Where are they now? A look at beloved games of the past
Neopets
A photo of Neopets, a virtual pet game that has been around since 1999.
From NeoPets/CNN
The beloved browser game Neopets first launched in 1999. At its core, the game is about caring for virtual pets, which never die (unlike Tamagotchi). Along the way, Neopets entertained and empowered a generation of young women to learn coding and discover how the stock market works.
Neopets has bounced around a lot since its mid-2000s heyday. It was sold to Viacom in 2005, then to JumpStart in 2014. JumpStart was acquired by Chinese gaming company NetDragon in 2017.
MapleStory, which debuted in South Korea in 2003 before reaching North America in 2005, is still a free-to-play, money-grabbing success story. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) has taken root primarily in the Asian diaspora. Like its contemporary, World of Warcraft, MapleStory has been a matchmaker for real-life friendships and even marriages.
South Korean gaming company Nexon reported earnings earlier in May, and revenue was led by several games including MapleStory.
The Atari brand rose to prominence in the 1970s after the video arcade and console company created an electronic tennis game called "Pong," which was the first commercially successful video game. Its Atari 2600 gaming console was the first video game console that people bought for their homes.
But in 2013, the US arm of Atari filed for bankruptcy. Its French counterpart lives on, and today it still manages classic video games like "Asteroids" and "Centipede.
"Minecraft" is one of the best-selling games of all time, with a dedicated fan base in the hundreds of millions. In late May, the franchise received a new title called "Minecraft Dungeons," which takes the classic block-building, zombie-slaying game into an entertaining adventure format.
Fans of "Minecraft" may enjoy "Minecraft Dungeons," but it doesn't have the building and crafting element of the original title, so hardcore builders will likely skip the new game. The general public could appreciate the fantasy, dungeon-exploring elements.
