Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History

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1950s

1952

• OXO (or Noughts and Crosses) was developed by A.S Douglas for the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC), one of the first games developed in the early history of video games.

1957

• 14th October - The British Computer Society (now known as BCS, The Chartered Institute for I.T.) is founded promote the study, practice and advance the knowledge of computing.

1960s

1961

• 25th July - Clive Sinclair founds Sinclair Radionics in Cambridge, developing hi-fi products, radios, calculators and scientific instruments, a precursor to his computer company Sinclair Research.

1970s

1975

• 1st April - The Magnavox Odyssey, the first video game console, is released in the UK.

• Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex, started working on a multi-user adventure game in the MACRO-10 assembly language for a DEC PDP-10. He named the game MUD (Multi-User Dungeon). Deveopment was completed in 1980 by fellow student Richard Bartle.

1980s

1980

• 29th January - The Sinclair ZX80 personal computer was launched by Sinclair Research Ltd of Cambridge.

1981

• 5th March - The ZX81, Sinclair Research's pioneering British home computer, was released.

• May - The Commodore VIC-20 is released in the US and Europe.

• 1st December - The BBC Micro, designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC, is released.

1982

• January - The Commodore 64 is launched worldwide.

• 23rd February - Argonaut Games was founded in Colindale, London. It was most notable for the development of the Super NES video game Star Fox and its supporting Super FX hardware

• 23rd April - The Sinclair ZX Spectrum is released by Sinclair Computers.

• 17th September - Imagine Software was founded in Liverpool byt formeer members of Bug-Byte. The short-lived company achieved nationwide notoriety when it was filmed by a BBC documentary crew while in the process of going bust.It would later be referenced in Bandersnatch, Netflix's interactive espisode of Black Mirror,

1983

• 1st August - Manic Miner, developed by Matthew Smith, was released by Bug-Byte for the ZX Spectrum.

• Virgin Games was founded. It would later become Virgin Interactive Entertainment, the video game publishing division of the Virgin Group. The company grew significantly afer acquiring Mastertronic in 1987.

1984

• July - Ubisoft Reflections is founded in Newcastle,

• 20th September - Elite, the space trading game written and developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, is published by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers.

• Acme Software was founded in Dundee. It would later rebrand as DMA Deisgn and produce many well-known titles across the Amiga, Atari ST and Commodores 64, including the smash hit Lemmings. In 2001, following the release of Grand Theft Auto III, DMA Design was renamed Rockstar North and became part of the Rockstar Games label.

1985

• April - Rare Limited is founded in Twycross, Leicestershire and would go on to have a long history of critically acclaimed and globally successful titles, including Battletoads, Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong Country and Sea of Thieves.

• June - Atari release the Atari 520ST, the first of their successful ST series of home computers.

• 23rd June - Commodore release the Amiga 1000, the first of the Amiga home computers.

• 3rd July - Psygnosis was founded in Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool.

1986

• January - Commodore launch their best-selling Amiga 500, the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.

• 1st September - The Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as the NES, is released in the UK.

• October - Codemasters, one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

1987

• 18th August - Creative Assembly, one of the largest studios in the UK and creators of the Total War franchise and Alien Isolation, is founded in Horsham, West Sussex by Tim Ansell.

• Bullfrog Productions was founded in Guildford by Peter Molyneux and Les Edgar. The company went on to achieve a string of hits, including Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Syndicate and Dungeon Keeper.

1988

• 13th May - Core Design, developers of the original Tomb Raider titles, is founded in Derby by former employees of Gremlin Graphics.

• October - Eurocom was founded in Derby. The studio was mainly known for its arcade to console ports and games based on licensed properties.

1989

• March - Tim Berners-Lee lays out his vision for what would become the web in a document called “Information Management: A Proposal”.

• 5th June - Bullfrog Productions releases Populous on the Amiga. The game would go on to sell over 4 million copies, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of all time.

• 27th July - Guerilla Cambridge, initially known as Millennium Interactive Ltd, is founded. The company was best known for producing the MediEvil series.

• 6th September - Ukie, then known as ELSPA, is founded - the first trade association for the video games industry anywhere in the world.

• Traveller's Tales, best known as the developers of the LEGO games franchise, is founded in Knutsford, Cheshire.

1990s

1990

• September - The Nintendo Game Boy is released across Europe.

• 7th December - Team 17 is founded in Wakefield. The company has produced many well known titles, most notbaly including the Worms series.

1991

• 14th February - Lemmings is released on the Amiga by DMA Design. One fo the best-selling games of all time, it is estimated to have sold around 20 million copies.

1992

• April/June - The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, also known as the SNES, is released in Europe.

• 10th July - The Phillips CD-i is released across Europe. The "interactive multimedia CD player" would become seen as a commercial failure, estimated to have lost Philips as much as $1bn in the American market.

1993

• Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, is founded in Guildford.

1994

• 11th June - The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, often called the 3DO, is released across Europe. The console's comparably high price prevented it achiving the same success as the SEGA and Nintendo's conosles of the same era.

1995

• January - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe is established in London.

• 29th September - Sony Computer Entertainment release the first PlayStation console in Europe.

1996

• 25th October - Tomb Raider, the first game in the best-selling Tomb Raider franchise, is released worldwide by Eidos Interactive and UK developer Core Design. It would go on to sell over 7 million copies globally and and continues to be cited as one of the greatest video games ever made.

1997

• March - Nintendo's N64 console is released in Europe.

