Silent Hill, Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, and FIFA International Soccer are the 2026 inductees in the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The Strong National Museum of Play announced the four inductees on May 7, selecting them from a finalist list that included such high-profile snubs as League of Legends and Skyrim.
Silent Hill is one of the most important horror games ever made, so its inclusion is hardly surprising. It changed the whole genre, shifted the way people thought about video game horror, and gave birth to a franchise that, despite a relative decline in the 2010s, is still going strong today.
Angry Birds earned its spot for a completely different reason: it made mobile gaming fun and addictive, while reaching every kind of audience. Both hardcore gamers and people who have never touched video games in their lives passionately played Rovio’s title, as it was easy to play it in short bursts, during work or study breaks, or before sleep.
Dragon Quest is a title that frankly should have been inducted way sooner. It’s a cornerstone of the Japanese Role Playing Game genre, phenomenally successful both worldwide and back in Japan. Released in 1986 for the Famicom, it brought together Yuji Horii, Akira Toriyama, and Koichi Sugiyama for what became one of the most successful video game franchises of all time.
FIFA International Soccer rounds out the 2026 class with a pick that may not be super obvious, but it also gave birth to a phenomenally successful video game series. Sports games do not always get the same prestige and treatment as RPGs or horror titles, but FIFA’s reach is impossible to dismiss.
The rest of the finalists included Frogger, Galaga, Mega Man, PaRappa the Rapper, RuneScape, and Tokimeki Memorial.
The full list of World Video Game Hall of Fame inductees looks like this:
- 2015: Doom, Pac-Man, Pong, Super Mario Bros., Tetris, World of Warcraft
- 2016: Grand Theft Auto III, The Legend of Zelda, The Oregon Trail, The Sims, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Invaders
- 2017: Donkey Kong, Halo: Combat Evolved, Pokémon Red and Green, Street Fighter II
- 2018: Final Fantasy VII, John Madden Football, Spacewar!, Tomb Raider
- 2019: Colossal Cave Adventure, Microsoft Solitaire, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Kart
- 2020: Bejeweled, Centipede, King’s Quest, Minecraft
- 2021: Animal Crossing, Microsoft Flight Simulator, StarCraft, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
- 2022: Dance Dance Revolution, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Ms. Pac-Man, Sid Meier’s Civilization
- 2023: Barbie Fashion Designer, Computer Space, The Last of Us, Wii Sports
- 2024: Asteroids, Myst, Resident Evil, SimCity, Ultima
- 2025: Defender, GoldenEye 007, Quake, Tamagotchi
- 2026: Silent Hill, Angry Birds, Dragon Quest, FIFA International Soccer
