Technologies

Biggest Games Coming in 2023: All the Release Dates You Need to Know

The Legend of Zelda, Starfield, Final Fantasy 16 and much, much more.

The last couple of years have been hard on the games industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted development, leading to several gamesbeing delayed. But the losses of 2021 and 2022 are the gains of 2023, because we a lot to look forward to this year. This list of release dates for notable 2023 titles is already packed, but for now we’ve only added games set for launch in the first half of the year. More will be added as the year progresses and we get more concrete dates.

2022 was a pretty solid year for games. We got an open-world Pokemon, the long-awaited sequel to God of War and, of course, the tour de force that was Elden Ring. Only time will determine if the games of 2023 reach those same heights, but the numbers are certainly in our favor. Let’s just hope Zelda doesn’t get delayed again.

Here are all the big PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch games to keep track of in 2023.

Fire Emblem Engage (Switch)

Release date: Jan. 20.

The first big video game of 2023 is a big one, and I do mean big. Fire Emblem games are massive: Engage is a follow up to 2019’s Three Houses, a chunky RPG that players could sink over 100 hours into without seeing everything. Three Houses was loaded with critical acclaim and Engage will hopefully recapture both the scale and the magic of its predecessor. Engage features characters from the series’ long history — which at least means newbies can get properly acquainted with Super Smash Bros. characters like Marth, Corrin and Blyeth.

Forspoken (PS5, PC)

Release date: Jan. 24.

Excitement for Forspoken should straight away come with the asterisk that feedback to the game’s demo was mixed with both compliments and criticisms. But it’s worth paying attention to, even rooting for, because of the simple fact that it’s a new IP from Square Enix. In an industry filled with sequels and spinoffs, that has to count for something.

Forspoken is a fish-out-of-water tale that follows New Yorker Frey Holland, who somehow manages to get plunged into the fantastical land of Athia. Classic stuff. It’s developed by many of the same people who created Final Fantasy 15, something that’s immediately obvious when you see its real-time action in motion. Good luck, Frey, I hope you pull through. Forspoken will launch on PC and PS5, where it’s a console exclusive for at least two years.

Hogwarts Legacy (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: Feb. 10.

Third time’s the charm is the magic rule, so hopefully Hogwart’s Legacy doesn’t break it. Set in the Harry Potter universe, this RPG was first announced in 2020 with a release date set for 2021. It was then delayed to 2022. But that didn’t pan out, and last year Hogwart’s Legacy was delayed once more. Its latest release date is Feb. 10. Set about 100 years before The Boy Who Lived and He Who Shall Not Be Named, Hogwart’s Legacy is a tantalizing concept: A big open-world game set at the most famous school of witchcraft and wizardry.

Games based on blockbuster franchises can be hit or miss. Hopefully all the delays are a sign that this promising idea has been given the love and nurturing it needs to succeed.

Note: The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Hogwarts Legacy will be released on April 4, with a Switch port coming on July 25.

Horizon Call of the Mountain (PSVR 2)

Release date: Feb. 22.

One of Sony’s goals for 2023 is to make VR happen. To help do that, it’s enlisted Guerilla Games to make Horizon Call of the Mountain, a virtual reality spinoff to Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. You won’t be playing as Aloy, but will rather take up the hunter bow of Ryas, a member of the Shadow Carja tribe that featured prominently in Zero Dawn. Being a VR game, Call of the Mountain looks to feature less open-world roaming, but more exhilerating climbing, exploration and bow-based combat. It launches alongside the PlayStation VR2 headset on Feb. 22.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: March 3.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a new IP with a pedigree: It’s developed by Team Ninja, the gang behind the acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and the even more acclaimed Nioh franchise. Wo Long is set during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history — roughly 220 AD — but features plenty of fantastical (and grotesque) beasts to slay. Like Nioh, this looks to be inspired by Dark Souls, meaning you should be prepared to die. A lot.

Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: March 24.

