Just Dance Celebrates 15th Anniversary

news.ubisoft.com:

2024 marks the 15^th anniversary of Just Dance, the best-selling music videogame franchise of all time. Since the first Just Dance launched on November 17, 2009, more than 30 games have been released, with more than 90 million copies sold worldwide. The latest installments include Just Dance 2025 Edition, available now on Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and Just Dance VR: Welcome to Dancity, available on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S, and Meta Quest Pro. To celebrate 15 years of Just Dance, let's take a look back at the franchise's history.

The initial idea for Just Dance came from a minigame in Raving Rabbids TV Party, a party game released in 2008 on the Wii, where players had to mimic the Rabbids' dance moves using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.

"It was one of the favorite minigames, players loved dancing along with small stick figures," says Creative Director Matthew Tomkinson. "Those small stick figures have changed a bit in shape, but they're still here in Just Dance. They are the smaller ones dancing at the bottom right of the screen."

Just Dance fit perfectly into the rise of motion gaming, requiring players to mirror the moves of dancers on screen, called coaches. Players can go head-to-head with friends and family in Challenge mode, or exercise while having fun in Workout mode. Over the years, Just Dance's visuals evolved from 2D to 3D, maps have grown more complex with more references to pop culture, and choreography has adapted to a wider range of player levels.

In addition, Just Dance coaches have become more varied in terms of body type and costumes. "Everybody's welcome in Just Dance, so we show everybody," says Alkis Argyriadis, head of music at Ubisoft and previous creative director of