Monthly Archives: February 2025

Breakout arcade game by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Atari Announces New Breakout Game

Back in 1976, Steve Jobs was working for Atari; in fact, he was employee #40 when he joined the company in 1974. One day, Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell approached Jobs with a proposition: develop a video arcade game that turned the two-player game PONG, on which Atari had built its fortunes, into a solo affair that would attract more quarters. In order to meet a tight self-imposed deadline for completion of the game, Jobs utilized the circuit engineering skills of his friend Steve Wozniak to help out.

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs at Apple, 1977
Wozniak and Jobs on the line at the company the founded, Apple Computers, in 1977 image

Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs on the line at the company they founded, Apple Computers, in 1977 image

The game was Breakout, and was pretty much an arcade version of the “handball” mode you’d find in most home PONG consoles of the time, made by either Atari or the many companies making copies of PONG. In the case of Breakout, players would knock a ball upwards against bricks that disappear, allowing new paths for the ball to travel through and break even more bricks.

Image of gameplay from Breakout, created by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, for Atari 1976
Original Breakout gameplay

Original Breakout gameplay

Here at TDE, you can read a fuller version of the development of the original Breakout and the chicanery that Jobs got up to when paying Wozniak his share of money received for designing the game. But as for the here and now, Atari has just announced that Breakout is getting a makeover, into a single OR multiplayer version called Breakout Beyond that flips the brick-breaking formula onto its side, having players drive their balls towards goalposts that let them move on to even harder puzzles as the game scrolls left to right. Taking a cue from the Breakout-inspired Taito arcade game Arkanoid, Breakout Beyond also offers powerups, doing things like enlarging players’ paddles, putting a barrier behind players to keep the balls in play, turning paddles into laser ships to manually blast blocks, and more. The highlight of playing the original Breakout would be the moments where you’d break through into the space above the bricks and be treated by a flurry of brick breaking as the ball bounced between the top of the screen and the top layers of bricks. Atari’s new version accentuates this feeling with fireworks and explosions as you break through layers.

Here is Atari’s trailer for the new Breakout Beyond, which is listed as “coming soon” for computers and consoles. Let’s hope Atari has another blockbuster on their paddles.