The Year Ahead in Video Games: 2023 Predictions

It has been an eventful year for the world. Wars, protests, the start of an economic recession in many countries were seen; and even the good events are marred with controversy (I am looking at you, World Cup). The Data industry and talent pool are heavily impacted with many companies opting for big layoffs and trying to pivot to a leaner, more efficient structure. Still, every new year brings hope – new opportunities, inventions and connections await. In this post, I will give my predictions for the gaming industry in 2023, and some trends to look out for everybody interested in video games.

A.I. Becoming More and More Mainstream

I think everybody has heard about ChatGPT, and probably even played around with it to see what the fuss is all about. For those who might not know, ChatGPT is an A.I. chatbot created by OpenAI, and it is the most advanced chatbot created. It understands context, remembers previous answers, and is trained so well that it is a much better research and learning tool than Googling things on our own. I have covered some of the areas you can use ChatGPT for Data Science in my Youtube channel here:

However, this is only scratching the surface when it comes to how ChatGPT can be used for video games. It can be used in product development, and lower the barrier of entry for coding and developing your ideas. Some examples include getting an coding help to build your website or app; you can just describe your vision and it will write out the code for you to get it off the ground. Of course, it is not going to be perfect; however, it will cut down the time to build an MVP immensely!

Another important area is using ChatGPT in Marketing. For the past couple of years, there have been many changes in the online advertising space with big players (Apple, Meta) butting heads over tracking and privacy, but even before that writing content and creatives was a talent. Some marketers were intuitively good at wordsmithing for optimal Search Engine Optimization (SEO). With ChatGPT, the baseline of quality creatives should be going up. I say “should be”, because it depends if people actually pick up on it and use it to optimize their writing but that is my prediction for 2023. Marketers who use A.I. will have a solid standard for lead generation. The people who are good at it are still going to have an advantage of course, but using A.I. smartly is going to prevent incredible apps from being forgotten just because the marketing is sub-par.

Casual Gamer, Mobile Gaming, Handheld, Console Gaming – Lines Getting Blurry

In 2022, Steam Deck came out. I own one myself, and it has completely changed my gaming habits. I have been playing competitive games rather than single-player, story-driven games for the past few years due to the lack of time for long gaming sessions. With Steam Deck, I managed to finish multiple games, try new genres, and improve my joystick skills (though I still am not great at it, and prefer a mouse and keyboard which is an option you have with Steam Deck). I have never seen a single piece of hardware that had this much impact on people’s gaming habits and introduced new people to video games. Nintendo Switch came close, but the Nintendo IPs are not everybody’s cup of tea while Steam has at least a few game for everybody – no matter their tastes.

Mini-prediction: I expect the announcement of Switch 2, likely to be released Q2-Q3 2024. I would not be too surprised if they do the announcement with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Along with the new hardware, a great software service that has become more and more popular: the Xbox Game Pass. Especially with the downturn of the economy and for countries in emerging markets, it makes so much more sense for players to pay a small subscription for cloud gaming and have access to thousands of games, rather than buying full-price games. Microsoft is making deals with or acquiring top companies, and this means there is a great catalogue of games to play for years.

My prediction for 2023 is that there will be far less focus on mobile, console or PC gaming and it will merge into just “Gaming”. the big games that are expanding to mobile, like Apex Legends, will make developers realise how bigger the potential audience for a game is when it is platform agnostic. For players, there is no need to spend a ton of money to play their favourite games.

This is a trend that is good for the players, the developers, and the publishers. I expect the gaming industry to lean more into this in 2023.

Monetization Challenges

There is no sugar-coating this; the world economy is facing a recession. In a broader sense, this is the expected result of 1-1.5 years of lockdowns, but the gaming industry had seen a huge boom in the past two years as people stayed home. In 2023 this growth will slow down, and it will be difficult to make money from games. Companies need to re-evaluate their monetization methods and optimize them for this economy. I expect profit margins from big companies to decrease, caused by lower conversion rates from new players and an overall drop in player value.

I think one strategy to circumvent this can be focusing on user acquisition. The lost revenue can be made up by bringing in more players, but it of course means having a great game that can draw players in. If it can be organic traffic, even better – especially considering the challenges A.I. is going to pose to marketing as mentioned before.

Regardless of the actual strategy, developers will need to rethink their approaches or will face tough board meetings come December.

Games to Look Out for in 2023

I wanted to finish this post by mentioning some of the games that will create a lot of waves in the industry coming out in 2023. Look out for the impact of these games and follow this space for breakdowns and reviews of them during the year!

  • Hogwarts Legacy – February 10 (PC)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – May 12 (Switch)
  • Diablo IV – June 6 (PC)
  • Final Fantasy XVI – June 22 (PS5)

June is going to be an intense, sleepless month for many gamers it seems!