15 Greatest Multiplayer Video Games Of The Decade (So Far)

Ever since 2007 (thanks in no small part to the release of the original Modern Warfare) online multiplayer games have been following the same tried and tested ideas of what competitive and cooperative multiplayer experiences should be. For the most part, that means ditching couch co-op altogether and putting a focus on first-person shooting, but the times they are a changin', and in the past few years, online gaming has diversified, branched out and become all the better for it.

In fact, multiplayer games are better than they've ever been. No longer dominated by grey and brown shooters, there's room for experimentation in multiplayer experiences not seen on console since those early Modern Warfare days.

And fortunately for us, this constant innovation doesn't look like it'll be slowing down any time soon. Writing this on the cusp of Battlefield 1's release and the newly announced Red Dead Redemption 2 (!), the possibilities are infinite when it comes to just how epic our multiplayer experiences could get in the coming months.

But that's the future, and before these massive releases hit it's time to take stock on just how good we've had it for the past half a decade. Between world-dominating franchises and new cross-media successes, these are the best online games that have completely taken over our lives since 2010.

To choose a single Call of Duty title for a list about the best multiplayer games of the decade wasn't an easy task. With quality online games releasing every year, no two people are ever going to have the same favourites.

And yet for me it's still the original Black Ops that stands strong above the rest. Sending players back in time to the Vietnam era, Black Ops took the brutality of Treyarch's World at War and the contemporary design ethos of Modern Warfare to create a truly special period-piece shooter.

Without the bombast or the over-indulgence of later Infinity Ward titles, Black Ops kept things simple: between a handful of impactful (and memorable) killstreaks, well-balanced weapons and some of the best maps of any CoD game, developers Treyarch truly proved their worth to Call of Duty.

And looking back it's clear why: Black Ops, plain and simple, is a franchise anomaly. In a time where each of the three Call of Duty sub-series function more or less identically, back in 2010, Black Ops was nothing like any games in the franchise that came before - or, sadly - after.