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62 APRIL 2016
GAMES
T omohiro Nishikado remained
confident that he had created a
title that would appeal to arcade
players and equally, provide Taito with a
strong commercial opportunity. His
colleagues shared his optimism after
playing the game, although management
had reservations, and these were
accentuated when a test panel of arcade
operators submitted negative reviews.
However, several arcades agreed to take
Space Invaders, and gradually, as word of
mouth spread, momentum began to build.
Within months there was unprecedented
demand for the game, with arcades across
Japan requesting units. Taito
began to produce a stand up
cabinet version complete with
the painted lunar backdrop and
the now iconic external artwork.
The sudden popularity of Space Invaders
– aided in part by a renewed interest
in aliens driven by Star Wars and Close
Encounters of the Third Kind – took Taito by
surprise. Reports of long queues forming
outside arcades as gamers patiently
waited for a turn began filtering back to
the Japanese company. Stories (denied by
Nishikado) that the country had to produce
more 100 Yen coins to compensate for the
amount of money that was being deposited
in machines were circulated by the media.
Puzzlingly, Nishikado was forbidden by
Taito from revealing his identity as the
creator of Space Invaders, leaving the
games designer in complete anonymity
while the game was making headline news
and earning a tidy profit for his employer.
By the end of 1978, Taito had sold over
100,000 machines in Japan, turning over
$600 million dollars of business.
The enthusiasm for the game wasn’t
confined to Japan. Across the other side
of the world, American company Midway
were quick to pick up on the interest when
Taito struggled to fill orders and licensed
the game for distribution; in 1979 alone,
Midway moved over 60,000 cabinets.
A proliferation of arcades were swiftly
opened to cater for the demand, and shop
owners frantically cleared space to install
a cabinet. Space Invaders retailed for
$2,000 in 1979 (around $6,000 today), but
it could be paid off in less than a month of
operation.
Similar interest in the game was
registered in Europe, with some news
outlets in the UK running stories on how
the arcade game was causing children to
commit crimes to facilitate their addiction.
In 1980, Atari became the first company
to secure the licensing rights to an arcade
game, and Space Invaders was ported to
the Atari VCS. The move proved to be a
defibrillator for the floundering console
market, and the Atari subsequently sold
two million units in 12 months.
By 1982, Space Invaders was a
worldwide success, earning Taito a net
profit of over $500 million. It remains
Taito’s best selling game and continues
its profitability through a thriving licensing
business.
A plethora of titles influenced by the
game’s design followed in its wake. The
concept of a difficulty curve and level
progression was completely revolutionary.
Industry luminaries such as Shigeru
Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima cite Space
Invaders as the game that turned them
onto the industry.
After the initial success, Tomohiro
Nishikado continued to design games for
Taito before leaving in 1996 to start his own
video game company, Dreams. He stayed
at the company until 2013 before returning
to Taito, where he currently serves as a
technical advisor.
But the impact of the iconic game he
built autonomously remains as relevant
today as it did in the smoke-filled arcades
around the world 38 years ago.
The End.
When Space Invaders ruled the Earth. By Paul Jones. PART 2
The enthusiasm for the
game wasn't confined
to Japan... in 1979 alone,
American company Midway
moved over 60,000 cabinets.