The year 2022 marked the first decrease in the global gaming market that had been growing for the past 7 straight years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s gaming traffic increased by 26% for 2 years from 2019 to 2021 and hit a new record of 191 billion USD. However, the global gaming market lacked the momentum to drive continuous growth in 2022 due to the recovery of interpersonal economics and the global economic depression.
2023, A New Golden Year for the Global Gaming Market
According to a trend report by Sensor Tower, the global gaming market is expected to regain its growth by 2023. Newzoo, a gaming market analyst company, estimates that the global gamer population will increase by about 300 million more by 2025 compared to 2022. In addition, many game developers are preparing to release games based on famous IPs in 2023.
Today, we at Latis Global, experts in game localization for game developers aiming towards the global market, will look at some of the most anticipated games you do not want to miss in 2023.
『Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora』
Platform：PC、PlayStation 5、Xbox Series X/S
Produced by Ubisoft, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person open-world action-adventure game based on the movie Avatar. It was originally planned to be released in 2022 but got delayed to 2023 in order to improve the game’s quality. In this game, players will explore Pandora’s western frontier and push back the formidable RDA, the multinational corporate giant from the film.
<Hogwarts Legacy>
Platform: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Hogwarts Legacy places players at Hogwarts in the late 19th century and allows them to experience life as Hogwarts students, including choosing their houses, taking wizarding lessons, and freely exploring various Hogwarts locations after school. Although the gameplay has no relation to the main protagonists of the film, players can experience a complete wizarding world including that of the Fantastic Beasts series. It is not an exaggeration to say this game is the most anticipated work among Harry Potter fans, as players will be able to rewrite the history of Hogwarts.
<Diablo IV>
Platform: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
The fourth main installment in the Diablo Series was first announced at BlizzCon 2019. Unlike its predecessors, players will now be able to choose where they want to explore instead of progressing through the storyline, which significantly enlarged the game’s world. Players can also choose between 5 different classes – Necromancer, Rogue, Druid, Barbarian, and Sorceress – and customize them to their tastes. Diablo 4 has been chosen as the topmost anticipated game in 2023 by most gamers around the world.
<The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom>
Platform: Nintendo Switch
The first game of The Legend of Zelda series was released with the Famicom Disk System in 1986. Since then, and for about 40 years, several versions of The Legend of Zelda have been released non-stop. In 2017, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild alongside their groundbreaking Nintendo Switch. As one of the first games for the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the most popular and best-selling games by Nintendo, and it can even be said that it was responsible for the early success of the Nintendo Switch.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is expected to be released on May 12, 2023, is the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Since its praised predecessor introduced players to the open-world of The Legend of Zelda series, many Zelda fans are looking forward to seeing if this game meets their heightened expectations.
<Biohazard RE:4>
Platform: PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 remake is expected to be available for console and PC from March 24, 2023. The trailer and demo play released on October 21, 2022, have shown more enhanced action elements compared to the original. Biohazard RE:4, the remake of Resident Evil 4 that was released back in 2005, breaks away from the first-person view of Resident Evil 7 and 8 and introduces a new third-person view, which will allow players to visually enjoy some more action-packed elements such as shooting and kickback motions, etc.
Unarguably, the original Resident Evil 4 is one of the most highly praised games in the Resident Evil series, so some fans are raising concerns that this remake might fail to hold the value that the original had, as was the case of Biohazard RE:3, which received very disappointing reviews.
<Starfield>
Platform: PC, Xbox
Starfield, an open-world action RPG game expected to be released in early 2023 by Bethesda Game Studios, places players in the year 2330, when humans are able to travel into space. In this game, players can visit and explore over 1,000 planets in order to discover rare artifacts. They can also customize their characters and ships. Players will have the chance to explore any planet of their choice with unparalleled freedom as they embark on epic journeys to unravel the mysteries behind enigmatic space civilizations.
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