The origins of video games trace back further than many realize, with early innovators laying the groundwork for what would become a global entertainment phenomenon. While today’s immersive virtual worlds might seem worlds apart from those first electronic diversions, they share a common ancestry that began in research labs decades ago.
The First Electronic Game
Most video game historians credit physicist William Higinbotham with creating the first true electronic game in 1958. Working at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Higinbotham developed “Tennis for Two” using an oscilloscope and analog computer. This simple tennis simulation featured a side view of a tennis court with a net in the middle and allowed players to hit a ball back and forth using controllers with buttons and dials.
Higinbotham’s motivation wasn’t fame or fortune—he simply wanted to make the laboratory’s visitor day more engaging. Little did he know that his creation would help spark an entirely new medium of entertainment.
The Birth of Commercial Video Games
While Tennis for Two was groundbreaking, it wasn’t commercially available. The first video game that many could actually play at home came in 1972 with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey, created by Ralph Baer, often called the “Father of Video Games.”
Baer began working on his console concept in 1966 while employed at defense contractor Sanders Associates. His “Brown Box” prototype eventually became the Odyssey, which connected to television sets and included several games, including a ping-pong variant.
Pong and the Arcade Revolution
Around the same time, Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney founded Atari and released “Pong” to arcades—a similar table tennis game that became an instant sensation. The success of Pong in 1972 effectively launched the commercial video game industry as we know it, with arcades popping up across America and eventually worldwide.
By 2025, we’ll be looking back at over five decades of commercial video gaming, an industry that has grown from simple blips on a screen to virtual worlds generating hundreds of billions in revenue annually.
The Computer Game Pioneers
While arcade and console games grabbed public attention, another branch of video game development was occurring on early computers. In 1962, MIT students created “Spacewar!” on a PDP-1 computer. This space combat game featuring two ships battling around a gravitational star wasn’t commercially available but influenced generations of developers.
Steve Russell, the primary programmer, never patented or profited from Spacewar!, yet its impact reverberates through gaming history. The game demonstrated that computers could be used for entertainment, not just calculation.
A Collaborative History
The true story of who invented video games isn’t about a single inventor but rather a cascade of innovations building upon each other. From Higinbotham’s laboratory demonstration to Baer’s home console, from Russell’s computer program to Bushnell’s commercial vision—each contributed essential elements to what would become a transformative medium.
What’s remarkable is how quickly this technology evolved from experimental novelties to sophisticated entertainment that now shapes our culture, storytelling, and social interactions.
