Baldur’s Gate 3, Starfield, and Hogwarts Legacy are Steam’s most-played and best-selling 2023 games

Hogwarts Legacy sold 22 million copies last year, approximately 2 million copies were sold during the December holiday season alone. It's clear to see that the game is incredibly popular, becoming one of the best-selling games last year, even striking up a close contest with serial best-sellers Call of Duty and EA Sports FC (formally the FIFA series).

Nvidia’s RTX Remix is already proving popular with modders, as notable games are being given a new, shiny lease on life. As a result, we’re getting to see things like GTA, Max Payne, and early Tomb Raider games get something of a spit polish, re-entering our collective consciousness.

is set in the 1800s, long before any of the events in the series take place. Despite that, Hogwarts' magical campus is full of familiar names, but the familial relationships may not be obvious, especially for those who haven't read the books. Going through and seeing which characters from are related to characters from the novels can make the next playthrough a bit more interesting.

The open world in Hogwarts Legacy is vast, and players have praised it for being convenient and easy to explore, though one fan can't help but feel its mountain ranges were a big missed opportunity. Not only is Hogwarts Legacy the best-selling game of 2023, but its public reception has been overwhelmingly positive. Fans of the Harry Potter franchise were starved for an open-world role-playing title set in the Wizarding World, and Avalanche Software somehow managed to deliver on a decade of player expectations.

One of the most prominent characters in is Professor Matilda Weasley, and fans will be quick to make the connection between her surname and Ron Weasley of the original series of books and films.The Deputy Headmistress and Transfiguration Professor, who honorably takes on the task of mentoring the player during the first few hours of the game, is a lovable character on her own, regardless of ties to future characters. Since she's the oldest name in the Weasley family tree, however, it's interesting to consider just how Professor Weasley in is related to Ron.

Warner Bros. Games has announced that the Harry Potter action-RPG Hogwarts Legacy sold over 22 million copies by the end of 2023, with roughly 2 million of those sales over the December festive period. «But it’s not just the units sold that I’m so proud of, it’s just that it delighted the fans so much,» Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad told Variety.

Today, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released new sales data on Hogwarts Legacy via an interview with Variety. The game has sold over 22 million copies in 2023, adding two million units just in the month of December, according to the publisher. Moreover, according to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment president David Haddad, it is the best-selling game released last year.

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Despite some major releases like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and EA Sports FC 24, Hogwarts Legacy is the UK’s biggest physical game of 2023. As GamesIndustry notes, this is the first time that a football title from EA Sports hasn’t been the best-selling physical game of the year since 2013 when Grand Theft Auto 5 launched.

Valve has unveiled its annual ‘Best of 2023' list on Steam, revealing which titles dominated sales on PC. The titles haven't been numerically ranked, but have been grouped into tiers — Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze — based on data collected from January 1 through December 15, 2023. The Top 12 category is populated by both free-to-play multiplayer games and the biggest launches, with the award-winning Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, Cyberpunk 2077, and Hogwarts Legacy emerging as the best-selling titles. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, which was disliked by both fans and critics alike, also made it to higher echelons, thanks to a dedicated fanbase wanting to experience its multiplayer segment.

Valve has released their annual Best of Steam 2023, a showcase of what was played most and made the most money broken down into roughly grouped tiers: Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. In a year of absolutely great games, some of these chart-toppers aren't surprises, but dang I'd never have guessed that Half-Life, the 1998 classic, would make the top tier of the most-played Steam Deck games by daily active players.

To help round off the year, PlayStation has put together an interactive map of the world that shows the most played PS5 and PS4 games of 2023 in a bunch of different countries. A nice idea, we're sure you'll agree, but the results are every bit as boring as you'd expect.