5 Games That Took the World By Storm in the Last Five Years

Destiny

Video games have become a gigantic business, and it is not uncommon to find successes in the industry. But some games are more than that. Some games take the world by storm, even exerting a strong influence on the culture at large, becoming modern classics that stand as generational touchstones, or achieving a near-ubiquity that is impossible to ignore. Over the past five years, these games have taken the world by storm.

Bungie began its march to wild success when Microsoft snapped up the company in 2000 after Bungie presented a fantastic trailer of some game called Halo: Combat Evolved. For a decade, Bungie created video game classics and cultivated its sci-fi series into a pop culture behemoth.

So in 2010, when the now-independent Bungie announced its 10-year publishing agreement with Activision and its intent to create a new video game intellectual property, the hype train left the station sight unseen. The fruits of their labor, the sci-fi shooter/MMO Destiny, became one of the most anticipated games of all time. In the lead-up to Destiny’s September 2014 release, it hosted the largest console beta in history and became the most pre-ordered video game ever at the time. Activision also announced that Destiny shipped $500 million worth of product in its first day, declaring it “the biggest new video game franchise launch in history.”

While the game had its fair share of hiccups, Destiny’s soaring financial success and therefore impact on the ubiquitous ‘game as a service‘ model is undeniable. Multiple expansions and a full-length sequel have only magnified Destiny’s importance.

This post was originally written by Matthew LaMar.

Witcher 3

While the first two Witcher video games were well-received, they were under-the-radar RPGs that many in the mainstream gaming community had not played. The game franchise, based on work of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, was a bit of a niche product.

That is, until The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt came around. There was definite interest in the game before its May 2015 release, as it was only being released on PC and the next-gen PS4 and Xbox One consoles and looked stellar. But the game’s impact and success went beyond everyone’s wildest expectations. The flagship PC version of The Witcher 3 has a stellar 93 rating on Metacritic, representing “universal acclaim.” The game won Game of the Year honors at a variety of outlets, and its expansions were equally well-received. Twinfinite called The Witcher 3 “a shining example of what RPGs should be: an experience that makes you believe that you’re truly part of a game’s world and that you have a very real stake in it.”

Developer CD Projekt Red created a modern classic that resonated with fans, with an active community and fantastic cosplay. But most of all, The Witcher 3’s open world design choices have begun to resonate throughout the gaming world, influencing other developers, including titans like Nintendo and BioWare. And it is because of the great success of The Witcher 3 that Netflix picked up the rights for a TV adaption of the series.

The craziest part? The Witcher 3 remains one of the best-selling games on Steam nearly three years after its release.

Overwatch

Three short years after its release, Overwatch is at the vanguard of esports and has its own professional league, the Overwatch League. It remains one of the most streamed games on Twitch, done so by both professionals and newbies alike, and while it wasn’t the first game to utilize the loot box system, its wild success and profitability has made the loot box almost unavoidable in modern gaming.

Blizzard is no stranger to cultivating great games or creating great franchises–look no further than World of Warcraft, but if you want to you’ll find StarCraft, Hearthstone, and Diablo waiting in the wings. But in Overwatch, Blizzard has created yet another monster of a game. From its impeccable sound design and music to its incredibly diverse cast of lovable characters (except for Hanzo), Overwatch stole everyone’s heart.

Put it this way: Tracer, Overwatch’s de facto lead character, has a cameo in the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

The Legend of Zelda has one of the longest and most storied histories in gaming history. For Breath of the Wild, Nintendo’s newest Zelda game and flagship Switch launch title, the company tossed its most sacred elements into a blender, flung them across a vast open world, and let you explore to your heart’s content as Link.

And, oh yeah, it’s portable now because of the Switch. Dangerous combo, indeed.

The Switch has flown off shelves for months, and even in 2018 it’s extremely difficult to find one in some places. The Switch has now sold more consoles in less than one year than the Wii U ever did, and while the console itself is definitely a prime reason, Breath of the Wild’s success is a factor, too.

Hilariously, Breath of the Wild outsold the Switch for the first month after their launch, suggesting that the game was instrumental in at least the magnitude of the Switch’s initial success. Certainly, Zelda took the world by storm. It was one everyone could see coming, sure, but it still happened.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is the poster child of the ‘from zero to hero’ of modern video game development. Despite donning one of the most awkward game titles in history, the game was released in Steam early access in March 2017 and almost immediately became one of the most fascinating games in years. As the brainchild of Irish modder Brendan “PlayerUnknown” Greene, Battlegrounds reached its dizzying heights through sheer personality. No other game was quite doing what Battlegrounds did. In PlayerUnknown’s game, which has expanded to Xbox One early access and achieved its full official release for PC, 100 players are dropped onto an island with nothing but the clothes on their back. Each player or squad then scrambles to find weapons and equipment, killing each other off until only one remains to eat that sweet, sweet chicken dinner.

Already, we are seeing a surge of imitator battle royale-style games, and for good reason. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has sold over 20 million copies as of December 2017 and boasts over 30 million players. Its microtransactions have continued to rake in the dough, and it has the third-most Twitch viewers out of any game this month.