The gaming industry never sleeps, and a breaking news story can come at any time. Sometimes it's at hosted events like The Game Awards, other times it's a random Tuesday announcement. Everything from Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus additions to new game reveals, announcements, and more often dominate the scene, but there's always a lot going on behind closed doors in the industry too. 2023, for example, will likely go down in history as one of the best years for video games in a long time, but the human cost has been tons of jobs, lay-offs, and more.
Although this is by no means exhaustive, 2023 has played host to a lot of major developments, news stories, and ongoing events. These are the biggest news stories of the year, listed below in no particular order.
2023 Has Been an Incredible Year for Gaming, But a Terrible Year for Devs
1998 and 2007 have a special place in many gamers' hearts as some of the best years for video games, with each year seeing major, industry-defining titles drop. The same can already be said about 2023. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released early this year, but no one expected the industry to be able to top this beloved adventure. Yet, time and again, it was challenged. Baldur's Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, Starfield, Hogwarts Legacy, and Alan Wake 2 all made their mark, while Resident Evil 4 continued the trend of excellent remakes. Dead Space did the same as it did, while Lies of P is a great soulslike in a year without a FromSoftware Souls game. Indies like Sea of Stars, Dredge, Lethal Company, and more proved the smaller scene could compete at the same quality level as AAA titles.
However, the human cost of 2023 has been incredibly high too. According to videogamelayoffs.com, a website dedicated to tracking layoffs within the industry, this year alone has seen approximately 9000 developers lose their jobs. Unity, ByteDance, Embracer Group, Epic Games, and Amazon have seen the largest number of layoffs, while studios like Bungie, BioWare, CD Projekt Red, and tons more saw layoffs as well. Studios like Free Radical Design, Mimimi Games, Volition, and many more also saw closures this year, ensuring that the industry's highest of highs was met with the lowest of lows.
3DS and Wii U Online Services Shut Down Coming
As the industry moves forward with new hardware like the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and the rumored Nintendo Switch successor, older consoles and hardware not only gain the retro moniker, but are also subject to various shutdowns themselves. This year, Nintendo worked on sunsetting support for two major pieces of hardware in its history, the 3DS and Wii U. In March 2023, the 3DS and Wii U eShops closed down, and all remaining online services for this hardware will come to an end in Spring 2024. This means online multiplayer, data sharing, leaderboards, and more will no longer remain available. All owners will still be able to download any games and DLC they own, they just won't be able to get anything new for this hardware, and this is likely to impact secondhand markets for these devices as well.
Baldur's Gate 3 Takes the Industry By Storm
No one, including developer Larian Studios, expected Baldur's Gate 3 to blow up the way it did. At one point this year, everyone expected Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to sweep at The Game Awards 2023, and games like Starfield were in speculation for possible genre-defining games. Then, it seemingly changed overnight, with Baldur's Gate 3 dominating the scene. It's hard to pinpoint the exact turning point for Baldur's Gate 3's role in the public gaming consciousness, but the final pre-release Panel from Hell which revealed the Dark Urge (and had a certain bear scene) saw the game's popularity explode just before release. This was then met with incredible reviews for Baldur's Gate 3, and a truly reactive world where "player choice" isn't a buzzword but a reality.
Baldur's Gate 3 would go on to win Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2023, and it was simply incredibly well deserved. Every developer at Larian poured their heart into Baldur's Gate 3, and it feels more and more palpable with every playthrough, with every update, and the hopeful future for the title and the studio.
Charles Martinet Steps Away from Mario
In August 2023, it was announced that iconic Mario voice actor Charles Martinet would be stepping away from the role. He voiced Mario and other franchise characters in practically every game for the past three decades, with his role as Mario's father in the Super Mario Bros. movie being his last role in the franchise. Kevin Afghani would go on to play Mario and Luigi in Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Now, Martinet is an official Super Mario brand ambassador, representing the brand he has helped succeed over the past 30 years.
Microsoft Completes Its Acquisition of Activision Blizzard King
After many long legal proceedings, challenges, and plenty of doubt that it would ever close, Microsoft would complete its Activision Blizzard King acquisition in October 2023. It was a long road, but one that many are no doubt happy to have behind them. Microsoft and ABK have a bright future ahead of them, although fans have not yet felt much impact from this acquisition aside from a noticeable restructuring of leadership being announced. Phil Spencer remains Head of Xbox, with this restructuring announcing Sarah Bond as president of Xbox and Matt Booty as president of game content and studios. This means many King mobile games, beloved IP like Diablo, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and more are all officially under the Xbox banner.
