Last week, we saw massive steps toward recognizing video games’ influence on our society. Shigeru Miyamoto was awarded the Order of Culture in Japan, and Eiji Aonuma was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France (Miyamoto was awarded this as well in 2006). As video games and their creators are gaining recognition in the arts around the world, the United States is becoming a significant outlier. Is it because the United States does not value art and culture in general, or is it because the country has yet to accept video games as something beyond a child’s hobby?
This isn’t the first time I’ve felt the United States undervalues the arts and culture. Unless you live in a wealthy neighborhood or a cultural hot spot like New York City or Los Angeles, you won’t see art and culture emphasized nearly as much as productivity and profit. Many times, when a public school district struggles with funding, the Arts and Music Departments are the first to experience cuts. I’ve heard this complaint by the Head of the Art Department in my local town. Many private schools also limit the variety of art classes available. When I attended Ursuline Academy, there was only one basic art class. By junior and senior year, I could select either a standard art class or art history. While I loved my school, it was clear that the other more “traditional” subjects took a higher priority to ensure academic success in college.
It is true that the United States has some of the best colleges and universities, and many of them do provide outstanding focus on the arts, but once you’re out in the real world, and again, living outside a handful of cultural hot spot cities, American society doesn’t recognize the arts nor hold the preservation of human culture nearly as sacred as other countries. And they especially don’t hold video games in high regard. We still lack an Oscar-level award show, and Geoff Keighley does his best with The Game Awards in LA (although its lost much of my respect after pushing the deadline to accommodate Grand Theft Auto 6 but no other game in previous years). We also lack museums dedicated to the preservation of the art, music, coding, and stories of video games; in fact, the first true video game museum opened in 2016 in Texas. And yet, we have an art museum in almost every major city. No matter where you look in the United States’ mainstream media, you’ll see biased news, celebrities, and sports. Not so much video games.
Where I see the stark contrast the most is at events like PAX East and West. Many local devs struggle with support and budget, and then I speak with devs from Canada, Poland, and other countries that receive recognition and support from large organizations or the government. Canada has provincial tax credits and Canada Media streams that are real non-repayable grants.
In 2025, Warhorse Studios proud was ranked 5th in the CZECH TOP 100, a prestigious ranking of the most significant companies in the Czech Republic and was also received a Special Award for Management Excellence for their game Kingdom Come: Deliverance II.
Then, of course, we come to recent events where Japan awarded Miyamoto (Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda) the Order of Culture award, and he was the first member of the video games industry to accept such an honor. France, too, recognized Eiji Aonuma’s hard work in the industry on well-known franchises like The Legend of Zelda.
Despite all of the United States’ strengths (as a proud citizen regardless of political shenanigans), recognizing video games’ impact in our culture is a massive blind spot.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts with us on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord.
Nintendo Pow Block – A Nintendo Podcast by Boss Rush
Nintendo Pow Block is a weekly Nintendo podcast hosted by Edward Varnell, Corey Dirrig, and their friends from around the internet. Each week, they dive into the latest Nintendo news and rumors for Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, new and upcoming releases, updates to Nintendo Switch Online and the Nintendo Music app, and discuss what they’ve been playing in the Playing with Power segment.
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Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave Expansion Pass, Zelda: Ocarina of Time Updates, & More – Nintendo Pow Block Podcast – Now Your Podcasting with Power!
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Sources: Shack News, My Nintendo News, Warhorse Studios, Grant Compass
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