Each year, The Strong National Museum of Play nominates new games that are to be added to the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Since the Hall of Fame started in 2015, some of the best video games of all time including Super Mario Bros, Tetris, World of Warcraft, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time have been inducted.
This year, one of Naughty Dog's best-selling and most awarded titles, is joining the prestigious club.
The Last of Us will headline the World Video Game Hall of Class 2023. Naughty Dogs’ survival horror game ousts Minecraft as the most recent title in the Hall of Fame. The Last of Us was released in 2013 while Mojang’s world-building sandbox debuted in 2011.
"Despite debuting in 2013, The Last of Us remains popular because of its quality of gameplay and strength of story," says video game curator Lindsey Kurano. "The 2023 HBO adaptation has expanded the game's reach and popularity. Created with Naughty Dog's involvement, the show has garnered support from both critics and fans as one of the best video game adaptations ever made.”
Included in this year’s Hall of Fame inductees are Barbie Fashion Designer, Computer Space, and Wii Sports, which represent different genres and eras in the video game industry but each has rightfully earned its place in the prestigious club.
Wii Sports is one of the best-selling video games of all time, shipping nearly 83 million copies by the end of 2021. The game is credited with attracting more casuals, females, and elderly gamers.
Computer Space was released in 1971 and is recognized as "the first commercial video game.” The space combat game was created by Atari founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney and is also the first-ever arcade game.
Barbie Fashion Designer was created by Digital Domain and published by Mattel Media in 1996. The dress-up computer game is widely recognized as the first successful video game made for girls.
The Video Game Hall of Fame allows visitors to nominate a game. However, the selection is still based "on the advice of journalists, scholars, and other individuals familiar with the history of video games and their role in society.” There are four basic criteria for being selected for the Hall of Fame: Icon Status, Longevity, Geographical Reach, and Influence.
This year the list of nominees that have failed to make the cut are Angry Birds (2009), FIFA International Soccer (1993), GoldenEye 007 (1997), NBA 2K (1999), Age of Empires (1997),
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Quake (1996), and Wizardry (1981).
