Howard Scott Warshaw, the developer of Yars' Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark, famously developed E.T. in a mere 5 weeks. E.T. being terrible is largely jus

Howard Scott Warshaw, the developer of Yars' Revenge and Raiders of the Lost Ark, famously developed E.T. in a mere 5 weeks. E.T. being terrible is largely just a meme, though. It sold quite well, and had at worst a mixed reception: 'E.T. sold between 1.5 and 1.97 million cartridges,[3] according to various different figures. This would, in fact, earn it the not-too-shabby distinction of being one of the best-selling 2600 titles of all time. And despite what revisionist history may tell you, the game wasn’t actually critically panned on release! In actuality, it was… Well, actually, it was pretty mixed as it turns out. There were certainly those who found fault in the game, most tending to criticize it for lack of difficulty, of all things. Video Games magazine contributor Phil Wiswell wrote in a March 1983 review “E.T. is really for the kids (the littler ones),” before going on to extol the praises of Raiders.[4] But for every published negative review, there was either a positive or neutral score to balance it out. Kevin Christopher of Vidiot contended in March of ‘83 that the pits were “about the only flaw with an otherwise A-1 game.”[5] You can question his credibility if you will, but the fact of the matter is that not everyone was down on E.T. like the modern narrative claims they were.' --https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/et-the-extra-terrestrial/ https://www.badgamehalloffame.com/et-the-extra-terrestrial/ Footnotes for above excerpt: [3] The 1.97 million high estimate is taken from VGChartz, who are a bit dodgy at times when it comes to this sort of stuff. If anything, this figure is likely an overestimation though, rather than an underestimate. [4] Wiswell, Phil. “New Games From Well-Known Names”. Video Games. March, 1983: pg 69. Print. [5] Christopher, Kevin. “ET Phones Home for the Holidays”. Vidiot. February–March, 1983: pg 41–43. Print.