America’s Army Turns Five This July 4th

On July 4, 2002, arguably the best freeware game ever was released when America’s Army launched. Since then, the game has grown to encompass more than 8.5 million user accounts and has been in the top ten action games played online since its launch. It’s even branched out to consoles and cell phones.

Colonel Casey Wardynski, originator of America’s Army, said, “(The) America’s Army game brand has had an incredible impact around the world placing Soldiering front and center within popular culture and showcasing the high-tech, team-oriented and values-driven nature of the Army.”

To celebrate the anniversary, the America’s Army team is debuting a new website done up the Army’s new camouflage pattern, and showing off new content. For example, how about wallpapers created by developers that give players a little sneak peek at America’s Army 3?

A few astounding statistics about the first five years appear after the break.

America’s Army statistics

• Players have participated in over 200 million hours representing 3.5 billion rounds of online play exploring Soldiering as members of elite U.S. Army units.
• America’s Army has players in over 60 countries.
• More than 40 million total downloads of the game have been reported.
• Over 1,100 fan sites have registered on the game’s community website.
• Players host almost 1,200 Honor servers. These honor servers track honor points that form the basis of America’s Army unique scoring and rewards system.

Having been a longtime fan of the series myself, I can tell you that America’s Army is an unbelievable title, especially when you consider that it’s free. Sure, they catch some flak from non-gamers for ‘using games to recruit kids’, but you and I know that the game is just darn fun to play. In fact, it might be time to crank it back up again. See you there!