Top 5 Most Popular Video Games in the World Right Now
Bored? Want to find something new to take up this month?
Sometimes it can feel like you’ve maxed out Netflix or you’re bored of heading to the cinema… that’s where gaming can offer plenty of entertainment during the warmer months.
If you’re stuck for ideas on what to take up, then help is at hand. the top five most popular games in the world at the moment.
1. Fortnite Battle Royale
Fortnite is an online video game first released in 2017 and developed by Epic Games. It is available as separate software packages having different game modes that otherwise share the same general gameplay and game engine. The game modes include Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative shooter-survival game for up to four players to fight off zombie-like creatures and defend objects with fortifications they can build, Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play battle royale game where up to 100 players fight to be the last person standing, and Fortnite Creative, where players are given complete freedom to create worlds and battle arenas. The first two game modes were released in 2017 as early access titles and Creative was released on December 6, 2018. Save the World is available only for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, while Battle Royale has been released for those platforms in addition for Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android devices.
While the first two games have been successful for Epic Games, Fortnite Battle Royale became a resounding success, drawing in more than 125 million players in less than a year and earning hundreds of millions of dollars per month, and since has been a cultural phenomenon.
2. Grand Theft Auto V
Grand Theft Auto V is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It was released in September 2013 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in November 2014 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and in April 2015 for Microsoft Windows. It is the first main entry in the Grand Theft Auto series since 2008's Grand Theft Auto IV. Set within the fictional state of San Andreas, based on Southern California, the single-player story follows three criminals and their efforts to commit heists while under pressure from a government agency. The open-world design lets players freely roam San Andreas' open countryside and the fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles.
The game is played from either a third-person or first-person perspective and its world is navigated on foot or by vehicle. Players control the three lead protagonists throughout single-player and switch between them both during and outside missions. The story is centred on the heist sequences, and many missions involve shooting and driving gameplay. A "wanted" system governs the aggression of law enforcement response to players who commit crimes. Grand Theft Auto Online, the game's online multiplayer mode, lets up to 30 players engage in a variety of different cooperative and competitive game modes.
The development of Grand Theft Auto V began soon after Grand Theft Auto IV's release and was shared between many of Rockstar's studios worldwide. The development team drew influence from many of their previous projects such as Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 and designed the game around three lead protagonists to innovate on the core structure of its predecessors. Much of the development work constituted the open world's creation, and several team members conducted field research around California to capture footage for the design team. The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by a team of producers who collaborated over several years.
Extensively marketed and widely anticipated, the game broke industry sales records and became the fastest-selling entertainment product in history, earning $800 million in its first day and $1 billion in its first three days. It received widespread critical acclaim, with praise directed at its multiple protagonist design, open world, presentation and gameplay. However, it caused controversies related to its depiction of women and a mission featuring torture during a hostage interrogation. Considered one of the seventh generation console gaming's most significant titles and among the best games ever made, it won year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. It is the third-best-selling video game of all time with over 100 million copies shipped, and is one of the most financially successful entertainment products of all time, with over $6 billion in worldwide revenue.
3. Minecraft
Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox video game created by Swedish game developer Markus Persson and later developed by Mojang. The game allows players to build with a variety of different blocks in a 3D procedurally generated world, requiring creativity from players. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and combat.
Multiple gameplay modes are available, including survival mode in which the player must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health, creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build with and the ability to fly, adventure mode where players can play custom maps created by other players with certain restrictions, spectator mode where players can freely move throughout a world without being allowed to destroy or build anything and be affected by gravity and collisions, and hardcore mode which is similar to survival mode but the player is given only one chance and the game difficulty is locked on hard. If the player dies on hardcore, the player does not respawn, and the world is unplayable. The Java Edition of the game allows players to create mods with new gameplay mechanics, items, textures and assets.
