Timeline of video games
This is a timeline of video games and computer games in reverse chronological order. See history of the video game for a more narrative overview of the subject. See also Chronology of console role-playing games.
Hardware
Business
- February 19 - Microsoft announces a deal to buy Connectix Corp.
- Take Two Interactive buys TDK Mediactive, Inc.
- Infogrames, Inc., a subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA renames itself Atari
- Square Co. and Enix Corporation merge forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- reports that video games are a USD$10 billion dollar industry
- May - 3DO announces bankruptcy
- December ? Interplay closes its Black Isle Studios division
- Late 2003 - Nintendo buys shares from Japanese toy and animation conglomerate Bandai making Nintendo one of Bandai's top 10 shareholders.
- Late 2003 - reports a rebuttal regarding two statements from Nintendo and Bandai execs denying a potential Nintendo takeover of Bandai. According to the story, Nintendo is working with a Japanese banking firm that has Bandai and Nintendo as their corporate clients to try to take over Bandai.
Acquisitions
Established/Renamed
Events
2001
Acquisitions
- Activision acquires Treyarch Invention LLC
- PCCW (Pacific Century CyberWorks Japan Co., Ltd.) acquires VR1 Entertainment
Established/Renamed/Merged
Events/News
Lawsuits
- Sega of America Inc. v. Kmart Corporation; Sega sues Kmart over an unpaid debt of over USD$2 million dollars
- Uri Geller v. Nintendo; Geller sues Nintendo over his resemblance to a Pokemon character. The suit is dismissed.
New hardware
Significant Software
2000
Acquisitions
Bankrupt/Defunct
Established/Renamed
- Summer - 21-6 Productions founded
- Sega Rosso renamed (formerly SEGA's AM5 team)
- Smilebit founded (formerly SEGA's AM6 R&D division)
- Yeti Interactive founded
Events
New Hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo of America, Sega America, Electronic Arts, Inc v. Yahoo!, Inc.; The lawsuit is over piracy negligence and profiting from counterfeit video game products sold on Yahoo Auctions. The lawsuit is fully dropped in 2001 in order to cooperate against piracy.
Significant Software
1999
Acquisitions
Established/Renamed
- 3d6 Games, Inc. founded (closes November 1, 2002)
- October ? 7FX founded as subsidiary of a Czech company
- 7 Studios founded
- BAM! Entertainment, Inc. founded
- Bohemia Interactive Studio founded
- April - Liquid Entertainment founded
Events
New hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo v. Bung Enterprises Ltd.; Nintendo sues Bung over patent infringement
- Sony Corporation v. Bleem LLC
Significant Software
1998
Acquisitions
Bankrupt/Defunct
Established/Renamed
- BreakAway Games, Ltd. founded
- Elixir Studios Ltd. formed
- Lego Media established by Lego Group
- Metro3D, Inc. founded
- Rockstar Games founded
- WildTangent, Inc. founded
Events
New Hardware
Significant Software
1997
Acquisitions
Bankrupt/Defunct
Established/Renamed/Merged
- 2015 Inc. founded
- 4D Rulers Software, Inc. founded
- September - 4HEAD Studios created
- Bungie Studios West formed by Bungie Software Products Corp.
- Conspiracy Entertainment Corporation founded
- Crave Entertainment, Inc. formed
- August - Human Head Studios, Inc. formed
- Illusion Softworks, a.s. founded
- April 15 - Irem Software Engineering Inc. founded
- Irrational Games LLC founded
- Mythic Entertainment renames itself from Interworld Productions after name dispute with another "Interworld" company
- THQ renamed from Toy Head-Quarters, Inc.
- Warthog PLC founded
Events
- 3rd annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)
- Gunpei Yokoi (1941-1997) dies after a double car accident
- ZSNES, a Super Nintendo emulator, first released
Hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo v. Games City; Nintendo sues Games City for selling the Game Doctor and Doctor V64 backup devices for the SNES and N64 consoles. Nintendo wins the suit.
- Nintendo v. Prima Publishing; Nintendo sues Prima over copyrights to map of the N64 video game GoldenEye 007. Nintendo loses the suit
1996
Acquisitions
- February - Blizzard Entertainment acquires development group known as Condor, renames it Blizzard North
- Eidos acquires Core Design
- Infogrames Entertainment SA acquires Ocean Software Ltd.
- Midway Games, Inc. (subsidiary of WMS Industries, formerly known as Williams Electronics) acquires Atari Games Corp from Warner Communications Inc. (AOL Time Warner in 2000)
Bankrupt/Defunct
Established/Renamed/Merged
Events
- DigiPen Institute of Technology receives accreditation, first school in the world to offer college degrees in video game development.
- 2nd annual E3
- Gunpei Yokoi resigns from Nintendo
- First console emulators appear
Hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Computer & Entertainment, Inc.
Significant Software
1995
Established/Renamed/Merged
- Frog City Software, Inc. established
- Interworld Productions established (renamed Mythic Entertainment in 1997)
- Talonsoft established
- BioWare founded
Events
- The 1st annual E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) held
Hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo v. Samsung Electronics; Nintendo sues Samsung for promoting software piracy. The suit is settled.
