Editing Atari XE Game System (section)

== History ==

''Antic'' recorded the pitch that produced the machine: Atari executives asked the heads of
several major toy store chains which product they would rather sell, "the powerful 65XE home
computer for about $80, or a fancy new game system for about $150", and were told to keep the
computer.<ref name="ratcliff" />

Atari sold '''100,000 XE Game Systems in the United States over the 1987 Christmas season -
every unit it manufactured that year'''.<ref name="antic88">Nat Friedland, "Editorial: Ever-Changing Atari Marketplace", ''Antic'' Vol. 7 No. 1 (May 1988), reproduced at [https://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n1/marketplace.html atarimagazines.com].</ref> That figure is for the launch season in one
market; no verified total-production or lifetime-sales figure for the XEGS could be found, and
none is given here. A ''Flight Simulator II'' cartridge was included with the keyboard
component.<ref name="antic88" />

Atari discontinued the XEGS with the rest of the 8-bit line in December 1991.