 2009, London, March 2009
- An interview with Bushnell on The BusinessMakers Show
- quotes.nobosh.com Nolan Bushnell Quotes
- Nolan Bushnell with Leo Laporte on TWiT -Triangulation No.60 (video and audio – Wed July 11, 2012 – duration 87 minutes)
- Nolan Bushnell with Dr. Jeremy Weisz on InspiredInsider -Bushnell Opens up about Low Times and Proud Moments(video and audio duration 12 minutes)
- "How I Built This / Atari & Chuck E. Cheese's: Nolan Bushnell". Archived from the original on March 13, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017. (audio interview)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20160611120837/http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mgt-appoints-nolan-bushnell-board-130000055.html