From Pong to GTA VI: Play your way through 50 years of video games

On November 19, Rockstar Games releases Grand Theft Auto VI, ending a 13-year wait for the sequel to one of the best-selling games ever made. Few games have arrived with more riding on them. Its first trailer drew more than 90 million YouTube views in 24 hours in December 2023, a record for a game reveal. It arrives in an industry that generated $201.6bn in revenue in 2025, according to market research firm Newzoo.

That business started with two paddles and a square of light. Using AI tools, Al Jazeera built six short levels inspired by the games that defined each decade, from Pong to GTA VI. Play through 50 years of gaming and try to beat our times. In 1958, physicist William Higinbotham wired a tennis game to an oscilloscope for visitors at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.

People queued to play Tennis for Two, but it was never sold. In 1972, two machines brought video games to the public. The Magnavox Odyssey became the first home console, plugging into the family television.