The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York announced the 2024 inductees to its World Video Game Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 9. Five video games received the honour: Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity, and Ultima.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame was established at The Strong in 2015 to recognize individual electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile. Games must meet four criteria to be eligible for induction: icon-status, the game is widely recognized and remembered; longevity, the game is more than a passing fad and has enjoyed popularity over time; geographical reach, the game meets the above criteria across international boundaries; and influence, the game has exerted significant influence on the design and development of other games, on other forms of entertainment, or on popular culture and society in general.
“For the last half century, video games have been changing culture and revolutionizing play, shares Jon-Paul Dyson, director of the International Center the History of Electronic Games at The Strong. “The World Video Game Hall of Fame honors the games that have been most influential, and each new class of inductees generates conversations about the way these games transform people, business, technologies, and society around the world.”
The 2024 inductees were chosen from among finalists that included Elite, Guitar Hero, Metroid, Neopets, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and You Don’t Know Jack. This year’s additions to the World Video Game Hall of Fame join previous inductees, including Tetris (2015), Space Invaders (2016), Mortal Kombat (2019), Centipede (2020), and The Last of Us (2023).
The Strong is the only collections-based museum in the world devoted solely to play, and holds the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of dolls, toys, games, electronic games, and other artifacts of play.
Inductees are on permanent display at the ESL Digital Worlds: High Score exhibit at The Strong. Learn more about the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong.
