Evaluating 2023: A Year of New Games and Industry Trends

The year 2023 has seen a significant number of new game releases, with many titles making it to the top of the US sales charts. To assess whether 2023 has been a good year for new games, we compared the number of new releases in the Top 10 and Top 20 charts with previous years. Our analysis showed that 2023 has had a higher number of new releases in the Top 10 and Top 20 charts compared to the average of the previous years. However, despite the strong lineup of new games, the overall sales growth has been modest, with a year-over-year growth of only 1% in US consumer spending on games through October. This raises questions about the relationship between new game releases and industry sales. We explored various factors that could influence sales, including the economy and the quality of games. While there is no clear correlation between these factors and sales, our analysis suggests that the quality of games may be a more important factor than previously thought. We also discussed the challenges of measuring industry sales and the limitations of current data tracking methods.