2004 in video gaming
Encyclopedia : 2 : 20 : 200 : 2004 in video gaming
Contents
Events
- January 20 — Wired's Vaporware Awards gives its first "Lifetime Achievement Award" to recurring winner Duke Nukem Forever.
- March 4 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Peter Molyneux into the AIAS Hall of Fame
- March 22-26 — Game Developers Conference hosts 4th annual Game Developers Choice Awards and Gama Network's 6th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF)
- November 5 — Nobuo Uematsu resigns from Square Enix and becomes a freelancer, starting his own business, called Smile Please Co., Ltd..
- November 21 — Nintendo launches its DS handheld in the US
Business
- January 12 — Ubisoft acquires Tiwak
- February — EA consolidates, rolls most of Maxis and all of Origin Systems into its Redwood Shores, California HQ
- March — Microsoft announces XNA the successor of DirectX as the default API for Windows Vista and Xenon.
- April 6 — Midway Games acquires Surreal Software
- May — Sammy Corporation buys a controlling share in Sega Corporation at a cost of $1.1 billion creating the new company, "Sega Sammy Holdings Inc", one of the biggest gaming companies in the world.
- July — Square Enix restructures executive branches around the world.
- August 30 — Acclaim declares bankruptcy and closes its doors
- October 11 — Midway Games acquires Inevitable Entertainment and renames it Midway Studios Austin.
- November 30 — Midway Games acquires developer Paradox Development.
- December 13 — Electronic Arts purchases a 5-year exclusive agreement for the rights to the NFL, which includes NFL teams, stadiums and players for use in EA's football videogames.
- December 20 — Electronic Arts purchases 20% stake in Ubisoft. The purchase at the time was considered "hostile", by Ubisoft.
Notable releases
- February 9 — EverQuest: Gates of Discord (PC)
- March 2 — Ninja Gaiden (Xbox)
- March 9 — Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword (PC)
- March 14 — Battlefield Vietnam (PC)
- March 16 — Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC)
- March 23 — FarCry (PC)
- March 23 — Final Fantasy XI (North America) (PS2)
- March 23 — Sonic Heroes (GC, PS2, Xbox)
- April 12 — Painkiller (PC)
- April 20 — (PC, PS2, Xbox)
- April 27 — City of Heroes (PC)
- April 27 — (PC)
- June 1 — (Xbox)
- July 13 — Tales of Symphonia (GC)
- August 3 — Doom 3 (PC)
- August 18 — (GBA)
- August 30 — Pikmin 2 (GC)
- September 7 — (PS2) (Xbox)
- September 7 — (PC, PS2, Xbox)
- September 9 — Pok?mon FireRed (GBA)
- September 9 — Pok?mon LeafGreen (GBA)
- September 13 — EverQuest: Omens of War (PC)
- September 14 — (PC)
- September 14 — Fable (Xbox)
- September 20 — (GC, PS2, Xbox)
- September 20 — (PC)
- September 21 — (PC, PS2)
- September 21 — Star Wars Battlefront (PS2, Xbox)
- September 22 — Katamari Damacy (PS2)
- September 22 — (PC)
- September 28 — (PC)
- October 4 — (PS2, Xbox)
- October 4 — Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (GBA, GC, PC, PS2, Xbox)
- October 11 — (GC)
- October 25 — OutRun 2 (Xbox)
- October 26 — Dead or Alive Ultimate (Xbox)
- October 26 — Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed (PC)
- October 29 — (PS2)
- November 2 — Killzone (PS2)
- November 2 — (PC)
- November 3 — (PS2)
- November 8 — EverQuest II (PC)
- November 9 — Halo 2 (Xbox)
- November 9 — Jak 3 (PS2)
- November 15 — (GC)
- November 16 — (PS2)
- November 16 — Half-Life 2 (PC)
- November 17 — (PS2)
- November 23 — World of Warcraft (PC)
- November 30 — (GC, PC, PS2, Xbox)
- December 1 — Painkiller: Battle out of Hell (PC)
- December 6 — (Xbox)
- December 6 — (PC)
- December 8 — The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (PC)
Trends
In 2004, the total U.S. sales of video game hardware, software and accessories was $9.9 billion compared with $10 billion in 2003. Total software sales rose 8 percent over the previous year to $6.2 billion. Additionally, sales of portable software titles exceeded $1 billion for the first time. Hardware sales were down 27 percent for the year due in part to shortages during the holiday season and price reductions from all systems.Video game consoles
- Nintendo GameCube
- Microsoft Xbox
- Sony PlayStation 2
- *Sony released an internal hard drive for the PlayStation 2 on March 23
- *The third major hardware revision of the PlayStation 2 (model number SCPH-70000) was released in Japan on November 1
Handheld game systems
The dominant handheld systems in 2004 were:
Additionally, Nokia released an updated version of their original N-Gage, called the N-Gage QD. Nintendo released the Nintendo DS on November 21 in the United States. In Japan Sony released the PlayStation Portable on December 12.
Video game sales
| Rank | Title | Platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PS2 | Take Two Interactive | |
| 2 | Halo 2 | Xbox | Microsoft |
| 3 | Madden NFL 2005 | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 4 | ESPN NFL 2K5 | PS2 | Take Two Interactive |
| 5 | PS2 | Electronic Arts | |
| 6 | Pokémon Fire Red With Adapter | GBA | Nintendo |
| 7 | NBA Live 2005 | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | Spider-Man: The Movie 2 | PS2 | Activision |
| 9 | Xbox | Microsoft | |
| 10 | ESPN NFL 2K5 | Xbox | Take Two Interactive |
References
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