- Nintendo of America, Inc. v. NTDEC
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
Acquisitions
Established/Renamed/Merged
- Trinity Acquisition Corporation founded (renamed THQ in 1990)
Hardware
Lawsuits
- Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Tengen
- Nintendo sues Tengen over the Tetris video game copyrights. Tengen loses and recalls all its Tetris games.
- November - Nintendo sues Tengen over production of unlicensed Nintendo games. Tengen loses. (Tengen originally sued Nintendo on December 12, 1988 for antitrust violations.)
- Nintendo v. Camerica Ltd. Nintendo sues Camerica over patent violations of the Game Genie for the NES console. Camerica wins the suit.
Significant Software
1988
Business
1987
Business
1986
Business
1985
Business
1984
Business
Business
- New companies: Infogrames Entertainment SA, Interplay Entertainment Corp., Navarre Corporation, AM2, Origin Systems, Inc.
- Defunct companies: Many companies are affected by the video game crash
1982
Business
1981
- Astrovision Inc. distributes the Bally Computer System after buying the rights from Bally/Midway
- Bally/Midway releases the Gorf arcade game
- Coleco Industries releases the Total Control 4 home console
- Konami Corporation creates the Frogger video game
- Namco releases the Galaga arcade game
- Nelsonic releases the Space Attacker watch LCD game
- Nintendo releases Shigeru Miyamoto's Donkey Kong arcade game
- SEGA test markets the SG-1000 home console
- Sinclair Research releases the ZX81 home computer, the first widely available 'domestic' computer to play games in the UK
- Warner Communications' Atari releases the Centipede arcade game (by Ed Logg & Dona Bailey); releases the Warlords arcade game; releases the Tempest color vector arcade game
- Williams Electronics releases the Stargate arcade game
- Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel found Electronic Games, the first magazine on video games and generally recognized as the beginning of video game journalism
Business
- APF Electronics Inc. goes defunct
1980
Business
1979
Business
1978
1977
- Video game crash of 1977; blamed on market saturation of Pong and its clones
- Bally/Midway releases the Bally Home Library Computer home console
- Nintendo Co. Ltd. releases the Color TV Game 4 home console and the Color TV Game 6 home console
- Warner Communications' Atari releases the Atari 2600 home console (originally named Video Computer System)
- Namco renamed from Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd.
1976
- Coleco releases the Telstar home console
- Exidy releases the controversial Death Race arcade game
- Fairchild Camera & Instrument Corp. releases the Video Entertainment System (Channel F) home cartridge console
- Midway Home Entertainment Inc. releases the Sea Wolf arcade game
- Radolfin releases the 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System home console
- RCA releases the Studio II home console
- Warner Communications Inc. acquires Atari
1975
- Atari releases the Pong home console
- Enix established
- Magnavox releases the Odyssey 4000 home console
- Microsoft established
- Midway Home Entertainment Inc. releases the Gunfight arcade game, the first to use a microprocessor
1974
- Atari releases the Gran Trak arcade racing game featuring a steering wheel
- Exidy company established
- Kee Games releases the Tank arcade game
- Philips acquires Magnavox (Philips Consumer Electronics)
1973
- Atari releases the Got'Cha arcade game
- Midway Home Entertainment Inc. releases the Winner arcade game
- Williams Electronics releases the Paddle-Ball arcade game
1970
- RCA cancels a license agreement with Sanders Associates
- Konami Corporation established
- Ralph Baer patents "A Television Gaming Apparatus and Method"
- Sanders Associates -- Bill Harrison develops the light gun
- Tecmo, Inc. established
- Sanders Associates funds Ralph Baer to develop an interactive television game; he creates the primitive video game Chase in 2 months
- Rosen Enterprises merges with SEGA
- Nintendo Co. Ltd. renamed from Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd.
- Spacewar! becomes the second video game; created by Steve Russell with assistance from Peter Samson, Dan Edwards, Alan Kotok, & J. Graetz
- SEGA Corporation is incorporated
- Midway Home Entertainment Inc. established
- Tennis For Two video game exhibited for visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratories, for its second and last season before its dismantling.
Before the video game era
1955
- Namco established as Nakamura Manufacturing Ltd.
1954
- Rosen Enterprises, Inc. established
1953
1951
- Nintendo changes Marufuku Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd.
- Ralph Baer, future founder of the video game industry, conceives the idea of an interactive television while employed by Loral Electronics in Bronx, New York
- SEGA Corporation moves from Honolulu to Tokyo
1950
1945
1940
- Standard Games, later to be SEGA, established
1938
1935
- TDK Corporation established
1933
1932
- Coleco Industries, Inc. established as the Connecticut Leather Company
- Bally Corporation established
- Lego Group, the future parent of the Lego Interactive division, established in Billund, Denmark
1931
1923
1922
1918
1917
- Magnavox renamed from the Commercial Wireless & Development Company
1911
- Magnavox establishes as the "Commercial Wireless & Development Company"
1910
1891
- Philips (Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.) established
1889
1871
- Nokia Corporation renamed to Nokia Ab
1865
1860
See also