Summary
TheWorld Video Game Hall of Famehas announced its 2025 inductees, and legendary FPS gamesQuakeandGoldenEye 007are among them. In total, four games were added to the hall of fame for the year, drawing from a number of classic titles from years gone by.
Back in March, theWorld Video Game Hall of Fame 2025 finalistswere revealed. A number of classic titles made the shortlist, includingCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,Age of Empires,Angry Birds,NBA2K, and more. Notably, it was the third time thatGoldenEye 007had been included on a finalists list for the World Video Game Hall of Fame, and this time, the title made the final cut.
This year, four games were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, namelyGoldenEye 007,Quake,Defender, andTamagotchi.Quakefollows in the footsteps of its predecessor,Doom, which was added to the Hall of Fame a decade ago in 2015.
World Video Game Hall of Fame Reveals Reasoning for Winners
While all the games that entered this year have fans, there were some particular special features that stood out about all four titles that were added to this year’s inductees list.
The World Video Game Hall of Fame gaveQuakea nod not only for it being an early real-time 3D-rendered game, but for its multiplayer capabilities, which could be played viaQuake’s server/client architecture, rather than relying on peer-to-peer connections. The museum also praisedQuakefor being a leading factor in the development of esports, and ultimately helping topave the way for other 3D FPS games, includingTeam Fortress 2, asTF2’s predecessor got its start as aQuakemod.
Rare’sGoldenEye 007was celebrated for branching FPS games into territory it had rarely gone previously - game consoles. While titles likeQuakeandDoomwere major hits, they were PC games first and foremost.GoldenEye 007helped to make console FPS titles mainstream with its launch on the Nintendo 64, and also provided playersmultiplayer split-screen options, allowing up to four players to participate on a single console.
Tamagotchiis the only portable, standalone game device to make it to this year’s list, with the title introducing kids all over the world to virtual pets. According to the Hall of Fame,Tamagotchisold around 20 million units of the toy within the first year in Japan, and added another 20 million to that list via markets worldwide. Though the device has never achieved the same level of popularity in the years following, the line of toys still exists, with new iterations of toys andspin-offTamagotchigamesbeing produced to this day.
Defender, likely the least-known on this list to modern gamers, is an arcade machine that premiered in 1980. Amid other arcade games,Defenderstood out for being extremely difficult and having impressive graphics for its time. While it wasn’t a game for everyone, many players enjoyed the challenge, helping to propelDefenderto become the top-earning arcade video game at the time in1981. Its popularity ultimately led it to be ported to a number of home systems, with over 3 million produced for theAtari 2600alone.
