Worms creator Andy Davidson reflects on 70 million sales

Steve Harris reported for BBC One West that Andy Davidson created Worms for the Amiga in 1995, turning a school classroom idea into a global computer game. The report said the game has sold 70 million copies across all formats and versions over 30 years, according to Team17.

According to the same report, Worms began in Davidson's A-level maths lessons, where he challenged a friend to make a game on a Casio graph-plotting calculator. Davidson told BBC One West that he made a small tank game, then ported it to the Amiga, and the idea snowballed.

BBC One West reported that the game, first called Total Wormage, was road-tested at Bournemouth School. The report said it was banned after pupils skipped lessons to play it, and Davidson said that made him think he might be onto something. His art teacher, John Pakeman, encouraged him and let him use a corner of the art room.

John Pakeman told the programme he had never played Worms and had only seen screenshots. He said friends who had played it would beam when he mentioned the game. BBC One West reported that Davidson received his first cheque for £2,000 in 1994 and said sales had kept him comfortable.

BBC One West reported that a new version of Worms is due next year. It said the game appeared on a Royal Mail stamp celebrating British video games six years ago, and Davidson said being mentioned alongside other British games was hard to beat.

The report contrasted Worms with Grand Theft Auto 6, which is reportedly being made by thousands of developers at a cost of more than $1bn.