Google Stadia Officially Shuts Down
Stadia was a cloud streaming service that Google promised would revolutionize gaming by allowing players to stream games just about anywhere, with very minimal internet requirements. Unfortunately, the promise did not live up to reality. After launching near the tail end of 2019, Google would permanently shut down all Stadia services in January 2023. Refunds were offered, while some publishers were able to offer free save data transfers to other gaming platforms. Some companies, like Ubisoft, distributed free PC games to replace Stadia titles.
Grand Theft Auto 6 Finally Gets Its First Trailer
Grand Theft Auto 5 is the most profitable entertainment product of all time, so it's not hyperbole to say that GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated games in the industry...ever. 2022 was a mixed year for the franchise, as various videos of GTA 6 leaked online, none of which looked particularly good. This stirred some mindless controversy, given that these were in-development videos illegally obtained.
However, none of that ultimately hurt the hype - and Rockstar would deliver on this with its first official trailer in early December. Typically, one wouldn't think of a trailer for any game as major breaking news, but it's special for GTA 6 because of all this. Fans got their first look at the GTA 6's setting, at one of the protagonists (Lucia), and an official 2025 release window. Fans still have a wait on their hands, but they've spent a lot of time already tearing the trailer apart. It stands to reason that every bit of news, every trailer, and so forth before release will get the same treatment.
SIE CEO Jim Ryan Stepping Down
In September 2023, Sony announced that SIE CEO Jim Ryan would be stepping down come March 2024. Ryan has been with the company for 30 years, and while that likely contributes to his retirement, one of the driving reasons reported is the inherent difficulty of living in Europe but working in North America. Come April 2024, Hiroki Totoki will become interim CEO of SIE until a proper successor is named. Ryan has played a major role in the PlayStation brand for several years, and hopefully, his retirement is all he wishes it to be.
Trouble at Embracer Group, KOTOR Remake is Left in Disarray
2023 has been a hard year for many developers, publishers, and more given the sheer number of layoffs. One of the worst, however, is Embracer Group. This company is one of the biggest in the gaming industry, practically being on a spending spree since 2019. Embracer Group is a holding company with various groups under its control, more well-known names like Coffee Stain Holding, Dark Horse Media, Gearbox Entertainment, Plaion, Saver Interactive, and THQ Nordic, each of which has its own subsidiaries and development studios. Since 2019, it has acquired over 100 individual studios under various companies, purchased tons of IP and video game rights like Lord of the Rings, and more. Many have dubbed this spending spree reckless, and the consequences thereof have been seen through 2023.
Not only has it seen some of the largest layoffs this year, but it has closed many of the studios it has bought. Within the past year, Embracer Group has shut down Campfire Cabal (which wasn't even open a full year), Volition Games (Saints Row), Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters), and Studio Onoma. It has also previously stated more studio closures were on the horizon, but it's uncertain at this point what else will come out. Among all of this were two huge shortcomings that have underscored all of this. First, business-wise, Embracer Group failed to close a 2 billion dollar deal, with this being announced in 2023. Secondly, Embracer Group is ultimately in control of the KOTOR Remake, a highly anticipated remake of a beloved game, and it has fallen into disarray.
While Embracer Group has not commented much on it, the title reportedly failed to meet standards at Aspyr, was reportedly moved to Saber Interactive, and has been quiet ever since its 2021 reveal. One insider has claimed that the KOTOR Remake is dead and not being worked on at any studio, while Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier has said that two Saber employees told him it was still being worked on. Either way, it's not looking good for the KOTOR Remake or for Embracer Group as a whole.
Unity Policy Change Attempt Leads to Dev Backlash, More
In September 2023, Unity announced a pricing policy change that would charge developers per certain installs, under certain factors. It was met with immediate backlash, which was worsened by confusing messages about the changes, how these installs would be tracked, and much more. This led to many developers saying they would no longer use Unity, as well as a handful of protests, and it was one of those areas that got worse with every developing news story. Many of these announced changes would be rolled back well before they could be implemented, but it created a rift between many would-be developers and Unity itself. Not long thereafter, Unity CEO John Riccitiello stepped down from his role at the company, effectively immediately, though he remained to advise it during its search for a new CEO. It is believed, though not confirmed, to be related to the Unity pricing policy backlash.
