WEBPrevious console developers include Sega, Atari, Coleco, Mattel, NEC, SNK, Fujitsu, and 3DO. History. The first video game consoles were produced in the early 1970s. Ralph H. Baer devised the concept of playing simple, spot-based games on a television screen in 1966, which later became the basis of the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972.