Difference between revisions of "Notable Dates in UK Games Industry History"

From Ukie
Jump to: navigation, search
(1980s)
(1980s)
Line 44: Line 44:
  
 
'''1984'''
 
'''1984'''
 +
 +
*July - [https://reflections.ubisoft.com/ Ubisoft Reflections] is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubisoft_Reflections founded in Newcastle],
  
 
*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) 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.
 
*20th September - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_(video_game) 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.

Revision as of 11:25, 28 March 2019

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

1960s

1961

1970s

1975

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

1980s

1980

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

1981

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

1982

1983

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

1984

  • 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.

1985

  • 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.

1986

  • January - Commodore launch their best-selling Amiga 500, the first low-end Commodore Amiga 16/32-bit multimedia home/personal computer.
  • October - Codemasters, one of the oldest active British game studios, founded by brothers Richard and David Darling.

1987

1988

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

1989

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

1990s

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

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

  • 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

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

2000s

2000

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

2001

2002

  • 14 March - Microsoft release the Xbox console in Europe.
  • May - The Nintendo GameCube is released in Europe.
  • 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

2004

2005

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

2006

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

2007

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

2008

  • 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 - 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?)

2010s

2010

2011

2012

2013

  • 22nd November - Microsoft release the Xbox One in Europe.
  • 29th November - Sony Interactive Entertainment release the PlayStation 4 in Europe.

2014

2015

2016

2017

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.

2019