To say 2023 was a staccato year for the video game industry would be … generous. From the games themselves to the state of the industry, 2023 oscillated between soaring highs and humiliating lows. 

The industry produced some truly phenomenal originals, sequels and remakes — we’ll get into those in a minute — but also dumped some true dreck on us: The Walking Dead: Destinies, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and, earlier this month, The Day Before, which is charging $40 for one of the lowest-reviewed titles on Steam, the PC game storefront.

Meanwhile, dozens of game companies cut thousands of video game-related jobs and canceled projects galore, including at Redmond-based Microsoft, Renton-based Wizards of the Coast, Bellevue-based Bungie and Seattle-based Amazon.

Read the rest of the story at seattletimes.com.