Yesterday, the Strong National Museum of Play conducted a livestream to announce the 2021 inductees into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. Who was lucky enough to make the cut? This year will honor Starcraft, Animal Crossing, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Every year, the Strong National Museum of Play sifts through thousands of video game submissions that hope to make it into the Hall of Fame. Of those submissions, three games voted by the public are placed on a ballot. Meanwhile, the rest of the submissions are chosen by members of the International Selection Advisory Committee. This committee is made up of journalists and scholars that are familiar with the video game industry.
This year, the committee narrowed the field down to 12 titles:
- Animal Crossing
- Call of Duty
- FarmVille
- FIFA International Soccer
- Guitar Hero
- Mattel Football
- Microsoft Flight Simulator
- Pole Position
- Portal
- Starcraft
- Tron
- Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?
While only four of these remarkable are chosen, each of these games has had a great impact on the industry. For example, Call of Duty has earned over $3 billion in 2020 alone, to become one of the most successful franchises in video game history. Meanwhile, Mattel Football was one of the world's first handheld video games, paving the way for popular devices like the Game Boy and PS Vita. Plus, at one point it seemed everyone owned a copy of Guitar Hero (or Rock Band) and pretended to be rockstars in their living room.
Alas, only four could be inducted and the four chosen are definitely worth the honor. In particular, Animal Crossing had an amazing year last year thanks in part to the global pandemic that kept everyone indoors. The game brought people together when they couldn't physically be together. Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? is also having a pretty good time these days. Not only has the franchise spawned games and shows all over the globe, but a recent Netflix series is having the title see a surge in popularity.
The inductees this year join last year's, which included Bejeweled, Centipede, Minecraft, and King's Quest.