The time has come: our list of the 20 best games of 2023 is now live. I can’t remember a year with such an embarrassment of riches to choose from, and the diversity of this list really reflects that. Most outlets – and players – appear to have divided themselves along the lines of Team Baldur’s Gate, Team Zelda or Team Alan Wake 2, and any one of them would be a worthy GOTY. In the end you have to go with your heart. Have a read and see if your feelings align with ours.
Keep an eye out, too, for our games-you-might-have-missed list tomorrow, in which our full complement of critics recommend more than 30 additional games. And if you’d like to hit reply on this newsletter and share a few sentences about your own favourite games of 2023 and your most anticipated games of 2024, there’s still time! We’ll be publishing your responses next week.
I’ll be taking a little break from the Guardian for a few weeks to work on a book – yes, it’s about video games – so although we’re not quite at the end of 2023 yet, I’ll take this opportunity to thank you very much for reading Pushing Buttons, and for all your brilliant feedback. I’ve been writing this newsletter for two years now, and it is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
In the meantime: it’s been a huge year for good games, and a consequential one for games news too. Here’s a refresher on the biggest stories of the year.
Gaming’s post-pandemic contraction bites
EA. Niantic. Bungie. Epic Games. Embracer. Creative Assembly. Barely a week went by this year without news of more developer layoffs, or even whole studio closures. When everybody was stuck inside during the pandemic, gaming experienced an unprecedented boom. Companies went on hiring and acquisition sprees that have proven unsustainable. Thousands of people have been laid off this year. 2023 will be remembered for this duality: one of the best years ever for players, and one of the worst ever for workers.
AI causes unease everywhere
If you want to know what’s going to cause concern in a few years time, you can usually look at issues concerning the video games industry. So it was with Gamergate and the radicalisation of extremely online young men; there were concerns about the monetisation and commodification of virtual communities; and now the threat of AI. Most games creatives have been outspoken about the dangers that AI poses to their jobs, even as some executives have enthused about its potential to relieve the pressures of huge-scale projects. Games companies tend to embrace new technologies first, so it is likely we’ll see the first AI triumphs/scandals in games before long.
Microsoft finally buys Activision Blizzard
In January 2022, Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard, making it the owner of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft and giving it a foothold in mobile gaming via King, developer of Candy Crush and much else. It was initially blocked by UK authorities and deeply scrutinised by those in the US, leading to a bunch of accidental revelations about the Xbox and PlayStation businesses via unintended disclosure of court documents. Finally, in October, the deal was completed – and now we’ll see if Microsoft really can buy itself to the top.
Epic Games prevails against Google
Very, very few companies could make the multibillion-dollar Fortnite maker Epic Games look like a plucky upstart – but next to Google, even one of gaming’s hugest entities is a minnow. Epic’s unlikely victory against Google in US courts, where it was suing under anti-monopoly laws, has huge potential ramifications next year.
The curse of the video game adaptation was lifted
The Super Mario Movie wasn’t the best (take it from me, I saw it three times), but it was still good enough to become the third highest-grossing animated movie of all time. The Last of Us is now a critically acclaimed HBO TV series. Squillions more adaptations are in the works. For more than a decade there have been terrible big and small-screen adaptations of games – but the tide has finally turned.
Grand Theft Auto VI is finally out of the bag
Ten years! Ten years it’s been since Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto V! Man, back in the day we got GTA III, San Andreas and Vice City all in the space of a few years, alongside some underrated PSP spin-offs. After years of speculation and leaks, Rockstar finally showed off what it’s been working on.
Unity screws up
We got a lesson in hubris from the John Riccitiello, CEO of video game tech company Unity, when the organisation attempted to unilaterally alter the terms under which developers could use its game engine, prompting thousands of developers to outline why this was exploitative. This resulted in a U-turn, alongside Riccitiello’s unceremonious exit. A good reminder for the games business’s corporate class that in a creative industry, it is never a good idea to irriate the actual creators.
The subscriptions battle is heating up
Subscription services haven’t yet become dominant in the gaming space – roughly 3.5% of overall gaming revenue this year, according to Statista – but the battle to become the Netflix of games is still ongoing. Now that Google Stadia has been shut down, the main contenders are Microsoft’s Game Pass, Sony’s PlayStation Plus and … Netflix, which has continued quietly building up a superb stable of games and studios.
E3 is over forever
Alas, E3: gaming’s biggest event is done for. After a couple of failed resuscitation attempts since the pandemic, the convention that’s been the focal point of the gaming calendar since the 90s is no more. What on earth are we going to do in June now?
I guess we’ll find out next summer. Until then: happy holidays!
What to play
A family-friendly selection this week from our “games you might have missed” list, from our critic Lewis Gordon: Tchia. “In this open-world adventure, you’re free to explore a Pacific island however you like: run, climb, swim, and, in a twist for the genre, ‘soul-jump’. At the press of a button, the mechanic lets you inhabit practically anything: fish and bird, rock or lantern, all of which move in distinct ways. The resulting locomotion feels uniquely, joyfully boundless.”
Available on: PC, PlayStation 4 and 5
Estimated play time: 7-10 hours
What to read
An immense Insomniac Games leak has revealed plans for tonnes of Marvel games over the next decade via hacked documents.
Naughty Dog has scrapped The Last of Us Online, the multiplayer version of its famed survival series, which has been in development for years. The choice, the studio says, was between devoting all its resources to supporting an online game for years to come, or continuing to focus on its award-winning single-player experiences.
Valve is once again asking you to stop huffing the fumes from your Steam Deck. We know it smells good, but it ain’t good for ya.
James McCaffrey, a star of Alan Wake 2 and plenty of other Remedy games besides, has died aged 65. Known to gamers as the voice of Max Payne, he was a film and television actor. “His remarkable talent gave life to our characters and left an enduring impact on our community,” said Remedy in a statement. “Our hearts go out to his family.”
What to click
The 20 best video games of 2023
Nativity play: the 12 best board games for Christmas parties
Analogue Duo review – a PC Engine retro console for purists
House Flipper 2 review – moreish and meditative fixer-upper fantasy
Let’s hope Epic’s antitrust win over Google is the first of many tech company losses | John Naughton
Question Block
This question from reader Luc has been a recurring one for Pushing Buttons readers recently: “What are you doing about your gaming pile of shame in 2024? Is it going to be reduced, or simply grow until it becomes sentient and plays itself?”
Ah yes, the pile of shame: all those unplayed games, silently judging us from our Steam libraries or, if you’re old-school, their DVD cases. At this point mine stretches back to at least 2010. I still haven’t played Elden Ring.
If the past few years’s worth of long but worthwhile games has entirely defeated you and your limited leisure time, the good news is that 2024 currently looks relatively quiet by comparison. At some point in 2025, we’re all going to lose all of our free time to GTA VI, so this coming year is my chance to make some headway on that long-neglected backlog.
If you’ve got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.
