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Caring about video games means supporting the people who make them, the people who write about them, the communities who play them, and the world that we all exist in. Visitors of this site are encouraged to support workers unions, to participate in movements calling for greater action on climate change, and to boycott companies complicit in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. A list of companies currently targeted by boycott campaigns, which includes companies in the gaming space, can be found here. Do not support these companies, regardless of whether or not their games are featured on this website.

History

Acclaimed Video Games began in early 2020 as a project to determine the most acclaimed video games of the past decade, based on a combination of end-of-year lists and the recently released end-of-decade lists. Over the next few years, that project gradually became more ambitious: it included more games, more lists, and the aggregation method became a lot more robust. Since 2021, Acclaimed Video Games has attempted to determine the most critically acclaimed video games of all time. A website for the project launched in March 2023 and continues to receive regular updates. The website is currently maintained by ColonelChibbers, who joined the project in November 2025.

How are the rankings calculated?

Instead of looking directly at factors such as appearance frequency and list position, the Acclaimed Video Games rankings are based on game vs. game match-ups. That is, for any two games in the database, a program tracks how often one game appeared ahead of the other, and vice versa. These game vs. game match-ups are then rigorously cross referenced to determine which games performed the best overall. The highest ranked games are the ones that consistently place ahead of other strong games while rarely being ranked behind weaker games. The advantage of this method is that it allows for disparate lists to be aggregated without resorting to arbitrary adjustments.

Before this ranking process, weightings are applied to the source lists to account for the reputation of the publication and the age of the list (newer lists are slightly favoured). A final weighting penalises publications that have repeated themselves across multiple lists. The strength of these penalties varies depending on the degree of overlap between the lists, and are applied at the match-up level. This prevents the most prolific publications from dominating the rankings.

What lists are eligible?

The source data includes any list from a reliable source chosen primarily by the publication's editorial staff (lists based on reader polls are excluded). These lists can cover any time period, they can be ranked or unranked (or partially ranked), and they may have platform restrictions. Lists with one-per-series restrictions are also included, and this restriction is accounted for by the algorithm. Currently, the following types of lists are ineligible:

  • Lists that are not explicitly greatest games lists
  • Genre exclusive lists
  • Collections of individual staff lists
  • Lists based on review scores or other lists
  • Lists with a single entry
  • End-of-year lists limited to a specific platform
  • Lists covering less than a year
  • Console lists released before the console's end of life

What games are eligible?

This is determined on a case-by-base basis, but as a general guide:

  • Base games are almost always eligible
  • Remakes and standalone expansions are usually eligible
  • Mods are sometimes eligible
  • Expansion packs, DLC and remasters are almost always ineligible
  • Games without a full release are included in the source data, but usually won’t appear in the rankings until they have a full release
  • Games from the current year are eligible but usually won’t be ranked at least until the bulk of the end of year data has been entered

Does Acclaimed Video Games use AI at all?

No. All of the data entry is done manually, and the ranking algorithm does not use any machine learning tools.

What's with the platform data?

The listed platforms are the ones that the eligibility checker for the ranking program assumes eligibility for. Ideally, the listed platforms are the ones where the game’s performance on lists exclusive to that platform will be representative of its overall strength. This is often, but not always, the systems that it was originally released on. Very rarely will it be every system that the game is available for. Feedback on the platform data is encouraged as there is necessarily a degree of subjectivity to it. If you'd like to suggest a change, you can do so by emailing me directly, or via the contact form.

Where does your metadata come from?

Cover images, series data and developer data comes from IGDB. Genes come from Wikipedia. Release dates, game names, and platform data is entered manually (for now).

I found a mistake!

It happens from time to time. Please let me know by either emailing me or using the contact form.

There’s a list that you haven’t included yet!

If you’re sure that the list is eligible (please check the eligibility criteria above), and if you can provide a reliable source for it, then please pass it on either via email or the contact form.

Are these the definitive greatest games of all time?

No. The aim of this project is to determine the most acclaimed video games of all time, and no one is obliged to think that the most acclaimed video games are also the best. Video game critics are imperfect people working in an imperfect industry, and their tastes are inextricably linked to factors such as their worldview, history, and what space they think video games should occupy in the broader cultural landscape. The main list is a reflection of all of this, and criticism of it is encouraged.

Are there any other websites that are similar to Acclaimed Video Games?

There are! Here are some others, both for video games and for other media:

I would like to give feedback or contact you for some other reason.

Sure, I'd love to hear from you. I can be reached by email at contact@acclaimedvideogames.com, on X (formerly Twitter) at @AVGRankings, on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/avgrankings.bsky.social, or via the contact form.

Thanks to

  • Kris/Delfeir for helping me untangle the video game industry's various complexities, and for your help early on with the data entry. (Also for putting up with my rants whenever I was stuck on something.)
  • Ian for guidance in the early stages of developing the ranking algorithm.
  • Sean for building and maintaining the website up until November 2025.

"Hey! Listen!" ~Navi, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

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