On 4 May 2023, four video games were inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. These games have had a significant impact on pop culture or the video game industry.

Barbie Fashion Designer, Computer Space, The Last of Us and Wii Sports were selected from a group of finalists that also included Age of Empires, Angry Birds, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, FIFA International Soccer, Goldeneye 007, NBA 2K, Quake and Wizardry.

The games will be preserved and displayed in a new section of the Strong National Museum of Play, which will open on 30 June 2023. Induction into the Hall of Fame recognises each game for its contribution to video game culture and its lasting impact on the industry or society at large.

Barbie Fashion Designer was released in 1996 by Digital Domain / Mattel Media. At that time, there were many games for male gamers on the market. Barbie Fashion Designer proved that a computer game for girls could be successful. Within two months, more than 500,000 copies were sold. The game helped to significantly expand the market for video games and sparked important and ongoing discussions about gender roles and stereotypes in games.

The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment and released in 2013. The game tells the story of Joel, a smuggler who must escort a young girl named Ellie to protect her from infected and other survivors. The game was highly praised by critics and won several awards. The story was later adapted for an HBO television series, which premiered in 2023.

Wii Sports was released in 2006 along with Nintendo’s Wii game console, bringing casual sports games into living rooms around the world. The simple controls made the game accessible to almost everyone and helped Nintendo sell more than 100 million Wii consoles worldwide.

The World Video Game Hall of Fame at the Strong Museum was established in 2015 to honour individual electronic games of all types – arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile – that have been popular over an extended period of time and have influenced the video game industry or popular culture and society in general.

The selected games will be permanently displayed in the new World Video Game Hall of Fame, which opens on 30 June.