The Impact of Third-Party Titles and Game Quality on the Video Game Industry

The chapter explores the lack of standardization in Atari cartridges, the influx of third-party titles, and the decline in quality control that contributed to the video game crash. It covers a lawsuit involving Activision's Checkers game and discusses the early high-quality games released by Activision for Atari. There is a focus on game design choices and technical challenges faced by developers working on games for the Atari 2600.