2013 in video games
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Year nav topic5|2013|video games}}
Numerous video games were released in 2013. Many awards went to games such as Madden NFL 25, NBA 2K14, WWE 2K14, NBA Live 14, BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. New video game consoles released in 2013 include the PlayStation 4 from Sony Computer Entertainment and the Xbox One from Microsoft.
Top-rated games
=Major awards=
| class="wikitable" style="border:none; margin:0; width:100%; font-size: 90%;"
! style="width:17%;" colspan="2"| Category/Organization !! style="width:16%;" | 31st Golden Joystick Awards | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Game of the Year
| colspan="3" | Grand Theft Auto V || colspan="4" | The Last of Us | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| scope="row" colspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Independent / Debut{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}}
| colspan="2" | Gone Home | colspan="2" {{n/a}} | colspan="2" | Gone Home | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Downloadable
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} | colspan="2" | Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons | {{n/a}} | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:12%;" | Mobile/Handheld{{efn-lr|name=combine}} || Mobile
| XCOM: Enemy Unknown || colspan="4"| Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time || rowspan="2"| Tearaway || rowspan="2"| The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds | ||||
| scope="row" | Handheld
| Assassin's Creed III: Liberation || colspan="4"|The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Innovation
| Oculus Rift || colspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | The Last of Us || Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons || Papers, Please | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:9%;" | Artistic Achievement{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Animation
| rowspan="2" | BioShock Infinite | rowspan="2" colspan="2" {{n/a}} | colspan="2" | The Last of Us | rowspan="2" | Tearaway | rowspan="2" | BioShock Infinite | ||||
| scope="row" | Art Direction
| colspan="2" | The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" style="width:12%;" | Audio{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Music
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Grand Theft Auto V || colspan="3"| BioShock Infinite || rowspan="2" | BioShock Infinite | ||||
| scope="row"| Sound Design
| colspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="3" | The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Character or Performance{{efn-lr|name=combine}} || Actor
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || Troy Baker as Joel | ||||
| Actress | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Game Direction or Design
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | The Last of Us || Grand Theft Auto V || The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Narrative
| The Last of Us || colspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="4"| The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" |Technical Achievement{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Gameplay Engineering
| rowspan="2" colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Grand Theft Auto V || rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || rowspan="2"| Grand Theft Auto V | ||||
| scope="row" | Visual Engineering
| colspan="2" | The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Multiplayer/Online{{efn-lr|name=combine|Certain award presentations combine these categories.}} || Multiplayer
| Payday 2 || colspan="2" rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" rowspan="2" | World of Tanks || rowspan="2" | Grand Theft Auto V || rowspan="11" {{n/a}} | ||||
| scope="row" | Online | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Action/Adventure || Action/Shooter
| {{n/a}} || colspan="4" | BioShock Infinite || rowspan="2" | The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" | Adventure
| {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag || colspan="2" | The Last of Us | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Casual or Family || Casual
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || rowspan="2" colspan="2"| Animal Crossing: New Leaf || colspan="2" | Plant vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time || rowspan="2" | Tearaway | ||||
| Family
| colspan="2" | Super Mario 3D World | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Fighting
| {{n/a}} || colspan="4" | Injustice: Gods Among Us || rowspan="2" {{n/a}} | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Role-Playing
| {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch || colspan="2" | Diablo III | ||||
| scope="row" rowspan="2" | Sports/Racing || Sports
| rowspan="2" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | NBA 2K14 || colspan="2" | FIFA 14 || rowspan="2" | FIFA 14 | ||||
