The 10 video games that defined the decade and changed the world of gaming

"Grand Theft Auto 5"

"Grand Theft Auto 5" is the fifth major entry in the long-running, celebrated "Grand Theft Auto" series.

On paper, the game sounds like just another sequel in a medium rife with sequels. In reality, "Grand Theft Auto 5" is an ambitious, massive game that's gone on to sell an absurd amount of copies — it's the third best-selling game of all time as of this writing.

At its basest level, "Grand Theft Auto 5" is the most expertly realized open-world satire that the franchise's creators at Rockstar Games have ever produced. On a slightly deeper level, the game was the foundation for "Grand Theft Auto Online" — a massive multiplayer online extension of the wildly popular single-player experience.

The game was bold from the start: It launched on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013 — the same year that the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launched. Instead of embracing those new consoles, Rockstar stuck with the previous generation. The game subsequently arrived on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, and has gone on to become the sales juggernaut it is today.

Platform(s): Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC

Release date: September 17, 2013

"The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild"

Nintendo really set the tone of the Nintendo Switch with "Breath of the Wild."

It was a bold gamble: "Breath of the Wild" was the biggest launch game for the Switch by a longshot, and if it didn't succeed the Switch might've been a goner.

That risk paid off huge dividends. Not only is the Switch a wildly popular console, but the "Legend of Zelda" has never been more celebrated. It was a huge launch game that acted as a catalyst for years of brisk console sales.

More than a great new entry in a classic franchise, "Breath of the Wild" moves forward the entire video game medium. Through meticulous game design that demanded more from players, Nintendo once again demonstrated its uncanny ability to redefine foundational aspects of gaming.

In "Breath of the Wild," players are given the keys to a massive open world without limitations — a major derivation from the kind of guided experiences games are known for.

It's the kind of game that changes player expectations: What they expect of themselves and what they expect from games.

Platform(s): Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo Switch

Release date: March 3, 3017

"Fortnite"

"Fortnite" is just two years old, but it's already one of the most influential video games ever made.

With more than 250 million registered players around the world, "Fortnite" has built an unrivaled player base by creating parity across more than half a dozen different devices. No matter what device you use to play "Fortnite" you'll always be playing the same game, and you can always play with your friends.

There's no shortage of ways to play "Fortnite" either. The game's most popular mode, "Battle Royale," pits 100 players against each other in a fight for survival and was actually inspired by the popularity of another game, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." "Fortnite" players can also create their own game modes or just hang out together and practice their skills.

Developer Epic Games offers weekly updates that constantly introduce tons of new playable characters, weapons, and features to "Fortnite," keeping the game fresh for fans. "Fortnite" is available for free but the game has made more than $2.5 billion by charging players for in-game items.

The popularity of "Fortnite" motivated Sony to reverse its stance on crossplatform play and let PlayStation players join matches with Xbox-owners for the first time ever. After "Fortnite" began the crossplatform trend last year, games like "Call of Duty" and "Mortal Kombat" have been able to bridge their playerbases too, removing a longstanding barrier within the industry.

"Fortnite" creator Epic Games has used the billions in revenue generated by "Fortnite" to launch a new PC gaming store that's changing the way video game publishers do business.

Platform(s): PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS.

Release date: July 21, 2017

"League of Legends"

"League of Legends" is one of the world's most popular computer games, with more than 8 million players logging in to play every day. "LoL" helped establish a new genre, the multiplayer online battle arena, and was one of the first games to establish itself as an ongoing service.

"League of Legends" employs a "freemium" business model that lets gamers play for free with some parts of the game available for purchase. "LoL" brings in millions of players by removing the cost of entry, and dedicated players eventually became repeat customers thanks to the game's a-la-carte business model.

The global popularity of "League of Legends" has also made it one of the most successful esports, with hundreds of professional players competing in organized leagues around the world.

A decade after creating "League of Legends," developer Riot Games is now one of America's largest video game companies, with seven new games in the works for the coming years.

Platform(s): PC

Release date: October 21, 2009

"Minecraft"

"Minecraft" has been an explosive phenomenon since early in its life: It started as a work-in-progress game, made by a single man (Markus "Notch" Persson). It had rudimentary graphics and controls. It was only available on PC. It was prone to breaking, because it was an unfinished game being made by a single person.

And yet, millions of people bought and played that early version of "Minecraft."

When Microsoft bought the game back in 2014 for $2.5 billion, the tech world was surprised and confused by the purchase.

But clearly that early success has persisted under Microsoft's care across the past five years.

"What we find is that it's a game that players keep coming back to," Helen Chiang, "Minecraft" studio head, told Business Insider in a phone interview earlier this year. "It may not always be the one that's in the forefront, because there are a lot of great games that continue to come out, but it's one that they love to return to."

