2023 has been quite a year for gaming, with news stories ranging from fun and exciting to saddening and disheartening. With the year coming to a close, here are the biggest news stories of 2023.
The Biggest News Stories of 2023
Layoff Tsunamis Hit the Gaming Industry
Several thousand video game industry workers lost their jobs this year as waves of layoffs struck various different video game companies. Among these companies are industry giants like Epic Games, Amazon, CD Projekt Red, Microsoft, PlayStation, Unity, and Embracer Group, among many others.
These layoffs have often been attributed to overspending, financial instability, a dwindling playerbase, and a changing landscape as the world moves forward from the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The layoffs have been so widespread that a website called videogamelayoffs.com was put up to keep track of all the layoffs video game companies have done.
Here are some of our articles covering these layoffs.
Saints Row Developer Volition Shuts Down Permanently, Gearbox Faces Layoffs
Epic Games Lays Off Nearly 900 Employees To Stabilize Finances
The Last of Us Developer Naughty Dog Lays Off Staff Despite Recent Success
CD Projekt Spent $125M on Cyberpunk While Staff Unionize After 3rd Layoff Wave
Layoffs in Game Industry So Rampant That There’s a Website To Track How Many
Gaming Industry Layoff Wave Hits Playstation’s Visual Arts Amidst Industry-wide Turmoil
TimeSplitter Developers Brought Back Just to Be Let Go in Latest Round of Layoffs by Embracer Group
EA Hits F1 Developer Codemaster with Layoffs Amid Racing Game Struggles
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Sales Couldn’t Save D&D’s Wizards of the Coast From Layoffs
The Scam Before Fiasco
The Day Before was one of the most anticipated games of 2023. However, after a controversial and lengthy development process, several delays to its release date, and claims of the game being "a fake game," the game still managed to disappoint and anger its players.
The game wasn’t at all what it was advertised as, was filled with bugs that made it unplayable, and had a glaring lack of zombies, which is weird for a "zombie survival game."
Here are our articles covering The Day Before.
The Day Before Actually Exists But Gets Delayed Again
The Day Before 2021 and 2023 Trailer Comparison | Does It Still Look Like What They Promised?
'The Day Before' Shut Downs The Day After
GTA 6 Trailer Drops
With GTA 5 and GTA Online’s massive success, both financially and in player satisfaction, there’s undoubtedly a ridiculous amount of hype for GTA 6. After a little more than 10 years since the iconic game’s release, we finally got a glimpse of what GTA 6 is going to be like, which is set in Leonida, Rockstar’s fictional take on Florida. The game’s trailer captures Florida’s sunny and vibrant environment, complete with beaches, urban cities, swamps, and of course, alligators. The trailer features numerous references to crazy things that happened in Florida in real life and has since then garnered 155 million views and 11 million likes.
Here are our articles covering GTA 6.
GTA 6 in the Works at Take-Two Interactive, Could Be Released in FY 2025
GTA 6 Trailer Released Early After Getting Leaked
GTA 6 Might Get Sued Again For Parodying Real People
Embracer Group Issues
Embracer Group, once known for buying up game studios left and right, found itself in hot water after several mishaps this year, including a layoff of more than 900 staff and the shutdown of 15 unannounced games. Embracer Group’s financial difficulties emerged after a $2 billion deal with Savvy Games Group, a Saudi government-funded company, reportedly collapsed. This forced Embracer to restructure aggressively and make major cost reductions.
Embracer Lays Off More Than 900 Employees and Cancels 15 Upcoming Games
TimeSplitter Developers Brought Back Just to Be Let Go in Latest Round of Layoffs by Embracer Group
TimeSplitters Devs are Embracer Group's Latest Layoff Victims Following Industry Trend
Unity's Controversial Runtime Fee
Unity, a widely-used game engine, attempted to introduce changes to their business model which would have heavily affected game developers using their engine. To put it plainly, the issue stemmed from what they called Runtime Fee, which is a flat fee to be paid by the developer for every install of the games built on the Unity Engine. This, of course, led to severe backlash from the gaming community, with developers, players, and other supporters uniting to protest against what they called "a predatory move."
Amid the backlash, Unity quickly took it back and did not push through with the new policies. However, the backlash was so severe that Unity employees were receiving death threats, and the CEO of Unity stepped down shortly after.
Here are our articles about Unity’s Runtime Fee.
Unity’s New Runtime Fee Causes Uproar Within the Gaming Community
Unity Receives Death Threats While More Studios Voice Discontent
Unity Backpedals on New Runtime Install Fee Policy
Unity Drama Continues As It Overhauls Controversial Policy, Developers Question Trusting Them
Unity's Controversial Policies Condemned by Terraria's Developers
Unity CEO John Riccitiello Resigns Amidst Fee Controversy
Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Acquisition
After a lengthy process filled with obstacles, Microsoft was able to complete their acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. That being said, the iconic video game franchises of Call of Duty, Diablo, and Overwatch, are all under Xbox now. However, unlike Bethesda, Activision Blizzard won’t make their staple games like Call of Duty Xbox exclusives. The effects of this acquisition haven’t really been felt by gamers yet, but significant restructuring has and will continue to happen for Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
Here are some of our articles covering the acquisition.
