.io games

Last updated

.io games or IO games are a genre of free, online multiplayer browser games that gained popularity with the success of Agar.io in 2015. [1] The games are usually characterized by simple graphics and gameplay in a free for all multiplayer arena. The term ".io" comes from the .io domain, which was originally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory [2] but became popular for game developers due to its short and memorable nature.

Contents

Thousands of .io games exist, and many of them have been subject to controversy for both political use and lack of moderation. [3]

History

.io domain

.io domain logo DotIO-logo.png
.io domain logo

The .io domain was delegated by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to British entrepreneur Paul Kane in 1997 together with the ccTLDs .ac (Ascension Island), .sh (St Helena), and .tm (Turkmenistan). [4] The first subdomain was registered under .io in 1998, when Levi Strauss & Co. registered the domain levi.io. [5]

Labels for .io domains may only contain alphanumeric characters and hyphens, and must be between 3 and 63 characters long. Domain names cannot begin or end with a hyphen symbol, and may not contain two consecutive hyphens. The entire domain name may not contain more than 253 characters. [6]


First .io games

Agar.io's rise to popularity

Agar.io is considered the first ever .io game. The game was announced on 4chan on 27 April, 2015 by Matheus Valadares, [7] a then 19-year-old Brazilian developer. The game, which has mechanics similar to Osmos, another less popular game.layers control one or more circular cells in a map representing a Petri dish. The goal is to gain as much mass as possible by eating cells and player cells smaller than the player's cell while avoiding larger ones which can eat the player's cells.

Unlinke Osmos, Agar.io went viral, and was featured on the free online games site Miniclip. [3] The mobile version of Agar.io for iOS was released on 8 July 2015 and Android on 7 July 2015 by Miniclip. The browser version was released in June 2015 by CrazyGames. [8] The Youtuber PewDiePie created a video titled "REDDIT WANTS TO EAT ME! (Agario Part 1) | PewDiePie," which was over 8.5 million views as of July 2024. [9] The creation and quickly growing popularity of Agar.io [10] [11] led to the creation of similar games using the .io domain, and eventually the .io game genre. [1]

Slither.io's rise to popularity

Slither.io was the second .io game to be released, which is a free for all multiplayer game that is in the Snake genre. The basic premise of the game has 50 players compete to eat colored orbs and grow as large as possible, while destroying other player's snakes. [12] The game was created in 2016 by Steven Howse, a self-taught independent developer who was inspired to make it after playing Agar.io. The game quickly rose to be the top game on many platforms. [13]

.io games as a genre

Starting in around 2016, soon after the popularity spikes of Agar.io and Slither.io, more games in the .io games genre began to be released. Many of these games were simple clones of popular games, usually released in a top down-format. [1] Some notable games released in this period include Diep.io , another game by Matheus Valadares, [14] ZombsRoyale.io, [15] Krunker.io, Wings.io, Surviv.io, and Hole.io . These games all remain popular and are some of the most played games in the .io games genre.

Covid-19

During Covid-19, .io games became very popular because of their accessibility on the web. Most games, not just .io games, however, also experienced growth during this time. [16]

Criticisms

Related Research Articles

A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system, on different computing systems via a local area network, or via a wide area network, most commonly the Internet. Multiplayer games usually require players to share a single game system or use networking technology to play together over a greater distance; players may compete against one or more human contestants, work cooperatively with a human partner to achieve a common goal, or supervise other players' activity. Due to multiplayer games allowing players to interact with other individuals, they provide an element of social communication absent from single-player games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Browser game</span> Video game played in a web browser

A browser game is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Alternative names for the browser game genre reference their software platform used, with common examples being Flash games, and HTML5 games.