After the roaring success of the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Capcom is at it again. Originally released in 2005 as a GameCube exclusive (imagine that) Resident Evil 4 is the most acclaimed title in the illustrious franchise. Because of its fanfare, Capcom has ported and remastered Resident Evil 4 over and over again. Hopefully you don’t have RE4 fatigue, because it’s now getting proper remake treatment.

If you’ve never played Resident Evil 4, and if Capcom can do for it what it did for Resident Evil 2, this is sure to be a must-play.

Crime Boss: Rockay City (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)

Release date: March 28.

We know Rockstar is developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but it’s still yonks away. Crime Boss: Rockay City, by 505 Games, is clearly inspired by GTA, and may help fill the GTA-shaped hole in your heart while you wait for the next big open-world crime bonanza.

Crime Boss: Rockay City is a first-person game about 90’s Florida turf wars, and it’s designed to be played alone or with friends. The most attention-grabbing feature of the game is its celeb-heavy cast. Kill Bill’s Michael Madson stars as the protagonist, Travis Barker, and the supporting cast features Kim Basinger, Danny Trejo, Chuck Norris and Vanilla Ice.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)

Release date: May 12.

Not much needs to be said here. The Legend of Zelda is one of gaming’s most renowned franchises, and 2017’s Breath of the Wild is incontestably one of the greatest games ever. Nintendo has a habit of delaying Zelda games — Tears of the Kingdom has already been delayed once — so hopefully the May 12 date sticks.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: May 26.

Last year’s Gotham Knights was unable to step out of Batman’s Arkham City-sized shadow, so now the Suicide Squad has a perfect opportunity to upstage the good guys… and then kill them.

Though Gotham Knights was a sequel of sorts to Batman’s Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is its true spiritual successor. It’s developed by Rocksteady, the same studio that developed the Arkham trilogy. The game lets you play as four members of the Suicide Squad — Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark — and includes Kevin Conroy’s last recorded performance as Batman.

Street Fighter 6 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: June 2.

Street Fighter 6 is the first major new game in the franchise since 2016. As you can imagine, it’s expected to have dramatically improved visuals. There will also be five new characters, with more to potentially be announced. Other new additions include a single-player adventure mode and in-game commentary, a welcome feature for esports fans. But as nice as those extras are, the Street Fighter series is all about its rock-solid fighting system, which is simple enough for beginners to have fun but deep enough that dedicated fighters will spend years to mastering it. As long as that still works, this should be a banger.

Diablo 4 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: June 6.

Last year we got an updated version of Overwatch, now it’s Diablo’s turn to get supercharged. Diablo 4, the latest major installation in Activision Blizzard’s long-running action RPG franchise, couldn’t come sooner. Fans have been awaiting Diablo 4’s arrival since its announcement in 2019, a whole pandemic ago.

Final Fantasy 16 (PS5)

Release date: June 22.

I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve watched various Final Fantasy 16 trailers several times and I still have no clue what this game is about. There’s a fight going on between six different countries, and somehow giant summons like Ifrit are involved. I’m not super sure, but the fact that Final Fantasy is coming to a new console generation is reason enough for this game to turn into a massive cultural event. (It’ll be a PS5 exclusive until the end of the year.) It may also be the first of two big Final Fantasy releases this year, with Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s sequel potentially — but probably not — hitting during the holiday season.

Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: First half of 2023.

Hollow Knight, launched in 2017, was praised for being one of the best Metroidvania games without the words “Metroid” or “Vania” in its title. In 2023, indie developer Team Cherry wants to do it all again. You’ll play as a different character — a boss you fought in the original game — but the core gameplay here is the same. Explore, fight a bunch of dudes, get lost, explore some more, repeat a few times and ultimately succeed. I, for one, am ready.

Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced on June 12, 2022, and Microsoft said it would launch within a year of that date.

Redfall (PC, Xbox Series X|S)

Release date: First half of 2023.

