2023 Is the Greatest Year for Video Games

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About

2023 Is the Greatest Year for Video Games refers to a discourse on social media regarding the abundance of critically acclaimed video games released in 2023, which led to some users and journalists to argue that 2023 might be one of the best years for video games, on par with 1998, 2004 and 2007. In September 2023, the debate reached its viral point following an X / Twitter post criticized pessimistic outlook on gaming adopted by some and stated that 2023 was "arguably the greatest year for video games ever."

Origin

One of the earliest articles suggesting that 2023 was shaping up to be an amazing year for video game is a December 12th, 2022 opinion article posted on Esports Illustrated^[1] on December 12th, 2022.

Starting in early June 2023, several popular gaming websites posted opinion articles stating that 2023 was shaping up to be great for gaming: for example, on June 1st, 2023, Gamespot^[2] published an article titled "2023 Has Been Front-Loaded With Amazing Games" (snippet shown below, left). On June 23rd, 2023, GameRant^[3] published an opinion piece titled "Gaming in 2023 Will Be Remembered As Another 1998, 2007," which argued that for gamers, 2023 will be on par with years generally recognized the greatest (snippet shown below, right)

The articles mentioned multiple critically acclaimed video games which had already been released in 2023 (including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Metroid Prime Remastered, Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6), and highly-anticipated 2023 released (including Remnant 2, Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, "Mortal Kombat 1 and Payday 3).

Spread

Through Summer 2023, multiple user posts describing 2023 as one of the greatest years were shared on social media, forums and imageboards. For example, on June 22nd, 2023, X^[4] user @GermanStrands wrote, "Is 2023 one of the best years in gaming?," with the post gaining over 430 reposts and 8,400 likes in two months (shown below, left). On July 17th, 2023, Redditor Defami01 made a post titled "Is it safe to say that 2023 has been a CRAZY year for video games yet?," listing both AAA and indie 2023 releases. The post (shown below, center) received over 260 upvotes in the /r/TwoBestFriendsPlay^[5] subreddit in two months. On September 5th, YouTuber The Act Man wrote,^[6] "2023 is definitely gonna go down as one of the best years in gaming. We've been so spoiled," with the post garnering over 530 reposts and 11,500 likes on X in one week (shown below, right).

On September 9th, 2023, X^[6] user @CartridgeGames posted thumbnails of four YouTube videos which criticized the state of modern gaming and described to it as "dying," attacking the view and writing that 2023 was "arguably the greatest year for video games ever" (shown below, left)

The post received over 3,400 reposts and 41,500 likes in two days and sparked a debate over the status of 2023 as one of the greatest years in gaming on X and 4chan, with some users referring to the statement as a meme perpetuated by Gen Z.^[7]^[8] For example, on September 10th, 2023, X^[9] user @fsbossfight made a post listing various issues with gaming in 2023 which received over 670 reposts and 5,300 likes in one day (shown below, right).