2023 in video games

In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023.

Financial performance

Best-selling premium games by region

The following titles were 2023's top ten best-selling premium games by region (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for Japan, the United States, and Europe.

Top-rated games

Critically acclaimed titles

The number of highly praised video games released in 2023 was considered unusually high compared to most years, with 25 games having a 90 out of 100 or better aggregate score on Metacritic by October 2023; this made it the best year by number of acclaimed games, the largest since 2004. This year was comparable to the slate of highly praised releases in 1992, 1997 and 2008. The reasons for this include the fact that most of the top games were delayed or not even developed until after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, leading to greater quality in gaming overall, and that the ninth generation of consoles had become entrenched for developers.

The following table lists the top-rated games released in 2023 based on Metacritic, which generally considers expansions as separate entities.

Major awards

Baldur's Gate 3 was the first game to sweep the Game of the Year categories at the five major awards ceremonies: the Golden Joystick Awards, the Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the BAFTA Games Awards.

Major events

Notable deaths

• January 5
• Sim Wong Hoo, 67, founder and CEO of Creative Labs.
• Earl Boen, 81, voice actor across multiple media titles, including for World of Warcraft and Monkey Island.
• January 29 – Annie Wersching, 45, actress known for portraying Tess in The Last of Us and Tassyn in Anthem.
• February 14 – Tohru Okada, 73, musician and creator of the PlayStation logo sound effect.
• February 15 – Shōzō Iizuka, 89, voice actor across multiple media franchises, most notably as the Japanese dub of Doctor Neo Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot series.
• March 3 – Tom Sizemore, 61, actor known for voicing Sonny Forelli in '.
• March 17 – Lance Reddick, 60, actor known in video games for the voice of Commander Zavala in the Destiny franchise and the voice and performance of Sylens in the Horizon series.
• March 23 – Brendan O'Brien, 60, voice actor for Crash Bandicoot.
• March 30 – Mike Berlyn, 73, game designer and creator of Bubsy, and co-founder of Bend Studio.
• April 1 – Klaus Teuber, 70, creator of Catan.
• July 5 – Emile Morel, 40, game developer for Ubisoft, including lead designer on Rayman Legends and creative lead on Beyond Good and Evil 2.
• July 30 – Paul Reubens, 70, actor known for voicing Lock in '.
• August 23 – Arleen Sorkin, 67, actress known for voicing Harley Quinn in ' and its various video game adaptations, as well as in '.
• August 24 – Bray Wyatt, 36, pro wrestler who appeared in the WWE 2K titles (WWE '12, WWE 2K15-2K20, 2K23-2K24).
• October 26 – Richard Moll, 80, actor known for voicing Devil Hulk in ' and Death in Dante's Inferno.
• October 28 – Matthew Perry, 54, actor known for voicing Benny in '.
• November 19 – Peter Spellos, 69, actor known for voicing Rojie in Seven Samurai 20XX and Michael in '.
• December 17 – James McCaffrey, 65, actor with several voice roles, including Max Payne.
• December 24 – Kamar de los Reyes, 56, actor known for portraying Raul Menendez in '.
• December 30
• Bryan Ansell, 68, game designer and manager of Games Workshop, and co-developer of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise.
• Tom Wilkinson, 75, actor known for portraying Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins and its video game adaptation, and secondary antagonist Thomas Pendrew in Sleeping Dogs.

Hardware releases

Games released in 2023

Cancelled games

• Battlefield Mobile, Electronic Arts (iOS, DROID)
• ', Saber Interactive (NS)
• Hyenas, Sega (WIN, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX/S)
• Just Cause Mobile, Square Enix (iOS, DROID)
• The Last of Us Online, Naughty Dog (PS5)
• Marvel's Midnight Suns, 2K (NS)
• Metal Black S-Tribute, City Connection (NS, PS4)
• Quantamancy: The Purgatory, Corecell Technology (WIN, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX/S)
• Revenant Hill, Finji (WIN, PS4, PS5)