Video games trivia | 100 did you know facts about famous series (part 1)

Video games have become a part of pop culture. With many titles gaining worldwide recognition and a rapid fanbase.

So let’s dive into some unknown trivia and facts about the most famous video game franchises out there.

1. Angry Birds is a fantasy-based media franchise
2. It is created by the Finnish company Rovio Entertainment
3. The series focuses on multi-colored birds that try to save their eggs from green-colored pigs, their enemies
4. Inspired by Crush the Castle, the game has been praised for its successful combination of fun gameplay, comical style, and low price
5. Its popularity led to many spin-offs
6. There are versions of Angry Birds created for PCs and video game consoles
7. Also, there is a market for merchandise featuring its characters, Angry Birds Toons
8. There is a televised animated series
9. And two films; The Angry Birds Movie and its sequel The Angry Birds Movie 2
10. By January 2014, there had been over 2 billion downloads across all platforms, including both regular and special editions
11. By July 2015, the series’ games had been downloaded more than 3 billion times collectively
12. Making it the most downloaded freemium game series of all time
13. The original Angry Birds has been called “one of the most mainstream games out right now”, “one of the great runaway hits of 2010” and “the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far”
14. The first main-series video game sequel, Angry Birds 2, was released on July 30, 2015
15. The first game in the series was initially released in December 2009 for iOS
16. At the time, the swine flu epidemic was in the news, so the staff decided to use pigs as the enemies of the birds
17. The company released ports of the game to other touchscreen smartphone operating systems, including Android, Symbian, and Windows Phone, and PCs
18. The game revolves around a group of birds whose eggs are stolen by a legion of green pigs, who wish to eat them
19. The birds then use a slingshot to destroy the support beams of the pigs
20. The birds include Red, Chuck, Bomb, Matilda, The Blues (Jay, Jake and Jim), Hal, Stella, Terence, Bubbles, and Mighty Eagle
21. The pigs are led by the evil King Pig
22. He is assisted by Foreman Pig, Corporal Pig, Chef Pig, and many Minion Pigs
23. Assassin’s Creed is media franchise, that started as a videogame series
24. It is created by Patrice Désilets, Jade Raymond, and Corey May
25. It has spawned multiple videogames and a movie
26. The series depicts a fictional millennia-old struggle between the Assassins, who fight for peace with free will, and the Templars, who desire peace through order and control
27. The series features historical fiction, science fiction and characters, intertwined with real-world historical events and figures.
28. For the majority of time players control an Assassin in the past history, while they also play as Desmond Miles or an Assassin Initiate in the present day, who hunt down their Templar targets
29. The franchise centers on a video game franchise published by Ubisoft and developed mainly by its studio Ubisoft Montreal
30. The genre of the main games in the series is an open-world action-adventure stealth using the game engine Anvil and its more advanced derivatives
31. The series took inspiration from the novel Alamut by the Slovenian writer Vladimir Bartol while building upon concepts from the Prince of Persia series
32. The series’s eponymous first title was released in 2007
33. The franchise has featured eleven main games in total
34. The most recent title being 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
35. While a new game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has been announced
36. Main games of Assassin’s Creed are set in an open world and presented from the third-person perspective where the protagonists take down targets using their combat and stealth skills with the exploitation of the environment
37. Players have freedom to explore the historical settings as they finish main and side quests
38. Apart from single-player missions, some games also provide competitive and cooperative multiplayer gameplay
39. A new story and occasional new time period are introduced in each entry, and gameplay elements evolve from the previous one
40. There are three-story arcs in the series
41. For the first five main games, the framing story is set in 2012 and features series protagonist Desmond Miles who uses a machine called the Animus and relives the memories of his ancestors
42. In games up until and including Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Abstergo employees and Assassin initiates recorded genetic memories using the Helix software, helping the Templars and Assassins find new Pieces of Eden in the modern world
43. The latest two games, Assassin’s Creed Origins and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey follow ex-Abstergo employee Layla Hassan as she is recruited into the Assassin Order
44. The main games in the Assassin’s Creed video game series have received generally positive reviews for their ambition in visuals, game design, and narratives
45. They drew criticism towards the yearly release cycle and frequent bugs
46. The spin-off games received mixed to positive reviews
47. The video game series has received multiple awards and nominations, including Game of the Year awards
