2023 is the Best/Worst Year in Gaming
2023 is the greatest year in gaming.
Hyperbolic statement? Oh, for sure.
Could I be wrong? Oh absolutely. (looking at you 2007)
But when you look at the sheer number of top-quality, highly rated/reviewed games that have been released this year, it’s truly honestly quite astonishing.
Doing some very quick research using OpenCritic, which is a review aggregation website for video games that generates a numeric score by averaging all the numeric reviews, I looked to see how many games released in the past 10 years scored 90 or above. I realize this is a rudimentary method that’s not taking into account a lot of other factors, plus I’m only using OpenCritic to do this, but I thought it’s an easy tool to look back with and a fun exercise for this writing.
So with that said, looking at the numbers there have been 16 games released that have a score of 90 or above this year on OpenCritic. The next closest year is 2018 with 11. That’s wild to see that high of a number. Young Michael would be, as the kids say, eating really good right now. Nom nom.
I mean gamers have big AAA titles like Spider-Man 2 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to smaller scale games like Dave the Diver and Sea of Stars. There’s also been some amazing remakes (Dead Space and Resident Evil 4), frantic fighters (Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1), parry filled souls-likes (Lies of P and Star Wars: Jedi Survivor), and arguably one of the greatest RPG’s we’ve ever seen (Baldur’s Gate 3). That’s only a few of the games out there currently. There’s a wealth of great titles across all genres that gamers can play right now. We’ll get to see many of these titles celebrated at this year’s edition of The Game Awards, taking place this Thursday, December 7th at 7:30p ET/6:30p CT.
“But Michael, how can it be the worst year when there’s all these great games?”
I’m glad you asked dearest reader. It’s the absolute worst because at the time of this writing there’s been an estimated 9,000 game industry jobs lost according to VideoGameLayoffs.com.
Unity Software, Embracer Group, Amazon, EA, Microsoft, Bungie, Niantic, Ubisoft, Sega, Firaxis, CD Projekt Red, Riot Games, Meta, Take-Two, Epic Games, and many many more have all cut staff to varying degrees.
It’s just brutal all across the board, especially when you see a situation like the Embracer Group. The Embracer Group announced a “comprehensive restructuring program with immediate implementation” back in June. One of the results of this restructuring was the closure of longtime game studio Volition, makers of Red Faction and Saints Row franchises. If you’re wondering why they decided to restructure and close a well-regarded studio like Volition, well it’s because Embracer banked on a huge deal with Saudi backed Savvy Games that completely collapsed.
So, who pays the price for this? Not the executives who make these large-scale company wide affecting decisions and deals, no of course not. Why would you even consider that as an option? You’re out of your mind. No, it’s the developers, the creatives, and others that bear the brunt of these types of massive mistakes.
That said, Rogers recognises the human cost of this process. "There's a lot of it going around the industry at the moment of restructuring, but the downside, obviously, is the impact on people. It's something that really Embracer feels for.
He continues: "It's been an agonising process to see the sort of headcount [reduction], but we know it's a necessary thing for us to hit our new and needed goals. So overall, good progress and we push on." - Embracer Group’s Phil Rogers, interim chief strategy officer and CEO of the operative group Crystal Dynamics – Eidos, in an interview with Gameindustry.biz
I’m sorry I think I threw up a little at the “it’s something that really Embracer feels for” part because yeah sure dude. I’m sure you’re really hurting and feeling for everyone that has been affected.
I should add that according to reports, game industry revenue is on track to grow in 2023.
Aug 8 (Reuters) - Global video-games market would return to growth in 2023 on the back of strong sales of consoles such as Sony's Playstation 5, according to gaming market research firm Newzoo.
Newzoo said it expects industry revenue to rise 2.6% to $187.7 billion in 2023, driven by a 7.4% rise in console sales in the year. Gaming revenue fell 5% in 2022, according to the research firm's data.
So yes, we’ve had an absolutely amazing year in gaming but the game industry is in the middle of a crisis that I’m not sure is going away anytime soon.
I highly recommend checking out Nicole Carpenter’s article on the crisis the industry is facing over at Polygon.