What Strategy Games Are The Most Popular?

A strategy game is one that focuses more on skills than fast-paced action and adventure in order to achieve success. Various skills are employed and emphasis must be placed on strategy, tactics and logic. Players also need to adventure around the map or from one area to another to complete the challenges. Each competing player or side has units, resources, upgrades and their own strengths and weaknesses which need to be identified and utilized.

They typically fall into either single player, multiplayer or massively multiplayer genres. Single player games are completed against the artificial intelligence, while multiplayer, as the name suggests are played against other humans. Humans pose a greater challenge because, while artificial intelligence is astounding, it cannot rival the complexity of the human mind.

The Maze Of Strategy Games

Strategy Games Come In A Variety Of Styles

A real-time game is a continuous flowing one where each player controls up to hundreds of units that all operate at the same time and must be micromanaged. Blizzard’s very popular Warcraft series, up to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and Starcraft and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty are highly popularized games that have captured millions of players. Blizzard’s original Starcraft was released in 1998 and the long-awaited sequel, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, wasn’t introduced until 2010 and still remains largely in demand and has millions of daily players.

A turn-based game requires more thinking and not as much action, since each player has the opportunity to carefully plan out each action before executing it. They are primarily turn-based, especially away from the computer, with classics like traditional chess.

Many developers for various types of strategy games have attempted to create and successfully release a massively multiplayer online or MMO and been unable to do so with enough interest and sales. Strategy does not lend itself very well to online play with large groups of people. Since so much is going on all at once, and so many players are online at the same time, individual achievements are not recognized as much and leave much to be desired when it comes to personal achievement. Two MMO games that did surface with some success include Dreamlords, which was released in 2007 and “Saga,” which got released a year later in 2008.

The most successful series of strategy games, which has sold millions of copies, is the Total War series, which was first introduced in 2000 with the latest being Empire: Total War. These types of games are predominantly focused on the single player action.

Age of Empires developed by Ensemble Studios.
Dreamlords developed by LockPick Entertainment.
Saga developed by Silverlode Interactive.
Starcraft, Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty, Warcraft, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos developed by Blizzard Entertainment.
Total War (Series), Empire: Total War developed by The Creative Assembly.