Timeline of the Video Game Industry
1940 - First video game, ‘Nim’, is launched
1972 - Magnavox Odyssey launches, allowing gamers to take consoles home.
- Pong - same year odyssey goes on sale, the video game maker Atari launches
‘pong’, a video game mania takes hold. Pong became the first commercially
successful arcade game.
1977 - Atari’s video computer system
Atari releases its video computer system, or the Atari 2600 (space invaders, donkey kong,
and frogger)
1978 - Space Invaders reinvigorates the arcade market
1980 - Pac-Man generates more than $1 billion in arcade sales in the U.S. in one year
1983 - Saturation of the market, and the tragedy of E.T.
‘E.T.’ - a game based on the movie - is released for the Atari 2600. Widely considered the
worst game ever made.
1983-1985 - the video game crash of 1983 hits North America, caused by market
oversaturation and high budget poor-quality ports like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1985 - the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Mario Bros
1988 - Sega releases the Mega Drive in Japan, released in the U.S. as the Genesis
1989 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy handheld system, alongside a port of Tetris
1991 - Nintendo releases the Super NES (SNES)
1993 - Doom popularised the first-person shooter genre
1994 - Playstation
- The release of the Sony Playstation was another generation-defining shift in
gaming. The platform brought gaming into a new technological era.
- Sony’s Playstation and Sega’s Saturn consoles use CDs instead of cartridges
1997 - Nokía releases cell phones with the game Snake. The first popular mobile game
2000 - The Sims for PC popularised life simulation games
2001 - Microsoft's XBox console is the first with an integrated ethernet port
2002 - Microsoft launches XBox Live, a subscription service for online multiplayer gaming
popularised through its Halo series
2006 - Nintendo’s wii console is targeted at a wide demographic of families and non-gamers.
- Sony's Playstation 3 is the first console to use Blu-rays
2010 - Minecraft is released in a public beta
2011 - Twitch, a video streaming service primarily for games, is launched
2013 - Grand Theft Auto V earns $800 million in its first day
2018 - fortnite, a free-to-play battle royale for PC and consoles, is ported to mobile
2020 - Epic Games enters legal battle with Apple. Fortnite is removed from App Store
- Playstation 5, XBox Series X, and Series S are launched
1940 - First video game, ‘Nim’, is launched
1972 - Magnavox Odyssey launches, allowing gamers to take consoles home.
- Pong - same year odyssey goes on sale, the video game maker Atari launches
‘pong’, a video game mania takes hold. Pong became the first commercially
successful arcade game.
1977 - Atari’s video computer system
Atari releases its video computer system, or the Atari 2600 (space invaders, donkey kong,
and frogger)
1978 - Space Invaders reinvigorates the arcade market
1980 - Pac-Man generates more than $1 billion in arcade sales in the U.S. in one year
1983 - Saturation of the market, and the tragedy of E.T.
‘E.T.’ - a game based on the movie - is released for the Atari 2600. Widely considered the
worst game ever made.
1983-1985 - the video game crash of 1983 hits North America, caused by market
oversaturation and high budget poor-quality ports like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1985 - the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Super Mario Bros
1988 - Sega releases the Mega Drive in Japan, released in the U.S. as the Genesis
1989 - Nintendo releases the Game Boy handheld system, alongside a port of Tetris
1991 - Nintendo releases the Super NES (SNES)
1993 - Doom popularised the first-person shooter genre
1994 - Playstation
- The release of the Sony Playstation was another generation-defining shift in
gaming. The platform brought gaming into a new technological era.
- Sony’s Playstation and Sega’s Saturn consoles use CDs instead of cartridges
1997 - Nokía releases cell phones with the game Snake. The first popular mobile game
2000 - The Sims for PC popularised life simulation games
2001 - Microsoft's XBox console is the first with an integrated ethernet port
2002 - Microsoft launches XBox Live, a subscription service for online multiplayer gaming
popularised through its Halo series
2006 - Nintendo’s wii console is targeted at a wide demographic of families and non-gamers.
- Sony's Playstation 3 is the first console to use Blu-rays
2010 - Minecraft is released in a public beta
2011 - Twitch, a video streaming service primarily for games, is launched
2013 - Grand Theft Auto V earns $800 million in its first day
2018 - fortnite, a free-to-play battle royale for PC and consoles, is ported to mobile
2020 - Epic Games enters legal battle with Apple. Fortnite is removed from App Store
- Playstation 5, XBox Series X, and Series S are launched
