The article is devoted to the problem of the formation of video games as a cultural phenomenon. Originally emerging as a technological by-product, largely experimental, video games are now a significant part of popular culture. Throughout the history of its development, video games have shown a noticeable dynamics of settling in various cultural spheres. Nevertheless, in the mass consciousness, and often in the research community, a stereotypical and largely amateurish attitude towards video games persists, which removes them from the discourse of professional analytics. The complex technocultural nature of the object investigated in the article requires the use of a wide range of methodological techniques. The theoretical framework of the work is built using cultural-historical and dialectical methods, as well as elements of the systemic and structural-functional approaches. The article analyzes the history of video games as the genesis of the original culturally coherent phenomenon, which is in active dialogue with the spheres of technoculture, economics, law, art, socio-humanitarian science and mass culture. The conclusion is drawn about the importance of video games as a socio-cultural phenomenon, which by now has become a form of digital art and sports, which have contributed to the emergence of new forms of social organization and communication, many forms of near-game subcultural phenomena, gamification practices and specialized research programs.