America’s Army–a PC video game which was initially released as a U.S. Army recruitment tool–has reached over 8 million users worldwide, according to an announcement made by U.S. Army representatives.
AA has gone through several revisions and editions since the original game appeared in 2002, with the current iteration available under the title of Coalition. The game is a first person tactical shooter and was developed with the Unreal engine.
Although the game was originally to be used in drumming up recruits for the Army, the game has become a cult hit in its own right with an impressive game following, with over 3 billion player rounds and 200 million player hours since the game’s release. There are approximately 1200 global servers that host online games.
While the game is a free download for PCs, it has also made its appearance as a console game with versions produced for the Xbox and PS2. The crossover of America’s Army from a marketing tool to a business endeavor indicates that it is possible to create a successful game outside of the mainstream game industry, and that they can be commercially successful, too.
