The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York announced the 2025 inductees to its World Video Game Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 8. Four video games received the honour: Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake, and Tamagotchi.
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.
In an exclusive with Toy Tales, Jon-Paul Dyson, Senior Vice President for Exhibits and Interpretive Resources at The Strong shared, “Each of the games advanced the art, craft, and play of video games. Defender showed that games could be extraordinarily challenging, but still great fun. Goldeneye 007 brought the cinematic thrills of James Bond to a console video game. Tamagotchi wove emotion and even love into an electronic game as owners cared for their digital pets. And Quake helped turn video games into engines of creativity, as players connected online in some of the first esports events, modded the game, used it to make movies, and even adapted the code for dozens of new games.”
The 2025 inductees were chosen from among finalists that included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K.
This year’s additions to the World Video Game Hall of Fame join previous inductees, including Super Mario Bros. (2015), The Legend of Zelda (2016), Tomb Raider (2018), Minecraft (2020), The Last of Us (2023), and Asteroids (2024),
Inductees are on permanent display at the ESL Digital Worlds: High Score exhibit at The Strong.
Do you have a video game you’d like to receive the honor of being inducted? Anyone may nominate a game to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Final selections are made on the advice of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.
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.
Learn more about the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong.
