Coleco

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Coleco Industries, Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
founding 1932 (as Connecticut Leather Company)
resolution 1989
Reason for dissolution insolvency
Seat West Hartford , Connecticut , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Branch Software development

Coleco was an American manufacturer of consumer electronics from West Hartford , Connecticut , which manufactured, among other things, the game consoles Coleco Telstar and ColecoVision .

Company history

Founded in 1932 as Co nnecticut Le ather Co mpany by the Russian Maurice Greenberg, the company initially sold leather goods to shoemakers . While in the 1950s they had specialized in the leather business, this part of the company was sold in the 1960s when the sale of rubber paddling pools was given preference.

In 1975 Coleco entered the video game business with the Telstar game console, as many companies did that year using Atari's successful Pong console as an example . Almost all of the new consoles were based on a special General Instrument pong chip . However, since this manufacturer had underestimated the demand, there were delivery bottlenecks. However, since Coleco was one of the first companies to order, the company was also one of the few who received the full amount ordered. While many of the new consoles soon disappeared from the market, Coleco had a breakthrough thanks to the early order.

The hardwired console market was short-lived, but Coleco continued to hold its own in the electronics business. Next they went to LCD portable games , a market that Mattel had popularized. Coleco produced two very popular LCD game series: the head-to-head series of sports games for two players and the mini arcade series of licensed arcade games.

With the release of the successful ColecoVision console, Coleco returned to the game console market in 1982. In addition, games for Atari 2600 and Intellivision were released . With the Coleco Gemini , Coleco even brought a replica of the popular Atari 2600 onto the market.

When the video game market collapsed in 1983 , it seemed obvious that game consoles would give way to home computers. As a result, Coleco released the Coleco Adam home computer . After this unexpectedly turned out to be a failure, Coleco had to withdraw from the electronics business in 1984, on the verge of bankruptcy .

Coleco achieved huge success with the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls released in 1983 , but even that could not avert the downfall heralded by Adam. In 1986 the American game manufacturer Selchow & Righter was taken over; Nevertheless, Coleco had to file for bankruptcy in 1987, but could not be restructured. In 1989, Hasbro bought Coleco's licenses and trademarks for $ 85 million.

  • ColecoVision game console

  • Electronic quarterback, 1978

  • Coleco Telstar Alpha, 1977

Successor company

In 2005, Coleco was re-established as Coleco Entertainment Corporation by River West Brands, a Chicago-based company specializing in revitalizing old brands . The company is based in Manalapan Township , New Jersey .

Web links

Commons : Coleco  - collection of images, videos and audio files