Walk of Game
The Walk of Game opened in 2005 inside the Sony Metreon, an entertainment shopping center in San Francisco, California. Its premise was simple: honor the icons and pioneers of the video game industry with permanent, customized steel stars embedded in the floor. Each star measured 24 by 24 inches. The model came directly from Hollywood's Walk of Fame, as the similar name made plain.
Gamers worldwide voted through paper ballots and online submissions during a one-month window each October. The votes determined four winning games or characters and two lifetime achievers per year. Those inductees received their steel stars on a walkway inside the Metreon. The questions the attraction raised were large: who deserved to stand alongside the legends of cinema? Which characters had shaped an entire medium? And who would keep the tradition alive?
Ballots opened in October 2005 and again in October 2006, the only two years the Walk of Game ever ran. In 2005, voters chose Mario, Link, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Halo as the game and character honorees. Lifetime achievement stars went to Shigeru Miyamoto and Nolan Bushnell.
The 2006 class broadened the scope. StarCraft, Lara Croft, Final Fantasy, and EverQuest took the game and character slots. John Carmack and Sid Meier received the lifetime achievement honors. Carmack's work on first-person engine technology and Meier's long history of strategy games placed them among the medium's most influential figures. The two years together produced eight game and character stars and four lifetime achievement stars, a total of twelve inductees before the project ended.
In February 2006, Sony sold the Metreon to The Westfield Group. That transaction ended the Walk of Game's institutional support. With Sony's departure, the attraction was never updated again. No voting period opened in October 2007. No new stars were installed.
The walkway sat unchanged for years inside a shopping center that had changed ownership. By 2012, the space the Walk of Game had occupied was converted into a Target store. The stars, the walkway, and the attraction itself were all removed. What had been a public monument to gaming history became retail floor space. Sid Meier's star, inducted in 2006, had less than six years on the ground before it disappeared.
The eight game and character inductees across 2005 and 2006 cut across decades and genres. Mario represented Nintendo's platforming lineage. Link anchored the Legend of Zelda series. Sonic the Hedgehog carried Sega's identity from the early console wars. Halo stood for the rise of first-person shooters on home consoles.
The 2006 class added breadth. StarCraft spoke to the competitive real-time strategy scene and the game's massive following in South Korea and beyond. Final Fantasy represented Japanese role-playing games and their global reach. Lara Croft brought in action-adventure and a recognizable cultural figure. EverQuest acknowledged the massively multiplayer online genre that had reshaped how players spent their time. Together the list read as a compressed argument about which games had moved the medium forward most visibly by the mid-2000s.
Common questions
What was the Walk of Game in San Francisco?
The Walk of Game was an attraction inside the Sony Metreon entertainment shopping center in San Francisco, California, honoring influential video game characters and industry pioneers with permanent 24-by-24-inch customized steel stars embedded in the floor. It ran in 2005 and 2006 before being discontinued after Sony sold the Metreon to The Westfield Group in February 2006.
Who were the Walk of Game inductees in 2005?
The 2005 Walk of Game honored Mario, Link, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Halo as game and character inductees. Shigeru Miyamoto and Nolan Bushnell received the two lifetime achievement awards that year.
Who received Walk of Game lifetime achievement awards?
Lifetime achievement stars went to Shigeru Miyamoto and Nolan Bushnell in 2005, and to John Carmack and Sid Meier in 2006. These four figures were the only lifetime achievement honorees across the attraction's two years of operation.
Why did the Walk of Game stop in 2006?
Sony sold the Metreon to The Westfield Group in February 2006, and with Sony's departure the Walk of Game was never updated again. No new inductees were named after the 2006 class, and the attraction eventually closed permanently.
What happened to the Walk of Game after it closed?
In 2012, the space the Walk of Game had occupied inside the Metreon was converted into a Target store. The stars, the walkway, and all physical elements of the attraction were removed at that time.
How did people vote for Walk of Game inductees?
Voters cast ballots through paper submissions and online entries at the Walk of Game website during a one-month voting period each October. Voting took place in October 2005 and October 2006, the only two years the attraction operated.
All sources
2 references cited across the entry
- 1newsVideogame Industry Icons Honored with Stars on Walk of GameHanlon, Mike — Gizmag — 2006-03-20