Gamers were “well fed” throughout 2023 thanks to the number of quality games released. Players had the opportunity to experience some blockbusters in the fourth quarter such as the hot hit Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios, the games Mario and Zelda from Nintendo or one of the best superhero games ever developed by Insomniac.
2023 is a great year for remakes (Resident Evil 4Metroid Prime), fighting game (Street Fighter VI, Mortal Kombat 1), classic RPG (Octopath Traveler II, Sea of Stars), surprise indie hits (Dave the Diver, Pizza Tower) and story-driven action games (Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Final Fantasy XVI). This is also the year gamers receive Diablo IV and Starfield and at the same time the year DLC Phantom Liberty heats up Cyberpunk 2077.
According to statistics compiled from Axios Gaming, 25 games released this year achieved reviews exceeding 90/100 on Metacritic, a number that leads all years in the past two decades. . By comparison, the average number of games reaching over 90 points per year over the past decade is half this year. 2011 was the last time many games with a rating of over 90 points were released in one year with the launch of big names such as Portal 2, Dark Souls, Batman: Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Infamous 2, Uncharted 3, etc
However, 25 games scoring over 90 does not paint a complete picture of the gaming industry. 2023 has been a huge year for gaming, but countless industry employees have been affected by mass layoffs. The most recent example is PlayStation-owned studio Bungie. Although it once confirmed that layoffs would not happen, this studio fired more than 100 employees.
