Atari held a formidable position in the world video game market. They were the number one console maker in every market except Japan, whose market belonged to Nintendo, which had released their first game console, the Famicom (known to the rest of the world as the NES) in 1983. The system took Japan by storm, and Nintendo began to look to other markets. They approached Atari and offered a licensing deal: Atari would build and sell the system, paying Nintendo a royalty. The deal was in the works, and the two companies tentatively decided to sign the agreement at the 1983 Summer CES. Unfortunately, at that same show Coleco was showing their new Adam computer, and the display unit was running Nintendo's Donkey Kong. But Atari owned the rights to publish Donkey Kong for computers. Atari CEO Ray Kassar had a fit, accusing Nintendo of double dealing with the Donkey Kong license. Nintendo in turn tore into Coleco, who only had the console rights to the game. In the coming month, Ray Kassar was forced to leave Atari, and executives involved in the Famicom deal were forced to start over again from scratch.
