video game timeline

Pacman is released 1980 Arcade and Atari 2600

Nintendo releases Donkey Kong 1981 Arcade

Tron is released 1982 Arcade

M.U.L.E is released 1983 Nintendo and Atari

Tetris is released 1984 Gameboy

Reader Rabbit is released 1986 CD-ROM (PC)

The legend of Zelda is released 1987 Nintendo

John Madden Football is released 1988 PC

Classic Cards Game Solitaire is released 1990 PC, Windows

Sonic is released 1991 Sega Genesis

Dune 2 is released 1992 PC

Mortal Kombat is released, and Doom 1993 Arcade, PC

World of Warcraft is released 1994 PC

Tomb Raider is released 1996 PC, PS4

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is released 1998 Game cube, Nintendo 64

Sony Online Entertainment's Everquest is released 1999 Playstation

The Sims 2000 PC

America's army is released 2002 Xbox, PC, Playstation

Alan wake is released on the Xbox 360 2005 Xbox

Rock band is released 2007 Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii

World of Warcraft surpasses 10 million subscribers 2008 PC

Games like farmville and angry birds change mobile gaming 2009 Phone

Minecraft becomes very popular, increasing the popularity of indie games. 2010 PC, Xbox, Playstation

New game Skylanders becomes the first augmented reality game 2011 Wii

Gone Home, The Last of Us, and Papers, Please usher in a new wave of mature video game stories that confront players with tough emotional choices in ethically-complex worlds. 2012 PC, Playstation

Free to play games become a big business model earning millions from in-game purchases. 2014 PC, Xbox

New free to play game Pokemon go becomes very popular. 2016 Phone

Millions of players tune in to watch a virtual asteroid destroy the map of Epic Games’ massively popular online battle royale game Fortnite. The game, which earned a staggering $2.4 billion in 2018, respawned two days later with a new map dubbed Fortnite: Chapter 2. 2019 PC, Xbox, Playstation, Mobile, Nintendo Switch