Activision started releasing games for the Atari 2600 in 1980. However, to stand out against Atari’s own games, Activision purposefully targeted weaknesses they saw in Atari’s releases.
Unlike Atari, Activision published their games with bright colored boxes, and in-game screenshots on the back of the box. Their game manuals also dedicated an entire page to the designer of the game. Atari was known for not crediting their developers – which led to the creation of the first video game “easter egg” by Warren Robinett in the game Adventure.
In the manuals, Activision also included criteria to send in photos of high scores for their games, and if you beat a set score, you’d receive a commemorative patch from Activision.
