2023 has certainly been a tumultuous year for the video game industry, for better and for worse. For consumers, this is great! For the industry itself, the situation is certainly less serious. With record-breaking layoffs in the gaming and tech industries, U.S. union-sanctioned strike authorization for video game voice actors, and multiple companies being hacked: the gaming space has taken some serious hits this year.
Over the past month, we’ve reached out to various video game developers to ask them what they think of 2023. For many, it’s a year worth celebrating as new projects take the spotlight. For others, it’s been a bittersweet 12 months, in which the sweet highs were tempered by worrying industry trends. As we enter the new year, we’ve curated these quotes below for your reading pleasure. By 2024.
iGamesNews
Dambuster Studios – Dead Island 2
“It’s impossible to think about 2023 without looking at it through the lens of the past few months, in which many other passionate game makers have been affected by the current turmoil sweeping our industry. The impact, so first of all, any sentiment should really be acknowledgment that this shock is going to be stressful and uncertain for many people and hope that it passes as quickly as possible.”
“2023, on the other hand, is a fantastic year for Dambuster and the culmination of a five-and-a-half-year journey to bring Dead Island 2 to players. For many at the studio, this is the year they release It’s great to share this experience with them with the first game, and we’re delivering a stable, high-performance, multi-generation, multi-platform, multi-player game across ten SKUs, and the actual code burned to disc is well worth it Once we played it, we were right and we’re proud of it, and being nominated for Best Action Game at The Game Awards 2023 is a great way to end the year.”
Robert Matthews, Head of Studio, Dambuster Studios
T Minus Zero / Rich Vogel and Mark Tucker – Current projects unannounced
2023 is an incredible year for us and NetEase Games. We founded T-Minus Zero Entertainment and launched an exciting new project in what has proven to be a tumultuous year for our industry. Working with NetEase Games as one of their new first-party studios is both humbling and exciting. NetEase Games’ long-term vision is incredible and their commitment to success is unparalleled. We are excited to be a part of the new studio lineup added by NetEase Games this year. ”
“The opportunity we’ve been given is tremendous – and we’re committed to being a key contributor to the success of their vision. There’s never been an opportunity like this – we’ve worked hard to get to this point, and there’s more to come. Making games is hard work, But it’s fulfilling. Working with NetEase Games and having the opportunity to make the game that we wanted to make, well, it’s really special. 2023 will always be marked as a special year for T-Zero in all of our careers. Year.”
Rich Vogel and Mark Tucker, T-Zero Entertainment
Full Circle – Skate
“It’s been another crazy year for the gaming industry, and I’m coming out of it even more grateful for the passionate community of players who have been with us every step of the way. Now, I know what you’re thinking… all of this All great, but where’s the flip?! Well, good things take time and Skate is no exception.”
“I’m excited to continue this journey with our players and proud of the progress we’ve made this year. In fact, in 2023, we’re welcoming tens of thousands of Skate Insiders onto the St. Feinsterdam streets, where they almost got it done with 5 million kick flips, over 2 million 50-50 drills, and 18 million hits on the sidewalk (ouch). If you haven’t had a chance to roll with us yet, don’t worry , we haven’t forgotten about you. We can’t wait to show you our plans for 2024! In the meantime, please be patient and enjoy the ride.”
Dan McCulloch, General Manager, Full Circle
Pathea – My time at Sandrock
“2023 is going to be a very difficult year for us as China emerges from COVID-19 later than the rest of the world. This is also the first time we’ve released a big game like My Time at Sandrock on PC and consoles simultaneously , doing all the porting work in-house. The results are bittersweet, as we had a 93% recommendation in Steam user reviews after launch. We still have some work to do on consoles. We’re looking forward to 2024 as we’re going to Updates and memories from all the players out there!”
Jingyang Xu (Chief Technical Officer)
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