As an American, the first thing that might pop into your mind when thinking about Aussies, Australia, or Straya as the country-continent is oftentimes called in the US is the laid back, easygoing, and adventurous people here who love a good punt and live in the land of kangaroos and koalas. However, Australia is not only a peculiar country-continent in the Southern Hemisphere located between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, but it also runs a surprisingly successful game development industry that keeps on growing in size while attracting most of its revenue from exporting hot video and casino games.
Australia is home to several hundred small and large studios that periodically create brand new products, in spite of the lack of sufficient support from the government there. Nonetheless, this does not seem to stop Aussie game makers from proving their creativity and developing their very own Intellectual Property together with making games and related gaming services for a plethora of clients, Americans included. Yes, many of the games you might have a fun time playing on your smartphone, tablet, or computer originate from the skilled hands of Australian video games developers.
Eager to learn which are some of the most popular games and game developers that come from the Land Down Under, yet you probably had no idea about? Read on.
BioShock Introduces You To a Dystopian City Under The Water
2K Australia is behind the BioShock video game series that has introduced many American players to these incredible first-person shooters in 2007, 2010, and 2013, showing the fact that the country is able to generate world-class games at a level that is similar to the one achieved by the most popular American game developers. The series sends players into a mesmerizing dystopian city called Rapture. This is an underwater city swarming with villains who have some mind-blowing superpowers. The series has been highly praised in Australia, The US, and other parts of the world and it belongs to the survival horror game genre.
Fruit Ninja, The Second Most Downloaded iOS Game On The Planet
While Candy Crush Saga has gained the undisputed title of the iOS game with the largest number of downloads of all time, the first runner-up is an Australian game developed by a company called Halfbrick Studios located in Brisbane. The game is called Fruit Ninja and you might be familiar with it if you own an iOS device, as more than one billion people have downloaded it to date and chances are you are one of them. Players are asked to slice loads of fruit by quickly swiping their finger across the touchscreen and while this might not be the most demanding or exciting game that Aussies have ever given to the American market, it is definitely one that has gained a lot of popularity in a short period of time.
Crossy Road Solves The “Chicken Crossing The Road” Mystery
The game is regarded as an alternative to the Frogger game and it requires players to…die as many times as they can. This is the main goal of this arcade title released by the guys at Hipster Whale, making the game one of the most successful free mobile games developed on Australian land in history.
Big Bang Theory For The Fans Of The Popular TV Show
If you are familiar with the highly popular TV series Big Bang Theory that has aired for 12 years and left an entire nation sighing at the end of the last episode, you are also going to love the slot game inspired by it. The game has been developed by Aristocrat, an old and popular Australian casino game developer that has also released titles like Dumb and Dumber, The Walking Dead, or Game of Thrones, and which is licensed to operate in more than 240 gaming jurisdictions worldwide, operating in 90 countries. Aristocrat was originally founded in 1953 and its modern studio and state-of-the-art visual effects, lads of multiplayer game options, and amazingly rewarding progressive jackpot make it one of the most successful game developer in Australia even today.