Redfall looks like a mix of Deathloop and The Last of Us. It takes place in Redfall, a fictional Massachusetts town that was flowing along swimmingly until a swarm of vampires took it over and cut it off from the outside world. Like in The Last of Us, you’ll explore a town brimming with remnants of the before times, but the game looks to have a less serious, more quirky attitude about it, similar to Deathloop. That makes sense, as Redfall is developed by Arkane Austin, a sister studio to Deathloop creators Arkane Lyon.

Forza Motorsport (Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: Second half of 2023.

Forza Horizon brought the driving franchise’s open-world exploration to the Xbox Series X|S, but in 2023 we go back to Forza’s driving-sim roots. This game will be more similar to Gran Turismo 7, which hit the PS5 last year, trading open roads for closed tracks. A little more finesse, a little more professional. No matter their flavor, Forza games can be relied on to provide some delicious drives — and 2023’s Forza Motorsport should be the prettiest one yet.

Starfield (Xbox Series X|S, PC)

Release date: First half of 2023.

Like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield was one of 2022’s great delays. Originally slated for a Nov. 11 release, it was pushed back to the “first half of 2023.” It’s for the best: Starfield is a game from the same Bethesda studio that made Skyrim and Fallout 4.

If done right, Starfield could be a game that people will be playing for years to come. There are apparently 1,000 planets to explore, so an extra few layers of polish will go a long way. If Tears of the Kingdom is most predicted to be 2023’s best game, Starfield may be its most ambitious.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Luna)

Release date: 2023.

Ubisoft is taking an unusual approach with Assassin’s Creed Mirage. After years of “bigger is better,” Ubisoft is now scaling down and trying the “less is more” approach. In announcing Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the company boasted it to be a “shorter, more narrative-driven game than recent entries in the series.” Sounds good to me. Mirage is set in 9th century Baghdad, a couple decades before Valhalla, and stars Basim, who played a supporting role in that game.

Lies of P (PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)

Release date: 2023.

Lies of P sounds gnarly as hell: It’s the story of Pinocchio reimagined as a 2023 Dark Souls. Your goal is to find Mr. Geppetto, and a synopsis for the game talks about needing to lie your way through a rough city to do that. That’s all well and good, but from Lies of P’s trailer it looks like combat will be the real star of the show here.

Spider-Man 2 (PS5)

Release date: Fall 2023.

I didn’t like 2018’s Spider-Man as much as I’d hoped to: It was good, but no Batman: Arkham City. Almost everyone else loved it, though: Spider-Man has an 8.7 rating on Metacritic, and beat out Arkham City to become the best-selling superhero game ever. Spider-Man 2 will launch in late 2023 exclusively for the PS5, and will feature both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who starred in his own 2020 spin-off. The Spider-Men will need to combine their powers in this game, because there’s a wild Venom on the loose.

Technologies

Bessent tells Russia no economic relief will come until Ukraine war ends as Europe isolates Moscow at G20

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov that no economic relief or new agreements can be made while the war in Ukraine continues, during a rare G20 meeting in Asheville, North Carolina.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly told Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov that no sanctions relief or new agreements with Moscow were possible, as long as the war in Ukraine continues.

The two officials met on the sidelines of a Group of 20 finance leaders gathering in Asheville, North Carolina.

Bessent’s remarks came as Siluanov’s first in-person appearance at the summit since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 drew objections from other European leaders. European governments have planned to expand sanctions to further squeeze Moscow’s economy and finances.

The rare meeting underscored Washington’s willingness to reopen high-level diplomatic channels with Moscow, even as European allies have intended to keep the nation isolated while the war continues.

Bessent made it clear to Siluanov that “nothing is possible until the war is over,” when the Russian minister brought up other areas of mutual interest, Reuters reported.

The meeting centered on President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Ukraine and economic growth, according to Axios, while Russia’s finance ministry described the discussions as covering financial cooperation between the two nations within the G20 framework.

Russia’s surprise return to the table sparked dismay among European officials, who opposed appearing with Siluanov in the traditional G20 photo, which was ultimately taken without the Russian minister.

