Ted Dabney, the co-founder of Atari and one of the first figures of the video game industry, has died at the age of 81.

Ted Dabney (left) and Nolan Bushnell (right).

Video game historian and close friend Leonard Herman announced through Facebook that Dabney had passed, stating "Your legacy will live on a long time!" Eurogamer reported that late last year, Dabney was diagnosed with esophageal cancer and chose not to seek medical treatment.In 1971, Dabney and Nolan Bushnell worked together to create the engineering firm Syzygy where they developed and launched the first commercially available video arcade game, Computer Space. The firm would later continue on as Atari where it made great success with the launch of Pong, establishing the company as a major foundation of the industry.After management disagreements with Bushnell, Dabney left Atari in 1973. While his presence in the video game scene lessened, Dabney did appear in several interviews since his departure, namely an episode of the Retro Gaming Roundup podcast in 2010. Some of Dabney's video circuit components used in the creation of Computer Space were later reused to create Pong, solidifying his importance to the industry.

Michael Koczwara is a freelance writer. Follow him on Twitter and YouTube