| Racing
| colspan="4" | Forza Motorsport 5 | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" | Strategy/Simulation
| colspan="3" {{n/a}} || colspan="2" | XCOM: Enemy Within || Papers, Please | ||||
| scope="row" colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Special Award || Lifetime Achievement || rowspan="2" colspan="2" {{n/a}} || Hall of Fame || Pioneer Award || BAFTA Fellowship || Lifetime Achievement Award | ||||
| Ken Levine | Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies | Eugene Jarvis | Rockstar Games | Ken Kutaragi |
{{notelist-lr}}
=Critically acclaimed titles=
Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ 2013 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR){{cite web |title=Best Video Games for 2013 |url=https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/year/all/all?sort=desc&year_selected=2013 |website=Metacritic |access-date=September 4, 2019}}{{cite web |title=Highest-Ranking Games of 2013 (with at least 5 reviews) |url=https://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html?site=&cat=0&year=2013&numrev=4&sort=0&letter=&search= |website=GameRankings |access-date=September 4, 2019}} |
| scope="col"| Game
! scope="col"| Publisher ! scope="col"| Release Date ! scope="col"| Platform ! scope="col"| MC score ! scope="col"| GR score |
|---|
| Grand Theft Auto V
| September 17, 2013 | 97/100 | 97.01% |
| Grand Theft Auto V
| September 17, 2013 | Xbox 360 | 97/100 | 96.1% |
| BioShock Infinite
| 2K Games | March 26, 2013 | 94/100 | 95.94% |
| The Last of Us
| June 14, 2013 | 95/100 | 95.09% |
| BioShock Infinite
| 2K Games | March 26, 2013 | 94/100 | 92.62% |
| Flower
| November 15, 2013 | 91/100 | 93.57% |
| Fez
| Trapdoor | May 1, 2013 | 91/100 | 93.5% |
| Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection
| Konami | July 9, 2013 | 93/100 |
| Super Mario 3D World
| Nintendo | November 21, 2013 | Wii U | 93/100 | 92.56% |
| Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
| September 3, 2013 | 90/100 | 93.12% |
| Rayman Legends
| Ubisoft | August 29, 2013 | Wii U | 92/100 | 93% |
| BioShock Infinite
| 2K Games | March 26, 2013 | Xbox 360 | 93/100 | 91.89% |
| Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director's Cut
| October 22, 2013 | 91/100 |
| Rayman Legends
| Ubisoft | August 29, 2013 | 91/100 | 91.81% |
| The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD
| Nintendo | September 20, 2013 | Wii U | 90/100 | 91.08% |
| The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
| Nintendo | November 22, 2013 | 91/100 | 90.55% |
| Spelunky
| Mossmouth | August 8, 2013 | 90/100 | 91% |
| Mass Effect 3: Citadel
| March 5, 2013 | 90/100 |
| The Stanley Parable
| Galactic Cafe | October 13, 2013 | 88/100 | 90.25% |
| Dota 2
| Valve | July 9, 2013 | 90/100 | 89.27% |
| Rayman Legends
| Ubisoft | August 29, 2013 | 90/100 |
| Rayman Legends
| Ubisoft | August 29, 2013 | Xbox 360 | 90/100 | 88.88% |
| Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods
| May 28, 2013 | 88/100 |
| XCOM: Enemy Within
| 2K Games | November 12, 2013 | 88/100 |
| Rage of the Gladiator
| Gamelion Studios | September 19, 2013 | 88/100 |
Highest-grossing games
The following were 2013's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide revenue (including physical sales, digital purchases, subscriptions, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms).
Events
| class="wikitable" |
| Days
! Event |
|---|
| February 14
|Nintendo starts the "Year of Luigi" to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the titular character.{{Cite web |title=Nintendo's 'Year of Luigi' puts Mario's brother on center stage. But why? |url=https://ew.com/article/2013/02/14/luigi-nintendo/ |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=EW.com |language=en}} |
| | February 20 – 22
| style="text-align:left;"|Sony's eighth generation console PlayStation 4 (PS4) reveal held at New York City, New York. |
| | March
| style="text-align:left;"|The beta for Kahoot! is released with the full version released in September. |
| | March 22 – 24
| style="text-align:left;"|PAX East 2013 held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. |
| | March 23 – 25
| style="text-align:left;"|Midwest Gaming Classic 2013 held at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin. |
| | March 25 – 29
| style="text-align:left;"|Game Developers Conference 2013 held in San Francisco, California. |
| May
|Cloud9 is founded in Santa Monica, California. |
| | May 21 – 23
| style="text-align:left;"|Microsoft's eighth generation console Xbox One reveal held at Microsoft Redmond Campus, Washington. |
| | June 11 – 13
| style="text-align:left;"|E3 2013 was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.{{cite web|url=http://www.ign.com/wikis/e3/Attendance_and_Stats|title=Attendance and Stats|publisher=IGN|access-date=May 21, 2015}} |
| | June 22 – 23
