Microsoft launches search for buried copies of ET for Atari 2600

Microsoft is launching a search for ET’s buried shipment of copies for the Atari 2600. The company is making a documentary about the search for the game that, for many, was responsible for the recession in the game industry in the 1980s.

Microsoft is partnering with Fuel and Lightbox companies on the dig, which is taking place at an old garbage dump outside Almagordo, New Mexico. According to persistent rumors in the gaming world, Atari is said to have buried large quantities of leftover ET cartridges for the Atari 2600 after the game commercially flopped. The game is known as one of the worst games of all time and it is also seen as the reason for the North American video game recession. After a lengthy wrangling with the local environmental authorities, the companies have now been given the green light for the excavation.

The dump has been out of use since the late 1980s and contains materials that can be harmful to health after very long exposure, the Almagordo News reports. That would also be the reason for the postponement of the excavations: local authorities demanded that the excavations be carried out only by certified companies. Xbox Entertainment Studios is making a documentary series about the video game industry, the first episode of which is about the video game recession of the 1980s. The documentary series is directed by Zack Penn, who has worked as a writer for multiple X-Men films and The Avengers in the past.