Visit VideoGameCanon.com for all future updates to this project and to explore the complete Top 1000.
Is it possible to rank the greatest video games of all time in a scientific way?
Of course not. That sounds ridiculous. But wouldn’t it be fun to try?
Do you throw the question to so-called experts and let them hash it out in a no-holds-barred debate? Maybe. But players and pundits have tried to sort through the noise since the days of arcades and mainframes. And in all that time they’ve compiled dozens of lists of their personal favorites.
So what if we found some way to create a Video Game Canon that the wide-ranging community of developers, critics, and players can all agree on? By analyzing these previous attempts and combining them into a single ranking, we can apply a little scientific rigor to the process and possibly create a list of the Best Video Games of All Time with at least a little input from everyone.
The Video Game Canon is a statistical meta-analysis of dozens of “Best Video Games of All Time” lists that have been published since 1995. And you can visit VideoGameCanon.com now to see how the Top 1000 shook out.
My hope is that the site becomes more than just a place for lists. Alongside the Top 1000, you’ll find a series of original essays that take a deeper look at some of the most beloved games of the last 50 years. I want to dig in to their effect on the people who played them, the developers that made them, and the games that came after.
But I don’t want my voice to be the only one telling these stories, so the site will also serve as a library to collect a wide range of articles, videos, podcasts, books, and social media posts from the people who explore these hidden alleyways of history and the developers who were there.
Thanks for reading this far, and hopefully you’ll go on this journey with me.
