Data Age is an interesting company, not because of the owner, not because of the developers, but because they just disappeared. The company released eight games and had several in the prototype stage. Like many companies from this time, there is very little information about it.
However, Data Age is a bit different. It doesn’t appear that it had the financial backing of a larger company like 20th Century Fox, Quaker Oats, or CBS. It also doesn’t look like it had developers from Atari, Activision, or Imagic.
At this point, the only names I’ve been able to find are the marketing and founder. Every source I’ve come across mentions five developers, but who they are remains a mystery. If I find out who they are and what games they worked on, I’ll put that in the final thoughts or in the games section.
Data Age started well, but poor reviews and reliance on licensed games hurt them. It was a good strategy to license popular things, like the band Journey, but it seems like they couldn’t recoup the cost of buying the license and the advertising budget.
Just about every source I’ve looked at mentions these two as contributing factors to the company’s closing down. I’m unsure when they officially closed their doors, but the evidence suggests it was in 1983. This would mean they released eight games in about a year or two. Let’s talk about the games a bit more.
Games
Data Age released eight games during 1982-83. These were mostly what you should expect from an Atari game. These were arcade games that were made for the home console. The games are shoot’em ups and platformers. It doesn’t mean they’re bad games; it just means the games aren’t that deep and are mostly centered around a high score or a repetitive game loop.
Here is a list of the games that were officially released:
- Airlock
- Warplock
- Bugs
- Encounter at L-5
- Bermuda Triangle
- Sssnake
- Journey Escape (Designed by Jay R. Dettling)
- Frankenstein’s Monster
There were also a series of games that either made it to the prototype stage or were announced. Atari Age, Moby Games, and Atarimania have different lists, as not every site includes unreleased and prototype games. Here is a list with the prototype games in parentheses:
- Secret Agent (Prototype found)
- Mr. Bill’s Neighborhood
- Smokey Bear
- Mr. T
Atarimania lists a game called Survival Run. This is the only place that I’ve seen this game mentioned. The site explains that development stopped at some point for unknown reasons. The post speculates that the game wasn’t coming together as the developers wanted, and I can only guess that it meant it wasn’t fun. I’m unsure why this game isn’t mentioned elsewhere or how it was discovered. Atarimania does have the ROM available if you want to play it.
Journey Escape can be pointed to as the game that sunk the company. 4.5 million dollars was spent on marketing, but the game received poor reviews and had low sales. The game is different from the Journey arcade game.
The games look really good for the time. Frankenstein’s Monster is probably the best-looking game and is the best of the bunch. Encounter at L-5 is also good, but the rest are largely forgettable.
One source said that two of their games, Bugs and Sssnake, are two of the worst video games ever made. I’m guessing the author of this line hadn’t played too many games. There are worse games out there, and I doubt these two relatively obscure games are the worst. I mean, Games by Appollo made some horrific games.
Why did they close Down?
The logical assumption would be to say the North American Video Game Crash. This is too simple for me. It also doesn’t match the timeline of the company.
There isn’t much information on Data Age, but we have a list of release dates. Their games mainly were released in 1982, with only one or two released in 1983. Their problems started before the announcement of Atari’s financial situation.
They fell into the same trap as Atari. Spend a lot of money on a license, spend a lot on advertising, and have a disappointing return on investment. However, there are some missing pieces to all of this.
Unlike Atari’s manufacturing numbers for both E.T. and Pac-Man, the production, sales, and return numbers for Journey Escape aren’t known. If they have been published somewhere, I haven’t been able to find them. At this point, I’ve only found sources that say it sold poorly.
We can point to the downturn in the video game market, but I think it is simpler than that. Their products didn’t take off in the way they were hoping. Once the market crashed, there wasn’t much hope for them. Data Age had been making games for the Atari 2600, and once the console market fell apart, they had nowhere to turn.
Did the Developers Make Games after the Data Age Closed?
I have no idea. I could only find the name of one developer, and I couldn’t find out what he worked on after Journey Escape. I’m sure the information is out there, but I haven’t been able to find it.
Final Thoughts
I wish there were more information about this company. I was only able to find one for the five developers. I don’t even know when the company ceased to exist.
From everything I’ve read, they worked their way up to 35 employees, and they had some success early on. However, they had issues with their games not being all that good, and their marketing campaign for Journey Escape didn’t work out. They spent a lot of money but didn’t see a return on their investment.
What happened to Data Age happens all of the time. Not every startup works out, and not every video game company becomes successful. This is one of the companies that I wish had been able to stick around.
If I find more information about Data Age I’ll add to this post. I’m sure there is more out there, and I’ll probably be able to find it at a later date.