The "crash" is dramatically, completely over-exhaturated by history. In reality, it was basically a bad year. Kinda like 2011-12 so to speak. The reason it is called a "crash", is because video games were new at the time. Atari's were bascially the only system, so when consumers began to lose interest in it, a lot of casual, non-gamer observers felt that was the end of video games. It was really just the end of Atari. The "crash" happened in 1983, but I can still remember in 1984 enjoying my family's Colecovision and trips to the arcade to drop quarters in machines. Then in 1985 the NES was launched, and talk of exciting new systems began to reach my town. So basically it was a "down year", not a "crash". Most consumers didn't even notice it, not any more than we might notice the drop off of Wii games in 2011 as Nintendo switched focus to Wii U. The difference today is the industry is much more diverse, large and established. Sony and MS didn't transition at the same time as Nintendo and the games keep coming, even if sales are down.
