As an industry so closely tied with evolution, gaming is never stagnant. Whether through improving technology or changing tastes, the developments we see in gaming are constant and often surprising. While there are definite trends that the industry pursues, there are other advancements nobody sees coming.
What we want to look at today is the idea of gaming spinoffs and mods. Specifically, those which have gone on to explode in popularity, in many cases becoming bigger in name and reach than even the games on which they were based.
DOTA
What newer players might not know, however, is that the game was originally born from a mod for Warcraft III. The original DOTA effectively created the MOBA genre, inspiring other enormous hits like League of Legends, and Blizzard’s own MOBA, Heroes of the Storm.
Funnily enough, a recent spinoff, DOTA Autochess, has also now caught worldwide attention. A spinoff of a spinoff, so to speak.
Counter-Strike
The second-biggest game in eSports, according to prize money, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive continues the legacy that first arose with the original CS back in November 2000.
Counter-Strike, or just CS, was developed by a team of two as a multiplayer mod for Half-Life. For a long time after its release, CS was a worldwide phenomenon. This game not only helped popularize Valve’s Steam on its initial
Of course, many of us at the time were on dialup internet, so this was a necessity for the best gameplay. Still, in terms of building community interest, Counter-Strike was a fantastic companion to the popularity brought about by Half-Life.
PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
Inspiring Fortnite’s move into the battlegrounds genre, among many others, PUBG also had its start in the world of modding. The idea for PUBG was only really made possible through the original engine of Arma 3. This game series is famous for enormous game worlds, having inspired other legends like the ever-delayed DayZ.
PUBG took the idea of survival gameplay, a genre that had been around for decades, and supersized it to ridiculous new levels. Eventually, like CS and DOTA, this game split off to become its own self-contained entry. Like these other games, it also created an entire shift in the industry.
Without PUBG there would be no Fortnite. Whatever your opinion on Fortnite, you can’t deny the effect the game has had on the greater world of entertainment.
So what does the success of these games tell us about the industry as a whole? Overwhelmingly, the idea we get is that it’s not the biggest budgets or largest companies that create the most drastic change. Rather, it is unique ideas as lead by small teams or individuals which can have the most profound effects on gaming’s shape.
The best ideas, as it turns out, don’t come from the fattest wallets. If you have an idea for a game mod, don’t forget that even the most profound success stories in gaming often come from humble beginnings.
