Worms creator reflects on 70 million copies sold

Summarised from BBC Dorset's report · Updated 6 Nov, 10:00 · Archive

Computer game Worms, created by Andy Davidson, has sold 70 million copies across all formats and versions in the three decades since its release. Davidson was 22 when the turn-based artillery game first hit shelves and partly programmed it during his final years at Bournemouth School. He said: 'I just can't get my head around it.'

The game saw players control teams of worms using a variety of weapons, including dynamite, homing missiles and exploding sheep, to destroy opponents. Davidson chose worms because they had not been in a game before. He said: 'I thought I could get a lot of character into the animations because they're quite simple creatures.' Davidson began programming an early incarnation during his A-levels, creating a tank game on a scientific calculator as a challenge to a friend. He said: 'If you really pushed it hard you could get it to make a game. And so I made this little tank game. It snowballed from there.'

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• How computer game Worms went from classroom to classicCreator Andy Davidson speaks to the BBC about how he created a game that sold 70 million copies.BBC Dorset · 6 Nov, 06:21

In this story: Andy Davidson · Bournemouth School · Worms

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