5 replies to this topic

[RF14]

Why did the Atari Lynx fail? I mean, it sold 5 million copies, but the competitor Gameboy sold 118 million. Why such a huge difference?

[ACrystal2011]

The biggest reasons were poor marketing and high cost

[Emehr]

I personally blame poor marketing and later neglecting the Lynx to focus on the Jaguar. Those were two huge blunders, in my opinion. I have no facts to back any of that up, just personal observations at the time.

I am very thankful for the awesome games we got, but it would have been nice to see some of those "coming soon" games come out, like Guardians: Storm Over Doria.

[ACrystal2011]

Also ataris inability to appeal to the third party developers that nintendo did

[Austin]

Battery life was easily a problem as well. Not just for the Lynx, but for the Game Gear, too. Likewise, from my own personal experience, portability was an issue too, and possibly a deciding factor for some. These systems were pretty large. There was no sneaking a Lynx by the parents after they told you "no more videogames!" The Game Boy, on the other hand.. oooh, to be a kid again.

[cryptik76]

I blame marketing as well. By that time, Nintendo was all the rage and Atari brought up images of dusty 2600's in closets. Atari needed strong marketing to succeed, and they didn't.

I actually wanted a Lynx much more than I ever wanted a Game Boy, but I was only in my early teens then and the cost was prohibitive. But fortunately now I have one plus a ton of games and I still love it, but I wish it had had more success.