2003 in video gaming
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Events
- February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of SEGA to the AIAS Hall of Fame.
- March 6-9 — Game Developers Conference hosts 3rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards and Gama Network's 5th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF).
- May 14-16 — 9th annual E³ (Electronic Entertainment Expo) held at Los Angeles Convention Center; 6th annual Game Critics Awards for the Best of E³.
- July 16 — Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) renamed as Entertainment Software Association (ESA).
- October 1 — DreamWorks SKG and Tecmo announce a movie adaptation of the video game Fatal Frame has been fast-tracked with John Rogers and Steven Spielberg involvement.
- October 20 — Families of Aaron Hamel and Kimberly Bede, two young adults shot by teens William and Josh Buckner (who in statements to investigators claimed their actions were inspired by Grand Theft Auto III), file a USD$246 million lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games, publisher Take Two Interactive Software, retailer Wal-Mart, and console-maker Sony Computer Entertainment America.
- October 31 — BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) announces nominations for the 1st annual BAFTA Games Awards for video game publication and (on November 24) the 6th annual BAFTA Interactive Awards for multimedia technologies; ceremony to be held in February 2004.
- November — Kazushige Nojima resigns from Square Enix.
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Hardware
- Early 2003 — Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance SP, an enhanced version of its popular Game Boy Advance handheld game console.
- September — Nintendo's Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) are officially axed from production worldwide.
- Nokia releases the hybrid N-Gage handheld console / mobile phone.
- First PlayStation Portable prototype shown by Sony.
- Nintendo states that the next generation console will be fully compatible with GameCube.
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Business
- February 19 — Microsoft announces a deal to buy Connectix Corp.
- Take Two Interactive buys TDK Mediactive, Inc.
- Infogrames, Inc., a subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA renames itself Atari
- Square Co., Ltd. and Enix Corporation merge, forming Square Enix Co., Ltd.
- CNN/Money reports that video games are a USD$10 billion dollar industry
- May — The 3DO Company announces bankruptcy
- June 12 — Obsidian Entertainment founded
- August — Microsoft announced ATI as the developer of the GPU for their next generation console, Project Xenon. Their previous contract with NVIDIA was finished but the GPU of the Xbox continued in production.
- December — Interplay closes its Black Isle Studios division
- Late 2003 — Nintendo buys shares from Japanese toy and animation conglomerate Bandai making Nintendo one of Bandai's top 10 shareholders
- Late 2003 — GameSpot reports a rebuttal regarding two statements from Nintendo and Bandai execs denying a potential Nintendo takeover of Bandai; according to the story, Nintendo is working with a Japanese banking firm that has Bandai and Nintendo as their corporate clients to try to take over Bandai
- Late 2003 — Data East goes defunct.
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Notable releases
- May — Enter The Matrix, the game following The Matrix Reloaded movie phenomenon. Not well received by critics.
- June — Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is finally released after languishing in development since late 2000. Game was released with bugs and gameplay faults. Considered to be the worst of the series.
- July — Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic for Xbox is released.
- August — Winning Eleven 7 for PlayStation 2 sells 1 million copies in 1 week in Japan.
- September — Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack goes to Xbox.
- November/December — Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Beyond Good & Evil, Simpsons Hit & Run, Jak II and Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando comes for christmas.
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Trends
Computer games continue to lose ground to console video games with a US sales drop of 14% in 2003. (NPD) Total 2003 entertainment software sales in the United States grew slightly to $7 billion USD; console sales increased to $5.8 billion and computer games accounted for the remaining $1.2 billion. ESA (pdf)
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Video game consoles
The dominant video game consoles in 2003 were:
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Handheld game systems
The dominant handheld systems in 2003 were:
Additionally, two new handheld consoles were introduced in 2003, the Game Boy Advance SP (an enhanced GBA) and Nokia's N-Gage.
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Video game sales
Image:Madden2004box.jpg The top 10 selling console video games in 2003 in the United States ranked by units sold, according to NPD, were:
| Rank | Title | Platform | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madden NFL 2004 | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 2 | Pokémon Ruby | GBA | Nintendo |
| 3 | Pokémon Sapphire | GBA | Nintendo |
| 4 | Need for Speed: Underground | PS2 | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker | GameCube | Nintendo |
| 6 | Grand Theft Auto: Vice City | PS2 | Rockstar Games |
| 7 | Mario Kart: Double Dash!! | GameCube | Nintendo |
| 8 | Tony Hawk's Underground | PS2 | Activision |
| 9 | Enter the Matrix | PS2 | Atari |
| 10 | Medal of Honor: Rising Sun | PS2 | Electronic Arts |