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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.
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
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).
| No. | Game | Revenue | Publisher(s) | Genre | Platform(s) | Business model | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | $1,000,000,000 | Activision (Activision Blizzard) | FPS | Multi-platform | Buy-to-play | [9] |
| Crossfire | $1,000,000,000 | Smilegate / Tencent | FPS | PC | Free-to-play | [10] | |
| 3 | World of Warcraft | $986,000,000 | Blizzard Entertainment (Activision Blizzard) | MMORPG | PC | Subscription | [11] |
| 4 | FIFA 13 | $444,000,000 | EA Sports (Electronic Arts) | Sports | Multi-platform | Buy-to-play | [12] [13] |
| 5 | Borderlands 2 | $300,000,000 | 2K Games | ARPG | Multi-platform | Buy-to-play | [14] [15] |
| 6 | World of Tanks | $280,000,000 | Wargaming.net | Vehicular combat | PC | Free-to-play | [16] |
| 7 | Pokémon Black 2 / White 2 | $267,000,000 | Nintendo / The Pokémon Company | RPG | DS | Buy-to-play | [17] [18] |
| 8 | New Super Mario Bros. 2 | $238,000,000 | Nintendo | Platformer | 3DS | Buy-to-play | [17] [19] |
| 9 | Minecraft | $237,000,000 | Mojang | Sandbox | Multi-platform | Buy-to-play | [20] |
| 10 | League of Legends | $200,000,000 | Riot Games / Tencent | MOBA | PC | Free-to-play | [21] |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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. [22] |
| June | 5–7 | E3 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. [23] |
| July | 7-9 | Metal Gear franchise completes 25 years. |
| August | 2–5 | QuakeCon 2012: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. |
| 15–19 | Gamescom 2012 held in Cologne, Germany. | |
| 24-31 | Street Fighter franchise completes 25 years. | |
| September | 20-23 | Tokyo Game Show 2012 held in Chiba, Japan. |
| 26-29 | Eurogamer Expo 2012 held in Earls Court, London. | |
| October | 24 | Polygon is launched. |
| December | 7-9 | Spike Video Game Awards |
| 17-19 | Mega Man franchise completes 25 years. |
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2024) |
The list of game consoles released in 2012 in North America.
| Month | Day | Console |
|---|---|---|
| February | 15 | PlayStation Vita |
| August | 19 | Nintendo 3DS XL |
| September | 25 | PlayStation 3 Super Slim |
| November | 18 | Wii U |
| December | 7 | Wii mini (Canada only) |
| 18 | Neo Geo X |
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 .
The list of games released in 2012 in North America.
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