48. It is commercially successful, selling over 140 million copies as of September 2019
49. Becoming Ubisoft’s best-selling franchise
50. It is, also, one of the highest selling video game franchises of all time
51. While main games are produced for major consoles and desktop platforms, multiple spin-off games are released for consoles, mobiles, and handhelds platforms
52. Assassin’s Creed was adapted into a film
53. The film received negative reviews
54. A series of art books, encyclopedias, comics, novelizations, and novels have been published
55. BioShock is a retrofuturistic video game series published by 2K Games and developed by several studios, including Irrational Games and 2K Marin
56. The BioShock games combine first-person shooter and role-playing elements, giving the player freedom for how to approach combat and other situations, and are considered part of the immersive sim genre
57. Additionally, the series is notable for exploring philosophical and moral concepts with a strong in-game narrative
58. It is influenced by concepts such as objectivism, total utilitarianism, and American exceptionalism
59. The series consists of three main games
60. BioShock and BioShock 2 were released in 2007 and 2010, respectively
61. They take place in 1960 and 1968 in the fictional underwater city of Rapture
62. BioShock Infinite, released in 2013, is thematically and narratively tied to the first games
63. It takes place in 1912 aboard the floating city of Columbia
64. Combined, the three games have sold more than 34 million copies as of December 2019
65. Making the series one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time
66. A mobile version of the first game was developed by IG Fun and released in 2009
67. A motion picture based on the first game had been planned but was ultimately cancelled
68. Work on Infinite led Ken Levine to drastically downsize and rebrand Irrational Games into Ghost Story Games to work on smaller titles, while 2K Games remained interested in the property
69. 2K formally announced that a new BioShock game was in the works by a newly created internal studio, Cloud Chamber, in December 2019
70. Call of Duty is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision
71. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II
72. However, over time, the series has seen games set in modern times, the midst of the Cold War, futuristic worlds, and outer space
73. The games were first developed by Infinity Ward, then also by Treyarch and Sledgehammer Games
74. Several spin-off and handheld games were made by other developers
75. The most recent title, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, was released on October 25, 2019
76. The series originally focused on the World War II setting
77. With Infinity Ward developing the first (2003) and second (2005) titles in the series and Treyarch developing the third (2006)
78. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) introduced a new, modern setting, and proved to be the breakthrough title for the series, creating the Modern Warfare sub-series
79. The game’s legacy also influenced the creation of a remastered version, released in 2016
80. Two other entries, Modern Warfare 2 (2009) and 3 (2011), were made
81. The sub-series received a soft-reboot with Modern Warfare in 2019
82. Infinity Ward have also developed two games outside of the Modern Warfare sub-series, Ghosts (2013) and Infinite Warfare (2016)
83. Treyarch made one last World War II-based game, World at War (2008)
84. Black Ops was released in 2010 and subsequently creating the Black Ops sub-series
85. Three other entries, Black Ops II (2012), III (2015), and 4 (2018), were made
86. Sledgehammer Games, who were co-developers for Modern Warfare 3
87. They have also developed two titles, Advanced Warfare (2014) and WWII (2017)
88. As of February 2016, the series has sold over 250 million copies
89. Sales of all Call of Duty games topped US$15 billion
90. Other products in the franchise include a line of action figures designed by Plan B Toys
91. A card game created by Upper Deck Company, Mega Bloks sets by Mega Brands
92. And a comic book miniseries published by WildStorm Productions
93. The Call of Duty games were used in esports, starting in 2006, alongside the game released at the time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
94. Over the years, the series has extended with releases such as Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Call of Duty: Ghosts. Games are played in leagues like Major League Gaming
95. Playing Call of Duty competitively is most popular in Europe and North America, with users who participate in tournaments and ladder matches daily
96. Competitive players have an average of 500,000 followers on social media
97. Activision launched a 12 team Call of Duty League, following a similar city-based franchise structure as the Overwatch League, in January 2020
98. The league’s teams include those from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Florida, London, Minnesota, New York, Paris, Seattle and Toronto, and with two teams from Los Angeles, OpTic Gaming Los Angeles and Los Angeles Guerrillas
99. The biggest Call of Duty tournament hosted was Call of Duty: Experience 2011
100. It is a tournament that began when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released

Video games trivia | 100 did you know facts about famous series (part 2)