Technologies

Venezuela grants U.S.-backed oil firm NABEP 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields, White House says

Venezuelan interim authorities have granted North American Blue Energy Partners 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields, White House says.

Venezuelan interim authorities have granted U.S.-backed North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields, with proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels, the White House said on Monday.

NABEP is the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela. The company has granted the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital an equity stake of 35% in its corporate parent, according to the White House, representing up to “hundreds of billions in value and dividends for the United States.”

President Donald Trump announced Friday a deal with Caracas that would give the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels, or about 20% of the South American nation’s massive oil reserves. The U.S. had about 46 billion barrels in proven oil reserves as of end-2024, according to official figures.

In a fact sheet published Monday evening stateside, the U.S. government said it would enjoy the right to purchase, at production cost, a guaranteed 20% of the off-take from all current and future fields NABEP will operate, as part of an effort to facilitate refilling the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves.

The U.S. government also has the “right of first refusal” to purchase the remaining 80% of NABEP’s production, making Washington the prioritized buyer for its energy reserves.

Analysts, however, remained skeptical that the landmark oil deal could meaningfully boost the U.S. energy production and bring down gas prices for Americans in the near term. Huge investments are needed to extract the rich resources in Venezuela, whose oil output remains at a fraction of its capacity due to decades of mismanagement, lack of investment and sanctions.

NABEP also planned to invest up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure in Venezuela to scale production, the White House said. Under the agreement, the company is expected to pay $200 billion in royalty and tax payments to Venezuelan governments over the first 25 years.

Technologies

Tanker hit in Strait of Hormuz, sparking escalation fears as Trump pledges severe response to Iran

A tanker was struck by three unidentified projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, raising concerns about a potential escalation in the Middle East conflict, as President Trump vowed a severe response to Iran.

A tanker was struck by three unidentified projectiles while navigating the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, raising concerns that the Middle East conflict could flare up again.

The vessel was traveling in the southern shipping lane near the Omani coast, according to a Tuesday statement from the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency, posted in Asia time. No injuries were reported.

Iran launched an attack on two U.S. bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for America’s strike on its Larak Island. U.S. forces targeted two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, reportedly killing three, claiming that Tehran intended to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz.

The small island, situated in the Strait of Hormuz, has been a critical military and shipping control point for Iranian forces, enabling them to maintain tight control over vessel traffic through one of the world’s most vital maritime routes.

The tit-for-tat hostilities marked the first time in over a month that the U.S. and Iran have exchanged strikes.

While neither side appears to be seeking a return to full-scale war, both have signaled readiness to respond to further attacks. “We are going to hit them hard,” President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday, stating that “there will be a response” to Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.

Analysts largely view the U.S. attack on Larak Island as an attempt to break a deadlock rather than a shift in strategy. “By targeting the launchers rather than broader Iranian military infrastructure, the U.S. seems to be punishing a specific behavior rather than, at least for now, expanding its war aims,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director at International Crisis Group.

“It is enforcing the blockade,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, adding that the Trump administration’s goal is to further degrade Tehran’s ability to mine the Strait of Hormuz, while focusing on economic coercive measures as the midterm elections approach.

Washington has intensified pressure to squeeze Iran’s already weakened economy with “secondary sanctions” that penalize nations and businesses buying Iranian crude. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance ministers’ gathering, that Iran was “lashing out kinetically” because the new sanctions were taking a toll on its economy.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump reportedly said that Iran’s financial systems, armed forces, and governing body have largely degraded. “It doesn’t mean we won’t smack them to see what happens,” the president said.

The war, now entering its seventh month, has disrupted global energy supplies and sent shockwaves through global financial markets. International oil benchmark Brent surged past $90 a barrel amid renewed hostilities and last traded at $91.08 on Tuesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures added less than 1% to $86.65 per barrel.

“This is fundamentally an endurance contest,” said Brodsky, as Trump has demonstrated an “unpredictability” that should concern the Iranians, and Tehran may lash out more aggressively militarily as economic pressure mounts.