1989 in video gaming

Events

Notable releases

* Bullfrog Productions releases "Populous" on June 5 1989, which was one of the first commercially successful god games.
* Namco releases "Winning Run"; "Rompers"; "Blast Off", which is the sequel to "Bosconian"; "Valkyrie No Densetsu"; "Dirt Fox"; "World Stadium '89"; "Finest Hour"; "Burning Force"; "Winning Run Suzuka GP"; "Four Trax"; "Dangerous Seed" and "Marvel Land".
* Maxis releases Will Wright's "SimCity", the first of the "Sim" games and a revolutionary real-time software toy.
* Tengen releases an unlicensed version of the "Tetris" video game, which is recalled after Nintendo sues Tengen.
* Wes Cherry writes "Solitaire" and Robert Donner writes "Minesweeper", which are bundled with Microsoft Windows starting from version 3.
* Brøderbund releases the "Prince of Persia" game, the first in a series of games, noted for its advancements in animation.
* Nintendo of America introduces Enix's "Dragon Warrior" franchise to North America.
* Techno Soft releases "Herzog Zwei" (Mega Drive/Genesis) an important development in the real-time strategy genre.
*Psygnosis release "Shadow of the Beast", demonstrating the capabilities of the Amiga and helping sales of the computer.
*Strategic Studies Group releases "Warlords" on December 6 1989, which was one of the first fantasy turn-based strategy game.

Hardware

* Atari Corp. releases the Lynx handheld console.
* Mattel, Inc. releases the Power Glove controller for the NES home console.
* Nintendo releases the Game Boy handheld console, first handheld with cartridges.
* NEC's PC Engine released in North America as the Turbografx-16.
* Sega Mega Drive released in North America as the Sega Genesis.

Business

* Hasbro, Inc. acquires elements of Coleco Industries, Inc.
* Trinity Acquisition Corporation founded (renamed THQ in 1990)
* Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Tengen
** Nintendo sues Tengen over the "Tetris" video game copyrights. Tengen loses and recalls all its "Tetris" games.
** November - Nintendo sues Tengen over production of unlicensed Nintendo games. Tengen loses. (Tengen originally sued Nintendo on December 12, 1988 for antitrust violations.)
* Nintendo v. Camerica Ltd. Nintendo sues Camerica over patent violations of the Game Genie for the NES console. Camerica wins the suit.
* Nintendo in business for 100 years.