Is Gravitar on Steam?

No. Gravitar 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 Gravitar on?

Gravitar is available on Arcade, Atari 2600.

When did Gravitar release?

Gravitar was first released on December 31, 1982.

Gravitar

Dec 31, 1982ShooterAdventureArcadeArcadeAtari 2600

Gravitar — frequently asked questions

Is Gravitar on Steam?: No. Gravitar 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 Gravitar on?: Gravitar is available on Arcade, Atari 2600.
When did Gravitar release?: Gravitar was first released on December 31, 1982.

About Gravitar

Gravitar is a color vector graphics arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1982. The player controls a small blue spacecraft in a fictional solar system with several planets to explore. If the player moves his ship into a planet, he will be taken to a side-view landscape. Unlike many other shooting games, gravity plays a fair part in Gravitar: the ship will be pulled slowly to the deadly star in the overworld, and downward in the side-view levels. In the side-view levels, the player has to destroy red bunkers that shoot constantly, and can also use the tractor beam to pick up blue fuel tanks. Once all of the bunkers are destroyed, the planet will blow up, and the player will earn a bonus. Once all planets are destroyed, the player will move onto another solar system.

Summary via IGDB.

Gravitar on Wikipedia

Gravitar is a 1982 multidirectional shooter video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. Using the same "rotate-and-thrust" controls as Asteroids and Space Duel, the game was known for its high level of difficulty. An Atari 2600 version programmed by Dan Hitchens was released in 1983.

Source: Wikipedia (text under CC BY-SA 4.0).

Game details

Platforms: Arcade, Atari 2600
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Atari
Game modes: Single player, Multiplayer
Themes: Action, Science fiction

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

65/100

from 7 ratings

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Atari 2600	1983	$12	$17	$23

Also released on: Arcade. We haven’t priced or authenticated that version yet.

Collector value & authenticity

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

Loose

$12

Complete

$17

Sealed

$23

Label variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Silver Box	$68	$326	—

Release record

Territory	Label	Catalog #	Rarity
North America Atari	Red	CX2685	Common+
North America Atari	Silver	CX2685	Very Rare+

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

Region: NA
Released: 1983
Controller: Atari Joystick
Players: 1
Authenticity: Med

On Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration since Nov 11, 2022 — the cartridge is now a collectibleMedium counterfeit risk

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

Atari's 2600 port of a famously hard arcade shooter: common in its red release, much more expensive in its original silver form.

The arcade Gravitar is a 1982 Atari shooter with Asteroids-style rotate-and-thrust controls, known for its difficulty. Dan Hitchens programmed the 2600 version, released in October 1983.

The silver-label version was first available only to Atari Club members and later sold in stores in limited numbers. Atari eventually released it in the red box and label style with much wider distribution. It is on Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration if you only want to play it.

How it was made

Programmed by Dan Hitchens at Atari, Inc.

Cartridge & preservation record

Program size 8 KB, measured from the preserved dump.

Catalogue number as recorded for the physical release.

How the Atari 2600 version differs

The 2600 cartridge first shipped in a silver-label version sold only to Atari Club members, then reached stores in limited numbers before Atari gave it a wider release in its red box and label style.

Also on other platforms

Arcade

Atari, Inc.

Worth knowing

50 perfect scores. In the Atari Club's Gravitar contest, judges had to narrow the field "from over 50 contestants who submitted the highest possible score to the two finalists who will be flown to Los Angeles to compete in the play-offs for the title of Ultimate Videogame Master".
Why it was club-only. Atari Age explained that "market testing showed Gravitar was not for everyone — only the best gameplayers enjoyed it", so it was sold only through the Atari Club.
Wanted in 1985. A March 1985 Electronic Games classified sought Lady Bug, Quadrun and Gravitar for the Atari VCS: "Top dollar paid."

Before you buy

Check which version you are looking at. The red box-and-label release is common and cheap. The silver-box Atari Club version is the scarce one and sells for much more, so make sure the photos show silver packaging and a silver-era label. Atari's silver labels contain a thin foil layer that is hard to reproduce accurately, which makes them a poor target for fakes, but compare against a scan anyway. No fakes are documented.