2012 in video games
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{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Year nav topic5|2012|video games}}
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.
Critically acclaimed titles
=Major awards=
| class="wikitable" style="border:none; margin:0; width:100%; font-size: 90%;"
! style="width:17%;" colspan="2"| Category/Organization !! style="width:16%;" | 30th Golden Joystick Awards | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Game of the Year
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim || colspan="2" | The Walking Dead || colspan="2" | Journey || Dishonored || Journey | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope="row" colspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Independent / Debut{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}}
| {{n/a}} | colspan="2" | Journey | colspan="2" {{n/a}} | |||||
| scope="row" style="width:12%;" colspan="2" | Downloadable
| Minecraft || colspan="4" | The Walking Dead || {{n/a}} || Journey | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:12%;" | Mobile/Handheld{{efn-lr|name=combine}} || Mobile
| Angry Birds Space || rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Sound Shapes || colspan="2" | Hero Academy || rowspan="2"| The Walking Dead || rowspan="2" | The Room | |||||
| scope="row" | Handheld
| Uncharted: Golden Abyss || colspan="2" | Paper Mario: Sticker Star | |||||
| scope="row" style="width:12%;" colspan="2" | Innovation
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Journey || The Unfinished Swan || Journey | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Artistic Achievement or Graphics{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Animation | rowspan="2" {{n/a}} | rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Halo 4 | colspan="2" | Assassin's Creed III | rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Journey | |||||
| scope="row" | Art Direction
| colspan="2" | Journey | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:12%;" | Audio{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Music
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="5" | Journey || rowspan="2" | Journey | |||||
| scope="row"| Sound Design
| colspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="3" | Journey | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Character or Performance{{efn-lr|name=combine}} || Actor
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack | |||||
| Actress | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Game Direction or Design
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="4" | Journey | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Narrative
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="4"| The Walking Dead | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" |Technical Achievement{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Gameplay Engineering
| rowspan="2" colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | XCOM: Enemy Unknown || rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || rowspan="2"| Far Cry 3 | |||||
| scope="row" | Visual Engineering
| colspan="2"| Halo 4 | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Multiplayer/Online{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Online Gameplay
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Borderlands 2 || colspan="2" | Journey || rowspan="2" | Journey || rowspan="13" {{n/a}} | |||||
| scope="row" | Connectivity
| colspan="2" | Halo 4 | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Action/Adventure || Action/Shooter
| Battlefield 3 || colspan="4" | Borderlands 2 || rowspan="2" | Far Cry 3 | |||||
| scope="row" | Adventure
| Batman: Arkham City || colspan="2" | Dishonored || colspan="2" | The Walking Dead | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Casual or Family || Casual
| colspan="3" rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Journey || rowspan="2" | Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes | |||||
| Family
| colspan="2" | Skylanders: Giants | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Fighting
| Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition || colspan="2" | Persona 4 Arena || colspan="2" | PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale|| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Role-Playing
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim || colspan="4" | Mass Effect 3 | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Social or Web-Based
| {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | You Don't Know Jack || colspan="2" | SimCity Social || SongPop | |||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Sports|| Individual
| rowspan="2" | FIFA 12 || colspan="2" | SSX || rowspan="2" colspan="2" | FIFA 13 || rowspan="2" | New Star Soccer | |||||
| Team
| colspan="2" | NBA 2K13 | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Racing
| Forza Motorsport 4 || colspan="4" | Need for Speed: Most Wanted || {{n/a}} | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Strategy/Simulation
| Civilization V: Gods & Kings || colspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="3" | XCOM: Enemy Unknown | |||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Special Award || Outstanding Contribution || colspan="2" | Best Game of the Decade || Hall of Fame || Pioneer Awards || BAFTA Fellowship || Lifetime Achievement Award | |||||
| FIFA (Electronic Arts) | colspan="2" | Half-Life 2 | Gabe Newell | Marc Blank, Dave Lebling | Gabe Newell | Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk |
{{notelist-lr}}
=Review Scores of 90+=
