Did you know that around fifty games are released on Steam every single day? That’s a whole lot of games that are released each year, especially when you consider that not every game that’s made ends up on Steam.
You’ll never hear of the majority of those games. Even the ones you do end up playing will have a relatively short life, likely falling out of favor within a few months after release. A small selection, a comically small selection, will make it through and still be spoken about a few years down the line.
That’s just a fact of life for the overwhelming majority of games. However, there are some titles from history that have not only proven to be a hit but which have effectively changed the gaming industry — and the world — for good. In this post, we’ll run through a handful of the seminal titles that had a lasting impact.
Space Invaders
Space Invaders wasn’t the first widely played arcade game. That title belongs to Pong. However, Space Invaders was the first game played by essentially everyone. This game changed the world because, for many, it was the first game they ever loved, helping to significantly increase the number of gamers around the world. Indeed, it was so popular that Japan experienced a coin shortage shortly after the game was released because everyone was using their spare change to play Space Invaders.
Space Invaders was more than just a popular pastime, too. It also proved to be highly influential, since it inspired Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the wildly successful Super Mario Bros., to become interested in video games.
Candy Crush
It’s impossible to quantify the success of Candy Crush. Released in 2012, it went on to become one of the most successful games of all time, impacting the mobile video games industry and influencing other titles. The free-to-play model, popularized by Candy Crush, has become commonplace in the industry, and that’s in large part thanks to the staggering revenues produced by Candy Crush, which reached $1.2 billion in 2022. The game’s candy-inspired aesthetics have also had a stylistic influence on games, most notably in the iGaming sector. Take a look at an online casino, and you’ll find a whole host of slot games that use bright and colorful imagine, including Sweet Bonanza, one of most popular slot games of recent years. You’ll also find Candy Crush-inspired aesthetics in mobile games, too, such as Candy Puzzlejoy. There have been other successful mobile games, such as Bejeweled and Clash Royale, but in terms of overall impact, there’s none that can compete with Candy Crush.
Grand Theft Auto
The Grand Theft Auto franchise has been a runaway success, and that’s evidenced by the excitement that surrounds the release of GTA 6, the long-awaited release that is scheduled to be released in late 2025.
Grand Theft Auto’s legacy will be assured even if GTA 6 never hits the stores. The franchise, particularly GTA Vice City and San Andreas, have had a seismic impact on the video game industry. What’s particularly impressive about GTA is the number of outstanding titles it has influenced. Red Dead Redemption, Saints Row, and Cyberpunk 2077 are some of the best games from the past two decades, yet it’s likely that they would never have seen the light of day had RockStar Games not taken the risks necessary to produce Grand Theft Auto.
Minecraft
Despite being a global success, it still feels as if Minecraft is at least slightly underappreciated. It’s not just the best-selling game of all time; it’s the best-selling by a long, long way. It shifted more than 300 million copies, nearly double the amount of the second-best selling (Grand Theft Auto V; 185 million copies).
It was a creative achievement as much as it was a financial success. Today, the survival game world is huge, but it basically didn’t exist until Minecraft came along. If you’ve ever played Terraria, Rust, or the many other similar titles of the past decade, then you have Minecraft to thank, though the chances are that, if you’ve played Minecraft in the past, then you probably still are — that’s how good it is.
