World Video Game Hall of Fame announces 2025 inductees

Game developers rejoice. Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake, and Tamagotchi have joined the World Video Game Hall of Fame at The Strong National Museum of Play.

These four games—which have significantly influenced popular culture and the video game industry—emerged from a field of finalists that also included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Frogger, Golden Tee, Harvest Moon, Mattel Football, and NBA 2K. Here’s last year’s winners.

The games were announced at a special ceremony that included members of the Defender development team, with team lead Eugene Jarvis; John Romero, co-creator of Quake; and Tara Badie, the head of Tamagotchi for Bandai Namco. The games are now enshrined in the Strong National Museum of Play‘s World Video Game Hall of Fame rotunda, part of the ESL Digital Worlds exhibit.

About Defender: Released by Williams Electronics in 1981, Defender proved that players ...