Minecraft received critical acclaim and has won numerous awards and accolades. Social media, parodies, adaptations, merchandise, and the MineCon convention played large roles in popularizing the game. It has also been used in educational environments (Minecraft Education Edition), especially in the realm of computing systems, as virtual computers and hardware devices have been built in it. By late 2018, over 154 million copies had been sold across all platforms, making it the second best-selling video game of all time, behind Tetris. In September 2014, Microsoft announced a deal to buy Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property for US$2.5 billion, with the acquisition completed two months later. Spin-off games, such as Minecraft: Story Mode, have also been released. By mid-2018, the game had around 91 million active players monthly.
4. Rainbow Six siege
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (often shortened to Rainbow Six Siege) is a tactical shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released worldwide for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on December 1, 2015. The game puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players. Each player assumes control of an attacker or a defender in different gameplay modes such as rescuing a hostage, defusing a bomb, and taking control of a capture point. The title has no campaign but features a series of short missions that can be played solo. These missions have a loose narrative, focusing on recruits going through training to prepare them for future encounters with the White Masks, a terrorist group that threatens the safety of the world.
It is an entry in the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series and the successor to Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6: Patriots, a tactical shooter that had a larger focus on narrative. However, Patriots was eventually cancelled due to its technical shortcomings, and the team decided to reboot the franchise. The team evaluated the core of the Rainbow Six franchise and believed that letting players impersonate the top counter-terrorist operatives around the world suited the game most. To create authentic siege situations, the team consulted actual counter-terrorism units and looked at real-life examples of sieges. Powered by AnvilNext 2.0, the game also utilizes Ubisoft's RealBlast technology to create destructible environments.
Announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, it received four nominations from Game Critics Awards including Best of Show. The game received an overall positive reception from critics, with praise mostly directed to the game's tense multiplayer and focus on tactics. However, the game was criticized for its progression system and its lack of content. Initial sales were weak, but the game's player base increased significantly as Ubisoft adopted a "games as a service" model for the game and subsequently released several packages of free downloadable content. The company partnered with ESL to make Siege an esports game. In June 2018, two and a half years after the game's initial launch, the game surpassed 40 million registered players across all platforms.
5. Overwatch
Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, which released on May 24, 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Described as a "hero shooter", Overwatch assigns players into two teams of six, with each player selecting from a roster of nearly 30 characters, known as "heroes", each with a unique style of play whose roles are divided into three general categories that fit their role. Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time. Players gain cosmetic rewards that do not affect gameplay, such as character skins and victory poses, as they play the game. The game was initially launched with casual play, with a competitive ranked mode, various 'arcade' game modes, and a player-customizable server browser subsequently included following its release. Additionally, Blizzard has added new characters, maps, and game modes post-release, all free of charge, with the only additional cost to players being optional loot boxes to earn cosmetic items.
Overwatch is Blizzard's fourth major franchise and came about following the 2014 cancellation of the ambitious massively multiplayer online role-playing game Titan. A portion of the Titan team came up with the concept of Overwatch, based on the success of team-based first-person shooters like Team Fortress 2 and the growing popularity of multiplayer online battle arenas, creating a hero-based shooter that emphasized teamwork. Some elements of Overwatch borrow assets and concepts from the canceled Titan project. After establishing the narrative of an optimistic near-future Earth setting after a global crisis, the developers aimed to create a diverse cast of heroes that spanned genders and ethnicities as part of this setting. Significant time is spent adjusting the balance of the characters, making sure that new players would still be able to have fun while skilled players would present each other with a challenge.
Overwatch was unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 in a fully playable state and was in a closed beta from late 2015 through early 2016. An open beta in May 2016 drew in nearly 10 million players. The release of the game was promoted with short animated videos to introduce the game's narrative and each of the characters. Upon official release, Overwatch received universal acclaim from critics, who praised the game for its accessibility, diverse appeal of its hero characters, bright cartoonish art style, and enjoyable gameplay. Blizzard reported over US$1 billion in revenue during the first year of its release, and had more than 40 million players after two years. Overwatch is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, receiving numerous game of the year awards, alongside other accolades. The game has also become recognized as an esport, with Blizzard themselves helping to fund and produce professional leagues, such as the Overwatch League
The world online has exploded into battle royale madness, with the launch of a couple of huge games. One is Fortnite and the other is PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or PUBG to its friends.
