You really think Skyrim belongs there? I’d agree that Elder Scrolls deserves a place, but what did Skyrim do that wasn’t done by Oblivion or even Morrowind?

Source was not an internal engine, it was an openly available engine used by numerous non-Valve games (The Ship, Garrys Mod, Titanfall, Dear Esther, etc etc).

It is so weird that the article repeatedly acknowledges that this isn’t really unique and other companies and researchers are doing the same, but they’re only covering this one because it relates to Musk. What is it about Musk that makes every little thing he does “newsworthy”?

If influential means influencing game design / the industry, inspiring other creators by demonstrating novel ideas, I’d probably have to say Doom or Half-Life. Doom really showed what an FPS could be and kicked off such a dominant genre. Half-Life introduced immersive storytelling that greatly influenced FPS and non-FPS games.