2012 in video games
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Numerous video games were released in 2012. Many awards went to games such as Madden NFL 13, NBA 2K13, WWE '13, Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3, Journey, Mass Effect 3, Dishonored, The Walking Dead, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The year began with the worldwide release of Sony's handheld game console, the PlayStation Vita, originally launched in Japan in December 2011. The end of the year marked the worldwide release of Nintendo's home game console, the Wii U.
Series with new installments in 2012 include Alan Wake, Assassin's Creed, Borderlands, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Darksiders, Dead or Alive, Diablo, Fable, Far Cry, Forza Motorsport, Guild Wars, Halo, Hitman, Mario Party, Marvel vs. Capcom, Mass Effect, Max Payne, Medal of Honor, Modern Combat, Need for Speed, Ninja Gaiden, PlanetSide, Pokémon, Prototype, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Sniper Elite, Spec Ops, Super Mario, Tekken, The Darkness, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Transformers, Trials, X-COM and Yakuza.
In addition, 2012 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Asura's Wrath, Dishonored, Gravity Rush, Journey, Lollipop Chainsaw, Sleeping Dogs and Forza Horizon.
Highest-grossing games
The following were 2012's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide revenue (including physical sales, digital purchases, subscriptions, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms).
| No. | Game | Revenue | Publisher(s) | Genre | Platform(s) | Business model | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | $1,000,000,000 | Activision (Activision Blizzard) | FPS | Console | Buy-to-play | [1] |
| Crossfire | $1,000,000,000 | Smilegate / Tencent | FPS | PC | Free-to-play | [2] | |
| 3 | World of Warcraft | $986,000,000 | Blizzard Entertainment (Activision Blizzard) | MMORPG | PC | Subscription | [3] |
| 4 | FIFA 13 | $444,000,000 | EA Sports (Electronic Arts) | Sports | Console, Mobile | Buy-to-play | [4][5] |
| 5 | Borderlands 2 | $300,000,000 | 2K Games (Take-Two Interactive) | Action RPG | Console, PC | Buy-to-play | [6][7] |
| 6 | World of Tanks | $280,000,000 | Wargaming.net | Vehicular combat | PC | Free-to-play | [8] |
| 7 | Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 | $267,000,000 | Nintendo / The Pokémon Company | RPG | Console | Buy-to-play | [9][10] |
| 8 | New Super Mario Bros. 2 | $238,000,000 | Nintendo | Platformer | Console | Buy-to-play | [9][11] |
| 9 | Minecraft | $237,000,000 | Mojang | Sandbox | PC, Console | Buy-to-play | [12] |
| 10 | League of Legends | $200,000,000 | Riot Games / Tencent | MOBA | PC | Free-to-play | [13] |
Critically acclaimed titles
Review Scores of 90+
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
| Game | Publisher | Release Date | Platform | MC score | GR score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Walking Dead: Episode 5 – No Time Left | Telltale Games | November 21, 2012 | WIN | 89/100 | 94.75% |
| Persona 4 Golden | Atlus | June 14, 2012 | PSV | 93/100 | 94.16% |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series | Telltale Games | November 21, 2012 | PS3 | 94/100 | 92.5% |
| Mark of the Ninja | Microsoft Studios | October 16, 2012 | WIN | 91/100 | 93.33% |
| Super Hexagon | Terry Cavanagh | November 27, 2012 | WIN | 88/100 | 93.33%[16] |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series | Telltale Games | November 21, 2012 | WIN | 89/100 | 93.2% |
| Mass Effect 3 | Electronic Arts | March 6, 2012 | X360 | 93/100 | 92.17% |
| Cave Story | Nicalis | October 4, 2012 | 3DS | 93/100 | 92% |
| Mass Effect 3 | Electronic Arts | March 6, 2012 | PS3 | 93/100 | 91.65% |
| Journey | Sony Computer Entertainment | March 13, 2012 | PS3 | 92/100 | 92.56% |
| Fire Emblem Awakening | Nintendo | April 19, 2012 | 3DS | 92/100[17] | 92.52%[18] |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series | Telltale Games | November 21, 2012 | X360 | 92/100 | 91.8% |
| Trials Evolution | Microsoft Studios | April 18, 2012 | X360 | 90/100 | 91.52% |
| Dishonored | Bethesda Softworks | October 9, 2012 | WIN | 91/100 | 90.57% |
| Borderlands 2 | 2K | September 18, 2012 | PS3 | 91/100 | 90.48% |
| NBA 2K13 | 2K | October 2, 2012 | WIN | 90/100 | 91%[19] |
| Far Cry 3 | Ubisoft | December 4, 2012 | X360 | 91/100 | 89.14% |
| Mark of the Ninja | Microsoft Studios | October 16, 2012 | WIN | 90/100 | 90.43% |
| Ōkami HD | Capcom | October 30, 2012 | PS3 | 90/100 | 90.29% |
| Borderlands 2 | 2K | September 18, 2012 | WIN | 89/100 | 90.1% |
| Guild Wars 2 | NCsoft | August 28, 2012 | WIN | 90/100 | 90.02% |
| NBA 2K13 | 2K | October 2, 2012 | PS3 | 90/100 | 89.68% |
| FIFA 13 | EA Sports | September 25, 2012 | X360 | 90/100 | 89.47% |
| Far Cry 3 | Ubisoft | December 4, 2012 | PS3 | 90/100 | 89.18% |
| Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss | Namco Bandai Games | October 23, 2012 | X360 | 89/100 | 90%[20] |
| XCOM: Enemy Unknown | 2K | October 8, 2012 | X360 | 90/100 | 88.96% |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan | Turbine, Inc. | October 15, 2012 | WIN | 88/100 | 90%[21] |
Major awards
- Certain award presentations combine these categories.