Miniclip is a Swiss mobile game publisher and former browser game website that was first launched on 30 March 2001. It was started by Robert Small and Tihan Presbie with a budget of £40,000. In 2008, Miniclip was valued at over £275 million. In 2018, the company gained over $400 million in revenue through its mobile gaming hit, 8 Ball Pool.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Online game</span> Video game played over the Internet

An online game is a video game that is either partially or primarily played through the Internet or any other computer network available. Online games are ubiquitous on modern gaming platforms, including PCs, consoles and mobile devices, and span many genres, including first-person shooters, strategy games, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG). In 2019, revenue in the online games segment reached $16.9 billion, with $4.2 billion generated by China and $3.5 billion in the United States. Since the 2010s, a common trend among online games has been to operate them as games as a service, using monetization schemes such as loot boxes and battle passes as purchasable items atop freely-offered games. Unlike purchased retail games, online games have the problem of not being permanently playable, as they require special servers in order to function.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.io</span> Internet country-code top level domain for the British Indian Ocean Territory

The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .io is nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The domain is managed by Internet Computer Bureau Ltd, a domain name registry, with registrar services provided by Name.com.

Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive structures on or along their path of attack. This typically means building a variety of different structures that serve to automatically block, impede, attack or destroy enemies. Tower defense is seen as a subgenre of real-time strategy video games, due to its real-time origins, even though many modern tower defense games include aspects of turn-based strategy. Strategic choice and positioning of defensive elements is an essential strategy of the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.gg</span> Internet country-code top level domain for Guernsey

.gg is the country code top-level domain for the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The domain is administered by Island Networks, who also administer the .je domain for neighbouring territory Jersey. The domain was chosen as other possible codes were already allocated. Nigel Roberts and Laurie Brown, co-founders of Island Networks, created the .gg and .je domains in 1996 by proposing them to Jon Postel of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. In the late 2000s, there was an increase in usage of the domains by local companies, with there being about 10,000 .gg and .je domain names by 2009.

<i>Osmos</i> 2009 video game

Osmos is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by Canadian developer Hemisphere Games for various systems such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, OnLive, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android. It was designed by Eddy Boxerman, founder of Hemisphere and a former developer at Ubisoft Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PewDiePie</span> Swedish YouTuber (born 1989)

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber known for his comedic videos. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage has made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. He has been portrayed in media as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the genre of gaming.

<i>Agar.io</i> 2015 multiplayer video game

Agar.io is a massive multiplayer online action game created by Brazilian developer Matheus Valadares. Players control one or more circular cells in a map representing a Petri dish. The goal is to gain as much mass as possible by eating cells and player cells smaller than the player's cell while avoiding larger ones which can eat the player's cells. Each player starts with one cell, but players can split a cell into two once it reaches a sufficient mass, allowing them to control multiple cells. The name comes from the substance agar, used to culture bacteria.

<i>Slither.io</i> Browser/mobile game

Slither.io is a multiplayer online video game available for iOS, Android, and web browsers, developed by Steve Howse. Players control an avatar resembling a snake, which consumes multi-colored pellets, both from other players and ones that naturally spawn on the map in the game, to grow in size. The objective of the game is to grow the longest snake in the server. Slither.io is similar in concept to the popular 2015 web game Agar.io and is reminiscent of the classic arcade game Snake.

<i>Tuber Simulator</i> 2016 freemium simulation mobile game

PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator is a freemium simulation mobile game developed by Outerminds Inc. and featuring PewDiePie, who voices himself. The game's premise focuses on the player creating online videos for views and subscribers, the former of which they can use to purchase goods that can increase performance.

A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who start with minimal equipment and then must eliminate all other opponents while avoiding being trapped outside a shrinking "safe area", with the winner being the last player or team alive.

<i>Surviv.io</i> Browser-based battle royale video game

Surviv.io was a browser-based multiplayer online 2D battle royale game created by Justin Kim and Nick Clark. It was released in October 2017 on its website for desktop browsers, and in October and November 2018 respectively for iOS and Android devices. Similar to other titles in the battle royale genre, players battled against other players on a large map from a top-down perspective, scavenging for supplies and weapons. The game also supported two or four player team modes, and could be played on mobile browsers as well.

