Shenmue, Sega’s groundbreaking forklift truck-driving simulator, has been crowned the most influential game of all time in a new poll conducted by BAFTA ahead of its 2025 Games Awards on 8 April. If you think that’s a shock, this really isn’t the biggest surprise on the list.
This year’s BAFTA survey had over 2,800 respondents who replied in a free-text format, meaning games weren’t pre-picked. Still, an apparent fan campaign helped Shenmue triumph over FPS pioneer Doom, platforming royalty Super Mario Bros., the groundbreaking Half-Life, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which is generally agreed to be the greatest game ever. The best-selling game in history, Minecraft, was edged out of the top five.
Credit where credit’s due: Shenmue was instrumental in the development of open-world gaming, pioneered quick-time events, and also taught players the value of hard work, all on an underrated console. It definitely deserves to be mentioned somewhere, but first?
Still, Shenmue’s position at the top of the pile really isn’t the most shocking thing in this “most influential game” poll. This year’s final 21 is pretty weird, and appears to have been affected by collective amnesia; let’s look at the finalists.
BAFTA’s 21 most influential video games of all time, according to public vote
- Shenmue (1999)
- Doom (1993)
- Super Mario Bros. (1985)
- Half-Life (1998)
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)
- Minecraft (2011)
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (2025)
- Super Mario 64 (1996)
- Half-Life 2 (2004)
- The Sims (2000)
- Tetris (1984)
- Tomb Raider (1996)
- Pong (1972)
- Metal Gear Solid (1998)
- World of Warcraft (2004)
- Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023)
- Final Fantasy VII (1997)
- Dark Souls (2011)
- Grand Theft Auto 3 (2001)
- Skyrim (2011)
- Grand Theft Auto (1997)
There isn’t a single fighting game on the list, or even a beat ‘em up like Streets of Rage. The entire horror genre has been omitted — Resident Evil 4 didn’t make the cut — unless you expect the haunted piano from Super Mario 64 to do some heavy lifting. Where are the top-down strategy games like StarCraft, C&C, or Age of Empires? Racing and sports games don’t feature in the top 21 — Mario Kart certainly deserves a mention.
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Most bizarrely, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 — a game released on February 4, less than two months ago — placed seventh. Voters clearly misunderstood “most influential” as “my favorite thing right now,” because the only thing Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 has truly influenced in 58 days is meal planning.
You could even argue that Baldur’s Gate 3 doesn’t deserve a place on this list — not yet, anyway. There’s no doubt it’s a phenomenal game, and has arguably set the bar for modern experiences going forward, but has it already had a greater influence over gaming than, say, Donkey Kong, GoldenEye 007, Pac-Man, Pokémon, or even Time Crisis? If you’d’ve said Baldur’s Gate 1 or 2, things may be different.
In real terms, it’s hard to question others on the list, even if your order may be very different. You could probably argue the toss over having two Half-Life or Grand Theft Auto games, but I personally wouldn’t; then again, I’m lucky enough to have seen all four of them break the mold, and they’ve also highlighted just how quickly a franchise can transform with the right combination of creativity and technology. Influencers will always create influencers.
This year’s BAFTA survey follows another surprising ballot from last year, which named Lara Croft as the most iconic game character of all time. That result wasn’t as big a shock as you’d think; BAFTA has always had a British lean, and the brilliant Tomb Raider 1-3 remaster successfully landed just a few weeks before.
