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.
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.
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).
Game Revenue Publisher(s) Genre Platform(s) Business model 1 Puzzle & Dragons GungHo Online Entertainment Puzzle Mobile Free-to-play 2 Candy Crush Saga $1,460,000,000 King Digital Entertainment Puzzle Mobile Free-to-play 3 World of Warcraft $1,041,000,000 Blizzard Entertainment MMORPG PC, Console Subscription / pay-to-play 4 Grand Theft Auto V $1,000,000,000 Rockstar Games Action-adventure Console Buy-to-play 5 Call of Duty: Ghosts $1,000,000,000 Activision FPS PC, Console Buy-to-play 6Crossfire $1,000,000,000 Smilegate / Tencent FPS PC Free-to-play 7 League of Legends $624,000,000 Riot Games / Tencent MOBA PC Free-to-play 8 Pokémon X / Y Nintendo / The Pokémon Company RPG Console Buy-to-play 9 Dungeon Fighter Online $426,000,000 Neople / Nexon Beat 'em up PC Free-to-play 10 World of Tanks $372,000,000 Wargaming.net Vehicular combat, MMO PC Free-to-play
Top-rated games Critically acclaimed titles Metacritic (MC) and GameRankings (GR) are aggregators of video game journalism reviews.
+ 2013 games and expansions scoring at least 90/100 (MC) or 90% (GR) Game Publisher Release Date Platform MC score GR score Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar Games September 17, 2013 PS3 97/100 97.01% Grand Theft Auto V Rockstar Games September 17, 2013 X360 97/100 96.1% BioShock Infinite 2K Games March 26, 2013 PS3 94/100 95.94% The Last of Us Sony Computer Entertainment June 14, 2013 PS3 95/100 95.09% BioShock Infinite 2K Games March 26, 2013 WIN 94/100 92.62% Flower Sony Computer Entertainment November 15, 2013 PS4 91/100 93.57% Fez Trapdoor May 1, 2013 WIN 91/100 93.5% Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection Konami July 9, 2013 PS3 93/100 93.33% Super Mario 3D World Nintendo November 21, 2013 WiiU 93/100 92.56% Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons 505 Games September 3, 2013 WIN 90/100 93.12% Rayman Legends Ubisoft August 29, 2013 WiiU 92/100 93% BioShock Infinite 2K Games March 26, 2013 X360 93/100 91.89% Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director's Cut Square Enix October 22, 2013 WIN 91/100 92.5% Rayman Legends Ubisoft August 29, 2013 PS3 91/100 91.81% The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD Nintendo September 20, 2013 WiiU 90/100 91.08% The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Nintendo November 22, 2013 3DS 91/100 90.55% Spelunky Mossmouth August 8, 2013 WIN 90/100 91% Mass Effect 3: Citadel Electronic Arts March 5, 2013 PS3 90/100 90.67% The Stanley Parable Galactic Cafe October 13, 2013 WIN 88/100 90.25% Dota 2 Valve July 9, 2013 WIN 90/100 89.27% Rayman Legends Ubisoft August 29, 2013 WIN 90/100 89% Rayman Legends Ubisoft August 29, 2013 X360 90/100 88.88% Crusader Kings II: The Old Gods Paradox Interactive May 28, 2013 WIN 88/100 90% XCOM: Enemy Within 2K Games November 12, 2013 PS3 88/100 90% Rage of the Gladiator Gamelion Studios September 19, 2013 3DS 88/100 90%
Major awards Category/Organization 31st Golden Joystick Awards VGX 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards 10th British Academy Games Awards 14th Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Grand Theft Auto V The Last of Us Independent / Debut Mark of the Ninja Gone Home colspan="2" Gone Home Downloadable colspan="3" Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Papers, Please Mobile/Handheld Mobile XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time Tearaway The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Handheld Assassin's Creed III: Liberation The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Innovation Oculus Rift colspan="2" The Last of Us Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Papers, Please Artistic Achievement Animation BioShock Infinite rowspan="2" colspan="2" The Last of Us Tearaway BioShock Infinite Art Direction The Last of Us Audio Music rowspan="2" Grand Theft Auto V BioShock Infinite BioShock Infinite Sound Design colspan="2" The Last of Us Character or Performance Actor rowspan="2" Troy Baker as JoelThe Last of Us The Lutece TwinsBioShock Infinite EllieThe Last of Us Ashley Johnson as EllieThe Last of Us rowspan="2" Actress Ashley Johnson as EllieThe Last of Us Game Direction or Design colspan="3" The Last of Us Grand Theft Auto V The Last of Us Narrative The Last of Us colspan="2" The Last of UsTechnical Achievement Gameplay Engineering rowspan="2" colspan="3" Grand Theft Auto V rowspan="2" Grand Theft Auto V Visual Engineering The Last of Us Multiplayer/Online Multiplayer Payday 2 colspan="2" rowspan="2" World of Tanks Grand Theft Auto V rowspan="11" Online World of Tanks Action/Adventure Action/Shooter BioShock Infinite The Last of Us Adventure Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag The Last of Us Casual or Family Casual rowspan="2" Animal Crossing: New Leaf Plant vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time Tearaway Family Super Mario 3D World Fighting Injustice: Gods Among Us rowspan="2" Role-Playing Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Diablo III Sports/Racing Sports rowspan="2" NBA 2K14 FIFA 14 FIFA 14 Racing Forza Motorsport 5 Strategy/Simulation colspan="3" XCOM: Enemy Within Papers, Please Special Award Lifetime Achievement rowspan="2" colspan="2" Hall of Fame Pioneer Award BAFTA Fellowship Lifetime Achievement Award Ken Levine Sam Houser, Dan Houser, Leslie Benzies Eugene Jarvis Rockstar Games Ken Kutaragi