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ 2012 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR){{cite web |title=Best Video Games for 2012 |url=https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/all/all?sort=desc&year_selected=2012 |website=Metacritic |access-date=September 27, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Highest-Ranking Games of 2012 (with at least 5 reviews) |url=https://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=&cat=0&year=2012&numrev=4&sort=0&letter=&search= |website=GameRankings |access-date=September 27, 2019}} |
| scope="col"| Game
! scope="col"| Publisher ! scope="col"| Release Date ! scope="col"| Platform ! scope="col"| MC score ! scope="col"| GR score |
|---|
| The Walking Dead: Episode 5 – No Time Left
| November 21, 2012 | Windows | 89/100 | 94.75% |
| Persona 4 Golden
| Atlus | June 14, 2012 | 93/100 | 94.16% |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series
| November 21, 2012 | 94/100 | 92.5% |
| Mark of the Ninja
| October 16, 2012 | Windows | 91/100 | 93.33% |
| Super Hexagon
| November 27, 2012 | Windows | 88/100 |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series
| November 21, 2012 | Windows | 89/100 | 93.2% |
| Mass Effect 3
| March 6, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 93/100 | 92.17% |
| Cave Story
| Nicalis | October 4, 2012 | 93/100 | 92% |
| Mass Effect 3
| March 6, 2012 | 93/100 | 91.65% |
| Journey
| March 13, 2012 | 92/100 | 92.56% |
| Fire Emblem Awakening
| Nintendo | April 19, 2012 |
| The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series
| November 21, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 92/100 | 91.8% |
| Trials Evolution
| April 18, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 90/100 | 91.52% |
| Dishonored
| October 9, 2012 | Windows | 91/100 | 90.57% |
| Borderlands 2
| 2K | September 18, 2012 | 91/100 | 90.48% |
| NBA 2K13
| 2K | October 2, 2012 | Windows | 90/100 |
| Far Cry 3
| Ubisoft | December 4, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 91/100 | 89.14% |
| Mark of the Ninja
| October 16, 2012 | Windows | 90/100 | 90.43% |
| Ōkami HD
| Capcom | October 30, 2012 | 90/100 | 90.29% |
| Borderlands 2
| 2K | September 18, 2012 | Windows | 89/100 | 90.1% |
| Guild Wars 2
| NCsoft | August 28, 2012 | Windows | 90/100 | 90.02% |
| NBA 2K13
| 2K | October 2, 2012 | 90/100 | 89.68% |
| FIFA 13
| September 25, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 90/100 | 89.47% |
| Far Cry 3
| Ubisoft | December 4, 2012 | 90/100 | 89.18% |
| Dark Souls: Artorias of the Abyss
| October 23, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 89/100 |
| XCOM: Enemy Unknown
| 2K | October 8, 2012 | Xbox 360 | 90/100 | 88.96% |
| The Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan
| October 15, 2012 | Windows | 88/100 |
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).
Events
| class="wikitable" | |
| Month
! Day(s) ! Event | |
|---|---|
| February
|3-29 |Sega reduces western business after the release of Binary Domain, and focuses on digital on PC and Mobile | |
| valign="top"
| March | valign="top" | 5–9 | style="text-align:left;"|Game Developers Conference 2012 held in San Francisco, California. | |
| |April | 6–8
| style="text-align:left;"|PAX East 2012 held in Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. |
| |May | 2-5
| style="text-align:left;"|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.{{cite web| url = http://cyber-sports.net/node/23427| title = The Arrival of KeSPA| publisher = Cyber-sports.net| access-date = October 16, 2012| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121127235347/http://cyber-sports.net/node/23427| archive-date = November 27, 2012| df = mdy-all}} |
| |June | 5–7
| style="text-align:left;"|E3 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/wikis/e3/Attendance_and_Stats|title=Attendance and Stats|date=June 8, 2012 |publisher=IGN|language=en|access-date=May 21, 2015}} |
| |July | 7-9
| style="text-align:left;"|Metal Gear franchise completes 25 years. |
| rowspan="3"|August | 2–5
|QuakeCon 2012: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. |
| | 15–19
| style="text-align:left;"|Gamescom 2012 held in Cologne, Germany. | |
| | 24-31
| style="text-align:left;"|Street Fighter franchise completes 25 years. | |
| rowspan="2"|September | 20-23
| style="text-align:left;"|Tokyo Game Show 2012 held in Chiba, Japan. |
| |26-29
| style="text-align:left;"|Eurogamer Expo 2012 held in Earls Court, London. | |
| October
|24 | style="text-align:left;"|Polygon is launched. | |
| rowspan="2"|December | 7-9
| style="text-align:left;"|Spike Video Game Awards |
| |17-19
| style="text-align:left;"|Mega Man franchise completes 25 years. |
Notable deaths
{{Expand section|date=April 2024}}
- 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){{Cite news |date=2012-09-04 |title=Actor Michael Clarke Duncan dies aged 54 |url=https://www.eurogamer.net/actor-michael-clarke-duncan-dies-aged-54 |access-date=2024-03-28 |work=Eurogamer.net |language=en}}
- 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){{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=2012-02-01 |title=Ian Abercrombie, Who Played the Boss on 'Seinfeld,' Dies at 77 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/arts/television/ian-abercrombie-elaines-boss-on-seinfeld-dies-at-77.html |access-date=2024-04-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Hardware releases
The list of game consoles released in 2012 in North America.
| class="wikitable" |
| Month
! Day ! Console |
|---|
| February
| 15 |
| August
| 19 |
| September
| 25 |
| November
| 18 | Wii U |
| rowspan="2"|December
| 7 | Wii mini |
| 18 |
Series with new entries
Series with new installments in 2012 include Alan Wake, 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.
Game releases
The list of games released in 2012 in North America.
{{GamePlatformKey|tot=17|Lin|Mac|3DS|NDS|PS2|PS3|PSN|PSP|PSVita|Wii|WiiWare|WiiU|Win|X360|XBLA|iOS|Droid}}