Longest Running PC Games of All Time

PC games, like almost everything in this world, come and go. But there are a few titles that stood the test of time and have, up to this date, continued to evolve to cope up with the ever-changing demands of gamers, both young and the young-at-heart.

Editor’s Note: The games listed here are originally released for personal computers (regardless of the operating system) and were not just ported for PC use later on. In addition, the publishers of the games we picked have, or are still releasing newer versions of the game either through patch or a sequel.

The list is arranged from newest to oldest based on each of the games’ respective official release dates.

Starcraft (1998) – Hard on the heels of the success of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Blizzard Entertainment released the first iteration of what will become one of the famous real-time strategy games in the world: Starcraft.

Since its official release back in 1998, Starcraft has received a total four expansion packs (three official ones and one unofficial) before its 12-year-long hiatus. It ended in 2010 when they released StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty which was followed by two expansion packs with a third one still under development.

Grand Theft Auto aka GTA (1997) – Instead of taking the usual role of the oppressed hero, DMA Design/Rockstar decided to give their action-adventure game a twist by allowing players to play the role of a criminal at large which is given the freedom to do whatever, whenever.

This peculiar decision proved to be a success, as the original game, as well as the succeeding sequels, was a huge hit and continues to be one of the most successful adventure titles up to this date.

Diablo I (12/1996) – Although mostly praised by the gaming community for having one of the sickest graphics during its time, the first iteration of Diablo received a lot of recognition for its replayability because of random item drops and boss demons that players will not encounter in one pass.

But just when everybody thought that Blizzard have abandoned what is considered by many gamers as one of the best hack-and-slash RPG during its prime (and arguably up until now), Blizzard has released the third installment of Diablo in 2012 which is followed by an expansion pack two years later.

Tomb Raider (10/1996) – What started out as a simple third-person shooting title, Tomb Raider has become a global phenomenon, and has since branched out to other media including two film adaptations which was released in 2001 and 2003.

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Apart from its exceptional story line, one of the things that allowed the franchise to thrive for almost twenty years is its female protagonist, Lara Croft. From the jagged-edged heroine on the first release, the game developers have transformed her in to a more realistic and “visually-appealing” character with every new release.

Warcraft (11/1994) – A precursor of Starcraft, the Warcraft series is Blizzard Entertainment’s prized franchise as it not only spawned to different sequels and expansion sets throughout the years, but has also paved the way for other non-RTS games such as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and successful list of novels and comics.

The success, not to mention the influence, of Warcraft has been so phenomenal that a full-length film is currently in the works and is slated to be released later this year.

The Elder Scrolls (03/1994) – One can’t talk about successful real-time RPG franchises without mentioning The Elder Scroll. And for good reason, as it not only stood the test of time, but has also received the second most number of combined iterations and expansion packs (next to Civilization) on this list throughout its 21-year (and still counting) history.

Bethesda Software has had a rough start in making and releasing the first version of the game. However, despite missing their Christmas of 93 deadline, not to mention a few hiccups along the way, The Elder Scroll: Arena still managed to gain a strong following in the gaming community which grew more and more with every new release.

Doom (1993) – I think we can all agree that Doom is, without a doubt, the granddaddy of all first-person shooting titles. Yes there may be similar attempts before it, but it is this game that put FPS on the map.

Guns. Chainsaw. Zombies. It’s amazing how after more than two decades succeeding games, both original and knock-offs, have the same elements in them which were undoubtedly inspired by the first Doom game. Is it any wonder why this game is regarded by many as one of the most influential FPS tile of all time?

Civilization (1991) – Usually, popular computer games have been adopted for board games. However, it’s the other way around for Civilization which, most of its core elements, have been inspired by a board game with the similar name thathas been around for almost a decade before the first PC game was released.

Even though Blizzard Entertainment has had huge success on their own RTS titles, Civilization is hailed by various organizations and publications as the most important strategy title in the industry. With the release of its latest sequel, Beyond Earth, Civilization continues to be one of the most popular turn-based strategy games to date.

SimCity or SimCity Classic (1989) – For those who aspire to be a politician or, god forbids, a tyrant, SimCity gave them a first taste of what it’s like to be one. The goal of the game is pretty straightforward; build a city. However, it’s the additional elements of the game that simulates real-life happenings that really made it a huge hit among gamers.

Since the first version of the game was released almost 25 years ago, Maxis Software, which was later acquired by Electronic Arts, has released numerous sequels of the game throughout the years and has ported it to various platforms outside of MAC and PC to reach wider audience.

Flight Simulator (1979) – If we talk about legacy and longevity, none comes close to Flight Simulator. It may not be as popular compared to other titles in this list, but it hasn’t lost its appeal to both aspiring pilots and seasoned ones who mostly likely had their first experience flying a plane through this game.

Even on its early stage, Microsoft has been a huge fan of Flight Simulator and was given the rights by subLOGIC to port it on compatible IBM PCs. After an 8-year hiatus, Dovetail Games was granted rights by the software giant in 2014 to develop the latest installment of the game. That same year, Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition was released on Steam, albeit it’s pretty much the same as the FSX Gold Edition.

Special Mention: Command and Conquer (1995)

We also like to give a shout out to Command and Conquer which, in our opinion, posed the greatest threat to the success of both Warcraft and Starcraft’s in the real-time strategy division. Sadly, it didn’t make our list because Electronic Arts has cancelled the release of what is supposed to be the latest sequel of the game in 2013.

Editor’s Note #2: This post was updated to reflect the addition of CnC which we think deserve a special mention, as well as the inclusion of Grand Theft Auto to the list. We initially excluded the title on our list because we were under the impression that it was originally released for the Sony PlayStation platform, but after some research we found out that the DOS/Windows version was first released to the market prior to the PS version.

Editor’s Note #3: Updated to include Tomb Raider and The Elder Scrolls. Hat tip to @igniculus and @Kchan for these suggestions.

Did we miss anything? Better yet, how many of these games have you played? Share your thoughts on the comment field below.