Is Night Driver on Steam?

No. Night Driver 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 Night Driver on?

Night Driver is available on Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore C64/128/MAX, Commodore 64.

When did Night Driver release?

Night Driver was first released on October 1, 1976.

Night Driver

Oct 1, 1976RacingArcadeArcadeAtari 2600Commodore C64/128/MAXCommodore 64

Night Driver — frequently asked questions

Is Night Driver on Steam?: No. Night Driver 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 Night Driver on?: Night Driver is available on Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore C64/128/MAX, Commodore 64.
When did Night Driver release?: Night Driver was first released on October 1, 1976.

About Night Driver

The player controls a car which must be driven along a road at nighttime without crashing into the sides of the road as indicated by road side reflectors. The game is controlled with a single pedal for gas, a wheel for steering and a four-selection lever for gear shifting. The coin operated game had a choice of three difficulties, novice, pro, and expert, from which the player could choose at game start. The turns were sharper and more frequent on the more difficult tracks. As play progresses, the road gets narrower and more winding.

Summary via IGDB.

Night Driver on Wikipedia

Night Driver is a 1976 racing video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for arcades. It is one of the earliest first-person racing video games and is commonly believed to be one of the first published video games to feature real-time first-person graphics. Night Driver has a black and white display with the hood of the player's car painted on a plastic overlay. The road is rendered as scaled rectangles representing "pylons" that line the edges.

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

Game details

Platforms: Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore C64/128/MAX, Commodore 64
Developer: Atari
Publisher: Namco
Game modes: Single player
Themes: Action

Details via IGDB.

Reception

IGDB rating

50/100

from 14 ratings

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

Platform	Year	Loose	Complete	Sealed	Built by
Atari 2600	1980	$7	$12	$68	Atari (designed by Rob Fulop)

Also released on: Arcade · Commodore C64/128/MAX · Commodore 64. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

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

Loose

Complete

$12

Sealed

$68

Label variants

Release	Loose	Complete	Sealed
Gray Box	—	$80	—
Tele-Games	$3	$40	—
Text Label	$4	$11	—

Release record

Territory	Label	Catalog #	Rarity
North America Atari	Picture	CX2633	Common
North America Atari	Text	CX2633	Common
North America Sears	Text	49-75114	Common+
North America Sears	Picture	49-75114	Rare+

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

Region: NA
Released: 1980
Controller: Atari Paddles
Players: 1
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

Rob Fulop's color home version of an early first-person arcade racer, cheap loose with collectable boxes.

Night Driver was a 1976 Atari arcade game and one of the earliest first-person racing games: a black-and-white display, the car's hood painted on a plastic overlay, and the road drawn as pylons along its edges.

Atari released a color version for the 2600 in July 1980, with Rob Fulop credited as designer. Sears also sold it. It is a simple game today, mostly bought as a piece of racing-game history.

How it was made

Converted to the 2600 by Rob Fulop and released by Atari in July 1980. Sears also sold it.

What the press said at the time

“Night Driver, in particular, makes fine use of graphic minimalism to simulate the experience of rocketing down a super highway in the wee hours.”
— Electronic Games, September 1983

Cartridge & preservation record

Program size 2 KB, measured from the preserved dump.

Catalogue number as recorded for the physical release.

How the Atari 2600 version differs

Rob Fulop's 2600 version adds color and shows the player's car, other cars to avoid, and houses and trees along the sides of the road.

It is steered with the paddle controller, with the button as the accelerator; gears cannot be shifted, and some of its eight variations are timed 90-second runs.

The VCS cartridge sold 161,352 copies in 1980 and over 1.9 million by 1983.

Also on other platforms

Arcade · Commodore 64

Atari 2600	Atari (designed by Rob Fulop)
Arcade	Atari, Inc.
Commodore 64	Commodore (publisher)

Worth knowing

1981 dealer price. Atari's confidential retailer price list for January 1 to June 1, 1981 lists Night Driver (CX2633) in its basic tier: dealers paid $14.00 against a suggested retail price of $22.95. The same list groups it among the "cartridge titles introduced in 1980".

Before you buy

Low risk. Four listings are priced: the standard cart, a Text Label cart, a Tele-Games cart from Sears, and a Gray Box variant priced only as a complete copy. Loose carts of every version are cheap. Boxed copies vary a lot: the Tele-Games box costs several times a standard boxed copy, and the Gray Box costs more still. Sealed standard copies also cost far more than boxed ones. Check which box and label a listing shows before comparing prices.