So, why is "Minecraft" so popular? Think of "Minecraft" as virtual LEGO.

It's a system for fitting pieces together to create something — sometimes amazing somethings — from nothing. "Minecraft" provides endless building blocks and a blank canvas; it's up to you to create something incredible, or silly, or referential, or whatever else using the tools it provides. The tools are blessedly user-friendly, as are the systems for employing those tools.

With that in mind, it's easy to understand why "Minecraft" has been such a hit. That it's graphically rudimentary and simple to play just makes it all the more accessible to a massive audience

Platform(s): PC, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, Xbox 360, Raspberry Pi, Windows Phone, PlayStation 3, Fire OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation Vita, Universal Windows Platform, Wii U, Apple tvOS, Nintendo Switch, New Nintendo 3DS

Release date: November 18, 2011

"The Elder Scrolls V: Skryim"

For over nine years, across multiple game console generations, people have been exploring the vast, open-ended world of "Skyrim."

Like "Grand Theft Auto 5," "Skyrim" on paper sounds pretty unexciting: "the latest entry in a long-running franchise." And it is that! But it's also the game that took "The Elder Scrolls" series from a beloved, somewhat popular franchise into a straight-up blockbuster.

If you want to sneak around and rob everyone, you can do that. If you want to strongarm your way through the game, shouting down dragons (really) and cutting through every enemy in your path, that's also an option. And there are countless other paths to take through Skyrim — it's a massive game that rewards repeated playthroughs and lots of experimentation.

Over nine years later, "Skyrim" remains the gold standard in open-ended role-playing games.

Platform(s): PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, VR

Release date: November 11, 2011

"The Last of Us"

"The Last of Us" set a new standard for storytelling in video games, weaving themes about loss, trauma, and love into a cross-country tour of post-apocalyptic America.

On the surface, the world of "The Last of Us," doesn't seem much different than "The Walking Dead," but the game's creators use the interactive environment as a tool to tell a larger story.

The dual protagonists in "The Last of Us," Joel and Ellie, are brought to life by the short, heartfelt conversations that fill the game's quiet moments of exploration. Curious players will find diary entries, movie posters, and other artifacts that reveal more about the game's setting.

Beyond the story, "The Last of Us," reached a new peak for third-person action games with intense combat that put an emphasis on scarce resources, stealth, and survival.

"The Last of Us" was one of the last major releases on the PlayStation 3 and was a major influence on the next generation of single-player games for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Platform(s): PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4

Release date: June 14, 2013

"Pokémon Go"

"Pokémon Go" sparked a global phenomenon when it was released in 2016, encouraging Pokémon fans to take to the streets and go looking for their favorite collectible creatures.

While the game launched with just a fraction of the features that players can find in Nintendo's main Pokémon games, "Pokémon Go" features some of the most successful implementation of augmented-reality technology to date and rewards players for exploring their real-world surroundings

The Pokémon franchise was already iconic, but being able to access "Pokémon Go" from a smartphone for free inspired tons of non-gamers to give a Pokémon video game a try for the very first time.

With its innovative use of AR and GPS technology, "Pokémon Go" showed millions of people a brand-new way to play games.

Platform(s): Android, iOS

Release date: July 6, 2016

"Candy Crush"

"'Candy Crush?' Really?" you ask.

Yes, "Candy Crush!" Really! It might be the most impactful game on this list, honestly, if we're looking directly at greater societal impact.

Few games are more ubiquitous, with more accessibility. "Candy Crush" is likely the game most responsible for getting people who don't play games to play games.

It is, of course, a take on the long-running match-three game concept: Match like-colored candy in groups of three or more to remove them from the board. It's a video game, in so far as it's a digital application with interaction, but it's far from the likes of "Call of Duty" and "Grand Theft Auto."

Instead, it's a far simpler, easier to understand entrypoint into the entire medium of video games — and for that, it's hardly comparable to the rest of the games on this list.

Platform(s): Web, Android, iOS, Fire OS, Windows Phone

Release date: April 12, 2012

"Dark Souls"

"Dark Souls" set a new standard for action games with its intense combat and staggering difficulty. At a time when most action games were power fantasies that let superpowered players dice their way through dozens of enemies, "Dark Souls" was built to challenge players at every turn and reward them for their patience and determination.

Though the game is tough at first, overcoming each new enemy "Dark Souls" brings a sense of progress and achievement that feels thoroughly earned, harkening back to games from the 80s and 90s that were intentionally tough to increase the replay value.

"Dark Souls" is so hard that it's become trope among video game critics to compare any difficult game to "Dark Souls," regardless of the genre. But at the same time, "Dark Souls" has inspired games across different genres to find that ideal balance between difficulty, progress, and achievement.

Platform(s): PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Switch

Release date: September 22, 2011