Events
| Date | Event | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| February 3–29 | Sega reduces western business after the release of Binary Domain, and focuses on digital on PC and Mobile | [citation needed] |
| March 5–9 | Game Developers Conference 2012 held in San Francisco, California. | [citation needed] |
| April 6–8 | PAX East 2012 held in Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. | [citation needed] |
| April 27 | The Kirby franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary in Japan. | [citation needed] |
| May 2–5 | Korean e-Sports Association, Ongamenet, Blizzard Entertainment and GOM TV announced the introduction of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty to professional competitions in South Korea with StarCraft: Brood War being completely phased out in October. | [22] |
| June 5–7 | E3 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. | [23] |
| July 13 | The Metal Gear franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. | [citation needed] |
| August 2–5 | QuakeCon 2012: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. | [citation needed] |
| August 15–19 | Gamescom 2012 held in Cologne, Germany. | [citation needed] |
| August 30 | The Street Fighter franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. | [citation needed] |
| September 20–23 | Tokyo Game Show 2012 held in Chiba, Japan. | [citation needed] |
| September 26–29 | Eurogamer Expo 2012 held in Earls Court, London. | [citation needed] |
| October 24 | Polygon is launched. | [citation needed] |
| November 6 | The Ratchet & Clank franchise celebrated its 10th anniversary in North America. | [citation needed] |
| December 7–9 | Spike Video Game Awards | [citation needed] |
| December 17 | The Mega Man franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. | [citation needed] |
Notable deaths
- January 13 - Bill 'Phosphorus' Sears, 58, Developer at GameHouse and co-founder of Digital Eel[24]
- February 16 - Michael Kuehl, 32, developer at Insomniac Games[25]
- February 19 - Steve Kordek, 100, Inventor and Pinball innovator[26]
- April 8 - Jack Tramiel, 83, founder of Commadore International[27]
- July 16 - Christian Oberth, 59, Developer of Anteater, Ardy the Aardvark and Rescue[28]
- August 11 - Paul Steed, 47, Art and Animation for Quake, Quake III and Wing Commander III[29]
- September 3 – Michael Clarke Duncan, 54, actor (Balrog in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Benjamin King in Saints Row, Wardog in SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs, Atlas in God of War II)[30]
- September 11 – Ian Abercrombie, 77, actor (Palpatine in Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes, Alexander Mayhew in James Bond 007: Nightfire)[31]
- October 10 - Mike Singleton, 61, British game developer and creator of The Lords of Midnight[32]
- December 3 - Christopher Erhardt, 53, Developer and DigiPen's professor of Game Design and Production[33]
Hardware releases
The list of game consoles released in 2012. This year saw the launch of the first home console in the 8th generation of gaming, the Wii U.
The PlayStation Vita made its launch in North America & Europe after initially releasing in Japan the previous year. Nintendo also released the first model revision to the Nintendo 3DS this year, the Nintendo 3DS XL.
Two home console revisions also came out this year, the PlayStation 3 Super Slim and the Wii Mini (released only in Canada).
| Date | Console | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
| February 15 | PlayStation VitaNA | [citation needed] |
| February 22 | PlayStation VitaEU | [citation needed] |
| July 28 | Nintendo 3DS XLJP/EU | [34] |
| August 19 | Nintendo 3DS XLNA | [35] |
| August 23 | Nintendo 3DS XLAU | [36] |
| September 25 | PlayStation 3 Super Slim | [citation needed] |
| November 18 | Wii UNA | [37] |
| November 30 | Wii UPAL | [citation needed] |
| December 7 | Wii MiniCAN | [38] |
| December 8 | Wii UJP | [39] |
| December 18 | Neo Geo X | [citation needed] |