The biggest PC gaming trends of 2023: 3 that need to stop, and 3 I hope continue into 2024

Gaming IndustryThe biggest PC gaming trends of 2023: 3 that need to stop, and 3 I hope continue into 2024When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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A bug-afflicted Joel in the PC port of The Last of Us, with incredibly bushy eyebrows.

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As the first working week of a brand new year draws to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on 2023. They say if you don’t learn from history, you’re doomed to repeat it, but I reckon there’s a few new trends from last year I could stand to see repeat—alongside a few that I absolutely want to leave behind.

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Big game releases

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2023 really felt like the year the floodgates reopened. Games we’ve been waiting years for finally launched, alongside all sorts of other releases great and small. The release calendar was packed for the first time in what’s felt like a long while, and our 2023 GOTY discussions were reinvigorated with excitement and variety.

Though COVID-19 hasn’t gone away, I’m hoping we’re fully out of the dry spell it created and set for a busy 2024.

Huge surprises

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Smiling man with scuba gear

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But even if it means taking the bad with the good, I’d rather 2024 be filled with more interesting surprises rather than just going through the usual motions. I hope this year’s GOTY contenders are as surprising as 2023’s.

Proper videogame adaptations

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shot of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey looking off to the left

For decades, videogame adaptations have been a joke. It was taken as a given that any TV show or film based on a game was guaranteed to be cheesy, low budget trash, no matter how good the original subject matter was. 2023 was the year that trend officially died. Videogame adaptations are being taken more seriously now than ever.

With Arcane’ssecond seasonand aFallout showdue this year, a big budgetMinecraft moviedue in 2025, and projects in development covering everything from Silent Hill to Borderlands, it doesn’t look like this is a trend that’ll be slowing down any time soon.

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Games getting shut down faster than ever

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Rumbleverse chicken man

2023 seemed to be the year games companies decided it’s acceptable to can your online game within just months of launching it. Ourlist of games that shut down last yearis a sad testament to both anunsustainable focus on live service business models, and the attitude that’s gotten us here—one of throwing games callously at the wall, seeing what sticks, and abandoning the ones that don’t as fast as possible.

It’s not fair on consumers, but it’s also not fair on developers, who can end up putting years of their lives into projects, build moderate but passionate communities, and then see it all disappear within six months just because it’s not a new mega-earner. We’re long past the point where publishers need to accept that not every game can be the next Fortnite or Destiny, and start chasing good design instead of already oversubscribed trends.

Remember when World of Warcraft was huge, and every company tried and failed to launch their own MMO? And then when the same thing happened with MOBAs? No one learned anything and it shows. Here’s hoping some publishers wise up in 2024.

Mass layoffs and studio closures

(Image credit: EA)

A racer wearing a cap.

Sadly, 2023’s going to be remembered as the year when it felt like every publisher around was laying off huge reams of staff, and even closing studios entirely. FromEA squeezing Codemastersa few months after its studio BioWarecut loose key Dragon Age veterans, to Amazongutting its gaming division, to Embracer"restructuring" away 5% of its workforce, and far too many more examples to name, it’s been a heart-breaking 12 months in the industry.

It’s a distressing thing to see—this industry that we’re told rakes in more and more profit every year seems to be utterly hostile to anyone actually making a living in it. I’m not naive enough to think there’s much chance of this trend turning around completely in 2024, but let’s at least hope for a less brutal 12 months, yeah?

Broken PC ports

(Image credit: Respawn)

A close up of Cal Kestis' face in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Our digging intowhy this is happeninghasn’t offered up easy answers, but certainly one of the biggest factors is exactly the one you’d guess: developers are working to impossible deadlines with far too few resources. Listen, I know I said I want 2024 to be another year of big releases, but if some of these games need a little longer in the oven to be ready for the limelight, I’ll take that over every AAA launch being just the precursor to three months of desperate patching.

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Please continue#

Big game releases#

Huge surprises#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

Proper videogame adaptations#

Please stop#

Games getting shut down faster than ever#

Mass layoffs and studio closures#

Broken PC ports#