Microsoft Wins Approval to Acquire Activision Blizzard in the US, Citing Commitments to Maintain Cross-Platform Availability
Microsoft's Revised Activision Blizzard Deal Addresses CMA Concerns
Microsoft Gaming Undergoes Significant Restructuring Amidst Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Big Corporate Changes in Gaming
Corporate mixups in the video game industry have also occurred this year. Industry giants like Sony, Activision Blizzard, and Rockstar Games, to name a few, had all undergone significant changes to their management structure. While some had
Red Dead Redemption and GTA Writer Leaves Rockstar After 16 Year Tenure
Fortnite's Chief Creative Officer Steps Down, Replaced by Marvel Veteran
Sony CEO Jim Ryan to Retire Next Year
Hideki Kamiya Sheds Light on Leaving Platinum Games and Future Plans
Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Leaving After 33 Years
Starfield Lead Quest Dev and Head of Publishing Leave Bethesda
E3’s Demise
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), once hailed as the pinnacle of video game trade shows, has officially met its end. E3, where major gaming companies historically unveiled their flagship titles and teasers, had been in a state of decline for several years as these same companies increasingly opted for independent streaming events for major announcements. The famed expo was also canceled for the last three years thanks to the limitations brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are our articles on E3’s cancellation.
The Future of E3: What Happens Without Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo at E3 2023?
More Publishers Back Out Of E3, Ubisoft To Hold Its Own Showcase
E3 Is Canceled After Publishers Decided To Skip The Event This Year
E3 Canceled Permanently as the Industry Evolves
Sony’s Insomniac Games Hit By Ransomware Group
Insomniac Games, the studio behind the successful Spider-Man game franchise, was hacked by Rhysida ransomware group. The hackers were able to steal over a terabyte of sensitive data and demanded $2 million worth in Bitcoin.
The deadline passed and Sony did not give in to the demands, leading to a huge leak of sensitive information including game road maps, budgets, gameplay footage, and most of all, personal information of their staff from the company’s HR documents. Documents like credit card information, passport numbers, and more were compromised due to the cyber attack. Information on the highly anticipated Wolverine game was also released.
Here are our articles on the Insomniac cyber attack.
Sony Investigating Cyberattack Claims on Insomniac
Sony's Insomniac Games Leaks Sets the Internet on Fire After Ransomware Attack
Super Mario Voice Actor Retires
Charles Martinet, Mario's original voice actor since Super Mario 64 of 1996, will no longer be recording character voices for Nintendo games. Martinet transitioned into the role of "Mario Ambassador," and will continue to promote the iconic game franchise and communicate with fans around the world. Shortly after Nintendo’s announcement, they revealed that Martinet’s successor as Mario’s voice actor is Kevin Afghani, who will also voice Luigi and probably more characters from the franchise as Martinet has.
Here is our article covering Martinet’s retirement as Mario’s voice actor.
Charles Martinet Steps Down as Mario Voice Actor, Becomes Mario Ambassador
Masterpieces Out of Nowhere
2023 has granted us outstanding games that seemingly came out of nowhere. While Baldur’s Gate 3 definitely had hype prior to its release, nobody was expecting it to be as good as it is. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a video-game adaptation of the ever-so-popular Dungeons & Dragons. Game8 rated BG3 a whopping 90/100.
It’s also been a great year for indie games, with Sea of Stars, Dave the Diver, and Cocoon standing out as masterpieces in their respective genres. All three have been nominated in The Game Awards, with both Sea of Stars and Cocoon winning Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game respectively.
Here are some of our articles covering these incredible games.
Baldur's Gate 3: The Game That Will Keep You Playing for Months
Baldur's Gate 3 Fans Are Using This Form to Ask for a Day Off on Game Launch
Sea of Stars to Get an Upcoming DLC
Sea of Stars Sells 250,000 Copies in Launch Week
Dave the Diver Hits 1 Million Players in 10 Days
Biggest Flops This Year
While 2023 has definitely been a big year for gaming, with outstanding games like the ones we listed above, some releases either fell short of expectations or completely missed their mark. An example is Starfield, which was something that had the potential to be genre-defining but ultimately ended up being described by many as "empty". There’s also Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, which I personally thought was nice, but was slammed by critics and fans alike. NBA 2K24’s old gen and PC versions were also notably very bad.
Starfield Gameplay Leak Leads to Felony Charges for Tennessee Resident
Starfield’s Planets and Moons Are Empty On Purpose
Starfield's Planets Were Meant to be Harsher
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Developed in Half the Usual Time
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Sets Engagement Records Despite Negative Reviews