• 20th June - Carmageddon is released by Stainless Games. The controversial game was partly censored upon released and even banned in some countries. After successfully appealing, the uncensored version was released in the UK ten months later. The series would go on to sell around two million copies.

• 25th August - GoldenEye 007, developed for the N64 console by UK company Rare, is released.

1998

• 15th July - Codemasters release the hugely successful Colin McRae Rally for the PlayStation, which would go on to sell over 4 million units across all formats.

1999

• 27th March - The first Insomnia Gaming Festival, Insomnia99, run by Multiplay, brings together a reported 300 PC gamers for the UK's then largest ever LAN party.

• 14th October - SEGA release their Dreamcast console across Europe, launching the "sixth generation" of game consoles.

2000s

2000

• 28th April - Jagex, creators of one of the world's largest massively multiplayer online roleplay games, Runescape, are founded in Cambridge.

• November - Sony Computer Entertainment release the PlayStation 2 in Europe.

2001

• 8th March - The official launch of TIGA, The Independent Games Developers Assocation for the UK.

• June - Nintendo's Game Boy Advance is released in Europe.

• 22nd October - Rockstar Games release Grand Theft Auto III.

2002

• 14 March - Microsoft release the Xbox console in Europe.

• May - The Nintendo GameCube is released in Europe.

• 29th Oct 2002 - Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

• 11th December - Sony's SCE London Studio and Team Soho releases The Getaway for the PlayStation 2. The game is especially notable for its realistic re-creation of large areas of London.

2003

• 9th April - The Pan European Game Information (PEGI) video game content rating system is launched. The PEGI system is now used in 39 countries. more detials on the number of games rated each year is available here.

• 3rd October - Nokia releases the N-Gage, one of the first major attempts to combine a mobile phone and a handheld game system.

2004

• February - The first British Academy Games Awards takes place.

• 26th October - Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

• 13 December - Rocksteady Studios, creators of the Batman Arkham franchise, is founded in London.

2005

• March - Nintendo's handheld DS console is released in Europe.

• 2nd December - Microsoft release the Xbox 360 console in Europe.

2006

• 4th January - Media Molecule, creators of the LittleBigPlanet franchise, is founded in Guildford, Surrey.

• November / December - The Nintendo Wii is released in Europe.

2007

• 23rd March - Sony Computer Entertainment release the PlayStation 3 in Europe.

• 23rd June - Apple launch the iPhone worldwide.

2008

• 27th October - LittleBigPlanet is released for the PlayStation 3 by UK developer Media Molecule.

• 28th October - The first Eurogamer Expo, now known as EGX and the largest single games event in the UK, takes place at the Truman Brewery in London, attended by 4,000 people.

• November - Playground Games, developers of the Forza Horizon franchise, is founded in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.

• November - The first Android-enabled smartphone, the T-Mobile G1 (also known as the HTC Dream) is released in the UK.

2009

• 2009 was when game profits in UK exceeded those from film for the first time (source?)

• 25th August - Rocksteady Games release the much acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum worldwide.

2010s

2010

• 26th February - The new £36.2m inner-city Derby ring road is renamed Lara Croft Way following overwhelming support in a public vote.

• 4th November - Microsoft launches the Kinect, an infra-red camera for the Xbox 360 that can track players body movements. It becomes the fastest-selling consumer device to date, selling more than 8 million units in a 60 day period.

2011

• February / March - The Nintendo 3DS is released in Europe.

2012

• November / December - The Nintendo Wii U is released in Europe.

2013

• 17th September - Grand Theft Auto v is released by Rockstar Games and becomes the fasting-selling entertainment product in history, grossing over $1bn in three days. To date, it has sold over 100 million copies and is considered the most profitable entertainment product of all time.

• 22nd November - Microsoft release the Xbox One in Europe.

• 29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the PlayStation 4 in Europe.

2014

• 30th January - The Chancellor, George Osborne, officially launches the video games tax relief (VGTR).

• 1st April - The Uk's video games tax relief officially comes into effect.

2015

• 5th April - HTC and Valve Corporation release the HTC Vive, a high-end virtual reality head-mounted display offering "room scale" tracking technology, allowing the user to move in 3D space and use motion-tracked handheld controllers to interact with the environment.

• 27th November - Samsung release the Gear VR, their head-mounted visrtual reality display designed to incorporate Samsung Galaxy mobile phones.

2016

• 28th March - Oculus release the Oculus Rift, one of the first major virtual reality head-mounted displays.

• 9th August - Hello Games releases No Man's Sky, featuring a procedurally-generated universe, comprising over 18 quintillion planets.

• 27th September - Playground Games releases Forza Horizon 3 worldwide and would go on to sell over 2.5 million copies.

• 13th October - Sony releases PlayStation VR (also known as PSVR), a virtual reality head-mounted display for the PlayStation 4.

2017

• 3rd March - The Nintendo Switch is released worldwide.

• 4rd April - The inaugural Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament culminates with the Grand Final at Gfinity's arena in London, the first immersive careers education event of its kind.

2018

• 18th October - Rockstar Games release Red Dead Redemption 2 for the Playstation 4, and experiences the largest opening weekend of any product in the history of entertainment, making over $725 million in revenue in three days. Within two weeks, it had shipped over 17 million copies, and increased to 23 million copies by February 2019.

• 29th October - The UK Houses of Parliament, in partnership with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Video Games, hosts the first ever parliamentary event on esports.

2019

• 3rd January - The Entertainment Retailer's Association announces figures showing UK sales of games exceed the combined sales of music and film for the first time.