| style="text-alight:left;"|Rezzed 2013 was held at the NEC Birmingham.{{cite web |url=http://www.vg247.com/2013/06/13/rezzed-2013-full-developer-schedule-announced/ |title=Rezzed 2013: full developer schedule announced |publisher=VG247 |access-date=June 6, 2013}} |
| | July 18 – 21
| style="text-alight:left;"|SDCC 2013 was held at the San Diego Convention Center. |
| | July 19 – 22
| style="text-alight:left;"|PAX Australia 2013 was held at the Melbourne Showgrounds. |
| | August 1 – 4
|QuakeCon 2013: The massive annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas. |
| | August 7 – 11
| style="text-alight:left;"|The International 2013, the third iteration of the annual Dota 2 global esports tournament, was held in Seattle. |
| | August 9 – 11
| style="text-alight:left;"|The Pokémon World Championships was held in Canada instead of the United States. |
| | August 22 – 25
|Gamescom 2013 held in Cologne, Germany. |
| | August 30 – September 2
| style="text-align:left;"|PAX Prime 2013 held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. |
| | September 19 – 22
| style="text-align:left;"|Tokyo Game Show 2013 at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo. |
| | September 26 – 29
| style="text-align:left;"|Eurogamer Expo 2013 held in Earls Court, London. |
| | October 3 – 6
| style="text-align:left;"|Indiecade 2013 festival held in Culver City, California. |
| | October 4 – 7
| style="text-align:left;"|EB Games Expo 2013 held at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales. |
| | October 25 – 27
| style="text-align:left;"|Games Week 2013 held in Milan, Italy. |
| | October 30 – November 3
| style="text-align:left;"|Paris Games Week 2013 held in Paris, France. |
| | November 8 – 9
| style="text-align:left;"|BlizzCon 2013 held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. |
| | December 7
| style="text-align:left;"|The final Spike Video Game Awards are held.{{Cite web |last=Staff |first=Polygon |date=2013-12-07 |title=VGX 2013: All the news from Spike’s video game awards |url=https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/7/5186504/vgx-2103-all-the-news-from-spikes-video-game-awards |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=Polygon |language=en-US}} |
Notable deaths
{{Expand section|date=April 2024}}
- September 19 – Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, Japanese businessman and third president of Nintendo (1949-2002){{Cite news |last=Tabuchi |first=Hiroko |author-link=Hiroko Tabuchi |date=2013-09-19 |title=Hiroshi Yamauchi, Who Steered Nintendo to Dominance, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/business/global/hiroshi-yamauchi-who-helped-drive-nintendo-into-dominance-dies-at-85.html |access-date=2024-01-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
- October 1 – Tom Clancy, 66, novelist and namesake of the Tom Clancy's series.{{Cite web |last=Tilly |first=Chris |date=2013-10-02 |title=Tom Clancy Has Died |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/02/tom-clancy-has-died |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=IGN |language=en}}
Console releases
File:Sony-PlayStation-4-PS4-wDualShock-4.jpg]]
File:Xbox-One-Console-wController-FL.jpg]]
The list of game consoles released in 2013 in North America.
| class="wikitable" |
| Month
! Day ! Console |
|---|
| June
| 10 |
| June
| 25 | Ouya |
| July
| 31 |
| October
| 12 |
| rowspan="4" |November
|14 |
| rowspan="2" | 15 |
| PlayStation 4 |
| 22
| Xbox One |
| December
| 10 | MOJO |
Series with new entries
Series with new installments in 2013 include Ace Attorney, ARMA, Army of Two, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham, Battlefield, BioShock, Call of Duty, Crysis, Dead Rising, Dead Space, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Fire Emblem, Forza Motorsport, God of War, Gears of War, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Killer Instinct, Killzone, The Legend of Zelda, Lost Planet, Luigi's Mansion, Mario Party, Metal Gear, Metro, Need for Speed, Pokémon, Rayman, Pikmin, Saints Row, SimCity, Sly Cooper, Sonic The Hedgehog, StarCraft, Super Mario, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Total War, and Zoo Tycoon.
In addition, 2013 saw the introduction of several new properties, including Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us, Papers, Please, Tearaway, Cookie Clicker and The Wonderful 101.
Game releases
The list of games released in 2013 in North America.
{{GamePlatformKey|tot=21|Lin|Mac|3DS|NDS|PS2|PS3|PS4|PSN|PSP|PSVita|Wii|WiiWare|WiiU|Win|X360|XBLA|XBO|Ouya|iOS|Droid|WP|Nvidia Shield}}
=January–March=
=April–June=
=July–September=
=October–December=
Video game-based film and television releases
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Most popular 2013 video game articles viewed on Wikipedia, with user comments on traffic jumps - [https://web.archive.org/web/20131005001253/http://wikitop.alwaysdata.net/conso/latest_results.en.2013_video_games.html The latest statistics] can be found on [https://web.archive.org/web/20190513022020/http://wikitop.alwaysdata.net/ Wikitop]
{{History of video games}}