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, Animal Crossing, 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).
Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Platform(s) Business model 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops II $1,000,000,000 Activision FPS Console Buy-to-play Crossfire $1,000,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS PC Free-to-play 3 World of Warcraft $986,000,000 Blizzard Entertainment MMORPG PC Subscription 4 FIFA 13 EA Sports Sports Console, Mobile Buy-to-play 5 Borderlands 2 2K Games Action RPG Console, PC Buy-to-play 6 World of Tanks Wargaming.net Vehicular combat PC Free-to-play 7 Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 Nintendo / The Pokémon Company RPG Console Buy-to-play 8 New Super Mario Bros. 2 Nintendo Platformer Console Buy-to-play 9 Minecraft $237,000,000 Mojang Sandbox PC, Console Buy-to-play 10 League of Legends $200,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA PC Free-to-play
Critically acclaimed titles Review Scores of 90+ Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
+ 2012 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR) 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% 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 92.52% 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% 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% 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%
Major awards Category/Organization 30th Golden Joystick Awards VGA 16th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 9th British Academy Games Awards 13th Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim The Walking Dead Journey Dishonored Journey Independent / Debut Journey colspan="2" The Unfinished Swan FTL: Faster Than Light Downloadable Minecraft The Walking Dead Journey Mobile/Handheld Mobile Angry Birds Space Sound Shapes Hero Academy The Walking Dead The Room Handheld Uncharted: Golden Abyss Paper Mario: Sticker Star Innovation colspan="3" Journey The Unfinished Swan Journey Artistic Achievementor Graphics Animation rowspan="2" Halo 4 Assassin's Creed III Journey Art Direction Journey Audio Music rowspan="2" Journey Journey Sound Design colspan="2" Journey Character or Performance Actor rowspan="2" Dameon Clarke as Handsome JackBorderlands 2 ClaptrapBorderlands 2 Lee EverettThe Walking Dead Danny Wallace as the NarratorThomas Was Alone rowspan="2" Actress Melissa Hutchison as ClementineThe Walking Dead Game Direction or Design colspan="3" Journey Narrative colspan="3" The Walking DeadTechnical Achievement Gameplay Engineering rowspan="2" colspan="3" XCOM: Enemy Unknown rowspan="2" Far Cry 3 Visual Engineering Halo 4 Multiplayer/Online Online Gameplay rowspan="2" Borderlands 2 Journey Journey rowspan="13" Connectivity Halo 4 Action/Adventure Action/Shooter Battlefield 3 Borderlands 2 Far Cry 3 Adventure Batman: Arkham City Dishonored The Walking Dead Casual or Family Casual colspan="3" rowspan="2" Journey Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Family Skylanders: Giants Fighting Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition Persona 4 Arena PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale rowspan="2" Role-Playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Mass Effect 3 Social or Web-Based You Don't Know Jack SimCity Social SongPop Sports Individual FIFA 12 SSX FIFA 13 New Star Soccer Team NBA 2K13 Racing Forza Motorsport 4 Need for Speed: Most Wanted Strategy/Simulation Civilization V: Gods & Kings colspan="2" XCOM: Enemy Unknown Special Award Outstanding Contribution Best Game of the Decade Hall of Fame Pioneer Awards BAFTA Fellowship Lifetime Achievement Award FIFA(Electronic Arts) Half-Life 2 Gabe Newell Marc Blank, Dave Lebling Gabe Newell Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk
Events
Date Event February 3–29 Sega reduces western business after the release of Binary Domain, and focuses on digital on PC and Mobile March 5–9 Game Developers Conference 2012 held in San Francisco, California. April 6–8 PAX East 2012 held in Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. April 27 The Kirby franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary in Japan. 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. June 5–7 E3 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. July 13 The Metal Gear franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. August 2–5QuakeCon 2012: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. August 15–19 Gamescom 2012 held in Cologne, Germany. August 30 The Street Fighter franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan. September 20–23 Tokyo Game Show 2012 held in Chiba, Japan. September 26–29 Eurogamer Expo 2012 held in Earls Court, London. October 24 Polygon is launched. November 6 The Ratchet & Clank franchise celebrated its 10th anniversary in North America. December 7–9 Spike Video Game Awards December 17 The Mega Man franchise celebrated its 25th anniversary in Japan.
Notable deaths
January 13 - Bill 'Phosphorus' Sears, 58, Developer at GameHouse and co-founder of Digital Eel February 16 - Michael Kuehl, 32, developer at Insomniac Games February 19 - Steve Kordek, 100, Inventor and Pinball innovator April 8 - Jack Tramiel, 83, founder of Commadore International July 16 - Christian Oberth, 59, Developer of Anteater, Ardy the Aardvark and Rescue August 11 - Paul Steed, 47, Art and Animation for Quake, Quake III and Wing Commander III 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) 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) October 10 - Mike Singleton, 61, British game developer and creator of The Lords of Midnight December 3 - Christopher Erhardt, 53, Developer and DigiPen's professor of Game Design and Production
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 February 15 PlayStation Vita February 22PlayStation Vita July 28Nintendo 3DS XL/East, Thomas (June 22, 2012). "Nintendo 3DS XL revealed — UK release date and first pictures". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on September 7, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2014. August 19 Nintendo 3DS XL"Nintendo Reveals 3DS XL". IGN. June 21, 2012. Archived from the original on June 25, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.August 23Nintendo 3DS XLBray, Nicholas. "News 3DS Australian Nintendo 3DS XL Launch Details Revealed". NintendoWorldReport. Archived from the original on November 5, 2013. Retrieved September 24, 2016. September 25 PlayStation 3 Super Slim November 18 Wii UPham, Alex (September 13, 2012). "Nintendo's Wii U to go on sale Nov. 18 for $299.99 and $349.99". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2012.November 30Wii U December 7 Wii MiniFingas, Jon (November 27, 2012). "Nintendo makes Wii Mini official: currently exclusive to Canada, launches December 7th for $100". Engadget. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 30, 2020.December 8Wii UAshcraft, Brian (September 13, 2012). "Wii U Goes On Sale In Japan On December 8". Kotaku. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved September 15, 2012. December 18 Neo Geo X
Games released in 2012
Video game-based film and television releases
Title Date Director Distributor(s) Franchise Original game publisher Ace Attorney February 11, 2012 Takashi Miike Toho Ace Attorney Capcom Video Game High School May 11, 2012 Matthew Arnold RocketJump Studios Tron: Uprising May 18, 2012 Charlie Bean Disney XD Tron Talking Friends June 8, 2012 Dylan Coburn Disney.com Talking Tom & Friends Outfit7 Indie Game: The Movie June 12, 2012 James Swirsky BlinkWorks Media Sword Art Online Tomohiko Itō Tokyo MX Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice July 14, 2012 Kunihiko Yuyama Toho PokémonGame Freak Resident Evil: Retribution September 3, 2012 Paul W. S. Anderson Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group Resident Evil Capcom Halo: Forward Unto Dawn Stewart Hendler Machinima PrimeYouTube Halo Microsoft Game Studios Silent Hill: RevelationOctober 26, 2012 M. J. Bassett Alliance Films