Events
Date Event February 14 Nintendo starts the "Year of Luigi" to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the titular character. February 20 – 22 Sony's eighth generation console PlayStation 4 (PS4) reveal held at New York City, New York. March The beta for Kahoot! is released with the full version released in September. March 22 – 24 PAX East 2013 held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. March 23 – 25 Midwest Gaming Classic 2013 held at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel in Brookfield, Wisconsin. March 25 – 29 Game Developers Conference 2013 held in San Francisco, California. May Cloud9 is founded in Santa Monica, California. May 21 – 23 Microsoft's eighth generation console Xbox One reveal held at Microsoft Redmond Campus, Washington. June 5 Jellyvision Games rebrands as Jackbox Games. June 11 – 13 E3 2013 was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. June 22 – 23 Rezzed 2013 was held at the NEC Birmingham. July 18 – 21 SDCC 2013 was held at the San Diego Convention Center. July 19 – 22 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 The International 2013, the third iteration of the annual Dota 2 global esports tournament, was held in Seattle. August 9 – 11 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 PAX Prime 2013 held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. September 9 The Spyro series celebrated its 15th anniversary. September 19 – 22 Tokyo Game Show 2013 at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo. September 26 – 29 Eurogamer Expo 2013 held in Earls Court, London. October 3 – 6 Indiecade 2013 festival held in Culver City, California. October 4 – 7 EB Games Expo 2013 held at the Sydney Showground in Sydney Olympic Park, New South Wales. October 25 – 27 Games Week 2013 held in Milan, Italy. October 30 – November 3 Paris Games Week 2013 held in Paris, France. November 8 – 9 BlizzCon 2013 held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. December 7 The final Spike Video Game Awards are held.
Notable deaths
January 20 – Alexander Brüggemann, 46, Lead and Game Designer to The Settlers series and Co-founder of Piranha Bytes. January 20 – Kenji Eno, 42, Japanese musician and game designer for Juuouki, Casino Kid 2, Sunman January 25 – Normand Corbeil, BAFTA Games Award winner and composer for Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy and Beyond: Two Souls. February 11 – Robin Sachs, 61, Voice actor on Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening February 11 – Erik Cassel, 45, co-founder of Roblox Corporation. May 28 – Hiroo Isono, 68, Painter and illustrator for title such as main visual for Final Fantasy Adventure,Secret of Mana and Heroes of Mana. May 30 – Andrew Scott Reisse, 33, Co-founder of Oculus VR July 3 – Ryan Davis, 34, GameSpot journalist and co-founder of Giant Bomb. September 19 – Hiroshi Yamauchi, 85, Japanese businessman and third president of Nintendo (1949–2002) October 1 – Tom Clancy, 66, novelist and namesake of the Tom Clancy's series. October 13 – David Bunnett, 65, co-founder of Stormfront Studios and work on title; Neverwinter Nights and the Xbox exclusive Bloodwake. November 15 – Charles Bellfield, 43, former Sega of America VP of marketing and communication from 1998 to 2003. Also led the launch of the Dreamcast. November 28 – Danny Wells, 72, actor who played Luigi in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! and provided voice work in Descent 3, Wizardry 8, Evolution Worlds, and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
Hardware releases
The list of game consoles released in 2013.
Date Console Manufacturer June 10 Xbox 360 EMicrosoft "E3 2013: New Xbox 360 Model Revealed". IGN. June 10, 2013. Archived from the original on October 3, 2021. June 20 Xbox 360 E "New Xbox 360 model on sale now for £149 in the UK". CNET UK. Archived from the original on June 22, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2013. June 25 OuyaOuya Inc. July 31 Nvidia ShieldNvidia October 12 Nintendo 2DS/Nintendo November 14 PlayStation TVSony November 15 GameStickPlayJam PlayStation 4Sony O'Brien, Terrence (August 20, 2013). "PlayStation 4 hitting shelves on November 15th in the US for $399, November 29th in Europe". Engadget. AOL. Archived from the original on August 20, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2013. November 22 Xbox OneMicrosoft November 26 Nintendo 2DSNintendo November 29 PlayStation 4Sony December 7 Nintendo 2DSNintendo December 10 MOJOMad Catz
Games released in 2013
Video game-based film and television releases