No. Freeway is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.

What platforms is Freeway on?

Freeway is available on Atari 2600.

When did Freeway release?

Freeway was first released on December 31, 1981.

Freeway

Dec 31, 1981ArcadeAtari 2600

Freeway — frequently asked questions

Is Freeway on Steam?: No. Freeway is not distributed on Steam, so there is no Steam Charts or SteamDB player count for it. Its live popularity is tracked here via Twitch viewership instead.
What platforms is Freeway on?: Freeway is available on Atari 2600.
When did Freeway release?: Freeway was first released on December 31, 1981.

About Freeway

Freeway is a video game designed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 video game console. It was published by Activision in 1981. One or two players control chickens who can be made to run across a ten lane highway filled with traffic in an effort to "get to the other side." Every time a chicken gets across a point is earned for that player. If hit by a car, a chicken is forced back either slightly, or pushed back to the bottom of the screen, depending on what difficulty the switch is set to. The winner of a two player game is the player who has scored the most points in the two minutes, sixteen seconds allotted. The chickens are only allowed to move up or down. A cluck sound is heard when a chicken is struck by a car. Comparisons are often made to Frogger, which has also features crossing a street filled with moving vehicles. Similarities did help sales when Frogger was popular in the arcades and a home version was not yet available. Freeway was made available on Microsoft's Game Room service for its Xbox 360 console and for Windows-based PCs on August 18, 2010.

Summary via IGDB.

Game details

Platforms: Atari 2600
Developer: Activision
Publisher: Activision
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Themes: Action

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

54/100

from 10 ratings

Collector value & authenticity

Atari 2600 · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-06

Loose

Complete

$19

Sealed

$203

Label variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Blue Label	$9	$15	$23
Zellers	$22	$32	—

Release record

Territory	Label	Catalog #	Rarity
North America Activision	Standard	AG-009	Common+
North America Activision	Blue	AG-009	Scarce
North America Unknown	Taiwan Cooper	—	—
North America Zellers	Standard	—	Scarce+
Australia HES	—	—	—

Also released in South America by Polyvox.

Source: Catalog numbers, label types, rarity, controllers and player counts: AtariAge 2600 software database

Region: NA+EU
Released: 1981
Controller: Atari Joystick
Players: 1 - 2
Authenticity: Low

Not in Atari 50 — other compilations and plug-and-plays are not tracked hereLow counterfeit risk

Atari 2600 prices, all games & how to spot a fake

David Crane's chicken-crossing game is one of the 2600's own originals, and a common cartridge that costs very little loose.

David Crane wrote Freeway for Activision, and it came out in July 1981. One or two players each guide a chicken across a ten-lane highway, scoring a point for every crossing before time runs out. Depending on the difficulty setting, a hit pushes your chicken back one lane or all the way to the bottom of the screen.

Crane said the idea came from Activision staff watching someone try to cross Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The player was a person until shortly before release, when it became a chicken. Electronic Games praised it and gave it an Honorable Mention for Most Innovative Game at its 1982 Arcade Awards, and other reviewers compared it to Frogger, which arrived in arcades around the same time.

How it was made

Written by David Crane, who based it on Activision staff witnessing someone crossing Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. The player character was changed from a person to a chicken shortly before release.

What the press said at the time

“Only those lacking a sense of humor could fail to love the idea of steering a chicken across the road as a videogame concept. It's more than just a good idea, though; Freeway is a solid one or two-player game”
— Electronic Games, December 1981

Cartridge & preservation record

Program size 2 KB, measured from the preserved dump.

Catalogue number as recorded for the physical release.

Worth knowing

A person, then a chicken. Freeway's hero was a human being for almost all of development. Crane swapped in a chicken shortly before the game shipped.
1982 Arkie Award. Freeway took an honorable mention for Most Innovative in the 1982 Arkie Awards.
Sold as "rare" in 1986. By spring 1986 the 2600 market had moved on far enough that Computer Entertainer's mail-order list sold brand-new copies under the heading "RARE GAMES — THESE ARE YOUR SPECIAL PRICES", at $19.00 (good through 10 May 1986).

Before you buy

Low risk. Check which label you are looking at. The standard picture-label cartridge is the common one and the cheapest loose. Activision's plain blue-label carts are later re-releases of the same game and cost a little more, and a Zellers-label variant is priced separately again. None of them is a counterfeit target. Sealed copies are a packaging purchase and sell for many times the loose price, so inspect the seal carefully.