<i>Hole.io</i> 2018 arcade physics puzzle video game

Hole.io is a 2018 arcade physics puzzle game with battle royale mechanics created by French studio Voodoo for Android and iOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PewDiePie videography</span>

Swedish YouTuber Felix Kjellberg, known online as PewDiePie, has uploaded over 4,700 videos on the YouTube platform. Having accumulated over 29.3 billion video views as of June 2024, PewDiePie's channel ranks within the 100 most viewed on YouTube. Due to PewDiePie's YouTube channel having been the most-subscribed on the platform from 2013 through 2019, and it remaining one of the most since, his channel's videos have attracted substantial media coverage.

<i>ZombsRoyale.io</i> Battle royale game

ZombsRoyale.io is a battle royale game developed by End Game Interactive. It was released for web browsers in 2018, with iOS and Android ports later that year. A simplified take on the genre, game matches follow up to 100 players who must fight on a large map to be the last survivors. It uses simple 2D graphics and a top-down perspective. The game has amassed over 120,000,000 downloads and unique players across iOS, Android, Web Browser, and PC as of 2024.

<i>Diep.io</i> 2016 video game

Diep.io is a multiplayer browser game created by Brazilian developer Matheus Valadares in 2016. It is also the inspiration for Arras.io. Miniclip first published the mobile version. In Diep.io, players control tanks in a two-dimensional arena. They earn experience points and upgrades by destroying shapes and other tanks.

Jaws.io is an action video game based on the 1975 American horror film Jaws. It was developed by Puerto Rican company SRG Studios and published by Universal Studios Interactive Entertainment LLC for iOS and Android devices, and was released on February 14, 2019. The game's servers were shut down on October 31 the same year and is no longer available for download.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minecraft Multiplayer Fun</span> 2010 YouTube video by PewDiePie

"Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" is a 2010 YouTube video, noted for being the oldest video available for viewing on the PewDiePie channel. The video was uploaded by Felix Kjellberg, the owner of the channel, on 2 October 2010. Also featuring Xebaz, a friend of Kjellberg's, the video shows the two playing Minecraft, a sandbox video game. "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun" has been viewed more than 22 million times as of March 2024.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A brief history of "IO" games | PacoGames.com". PacoGames. 2018-11-14. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  2. IDN Code Points Policy for the .IO Top Level Domain (PDF), NIC.IO, archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-12-18, retrieved 2005-12-11
  3. 1 2 Castello, Jay (2018-02-22). "The rise and rise of .io games". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  4. Bridle, James. ".IO: British Indian Ocean Territory". Citizen Ex. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  5. https://www.whois-search.com/whois/levi.io%5B%5D
  6. RFC   1035, Domain names--Implementation and specification, P. Mockapetris (Nov 1987)
  7. "The story of Agar.io | Gamehag". gamehag.com. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  8. "Agar.io 🕹️ Play on CrazyGames". www.crazygames.com. Retrieved 2023-09-27.
  9. PewDiePie (2015-05-30). REDDIT WANTS TO EAT ME! (Agario Part 1) | PewDiePie . Retrieved 2024-07-29 via YouTube.
  10. Lindsey, Cameron (March 2019). "Agar.io: The Game's in the Name" . Games and Culture . 14 (2): 154–169. doi:10.1177/1555412018821483. S2CID   150281404. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  11. Burgess, Matt (April 12, 2016). "How addictive simplicity made Agar.io a global hit" . Wired UK . Retrieved May 5, 2023.
  12. Switzer, Eric (2019-07-09). "Where Slither.io Came From And Why It's So Popular". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  13. "Slither.io Traffic, Demographics and Competitors". Alexa Internet . Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  14. Hodapp, Eli (21 July 2016). "'Diep.io' Hits the App Store From the Creator of 'Agar.io'". TouchArcade . Retrieved 2023-05-05.
  15. Madnani, Mikhail (May 11, 2018). "'ZombsRoyale.io' Is a 2D Top Down Battle Royale That Blends 'PUBG' and 'Fortnite, Available Now on iOS". TouchArcade . Retrieved April 23, 2019.
  16. "The Gang | The Gaming Industry After Covid-19". www.thegang.io. Retrieved 2024-07-29.