As we are ushering the new year and feting the recipients and nominees of various game of the year awards for 2023, let’s take a moment to take stock on disappointments in gaming and tech that have happened in 2023. Here are my top 3. Read on to find out on my new year resolutions as well.

EVGA Drops The Ball

Back in 2022, the company best known for its GPUs exited the GPU business entirely and at the same time burning bridges with Nvidia. This year there were reports (in July) that all 170 workers at its Taiwan HQ responsible for its motherboard business have resigned. This has resulted in the current line-up of motherboards, which include the Z690 and Z790 CLASSIFIED and DARK K|NGP|N, having no updated BIOS released to support Intel 14th-gen processors.

I count myself as an EVGA customer considering that the Z690 CLASSIFIED is part of my Project 2023 build, so this sucks on a personal level. I’m still contemplating whether to replace the 12700KF with the 13700KF (I read that it is a worthy upgrade), or to go with a new platform altogether for Project 2024.

Layoffs and Closures

The gaming industry took major hits in 2023 on an unprecedented scale, with layoffs and closures. According to reports, about 9,000 workers were affected by layoffs. Companies such as Embracer, which had previously been buying studios and having a very active engagement rate with media outlets (including bloggers like myself), had been closing studios and cancelling projects in 2023.

Smaller studios such as Mimimi Games came up critically-acclaimed titles such as Shadow Gambit: The Curse Crew, only to get little commercial success. Shadow Gambit isn’t even on Steam’s list of Top Sellers, not unlike other indie-darlings such as Dredge and Dave the Diver.

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters

Two things, I thought I really liked the Warhammer 40K universe (and lore) and I thought that I had X-COM type of games wrapped around my finger, until I bumped into Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. Developers Complex Game basically took Firaxis’ XCOM remake and added a heavy dose of grimdark, and the end result, to me at least, was took much grimdark…. I really ended up loathing the mood in each level. This has resulted in three aborted playthroughs, the game just doesn’t seem to stick.

New Year Resolutions

Ok, enough on the disappointments as I do have some resolutions for the new year, and lets hope they stick:

  • Try not to buy so many games (with the PS5, Xbox, Switch, PC and Steamdeck, the games will add up); look for discounts if I need to and unless really necessary, don’t buy the same game but for different platforms, just stick to one.
  • Beat the 2023 running mileage which stands at a few kilometers short of 700 KM. Covid isn’t really an excuse now and I’m looking forward to more races.
  • Build a new PC, preferably on a new platform like AM5, and do stay away from EVGA.