This calendar year already includes a veritable wealth of brand-new multiplayer games being developed across all sorts of genres, from survival to MMO, from fighting to cooperative shooters, and much more.
The list below only includes titles that have had their developers explicitly confirm a 2023 release window. While there's a chance at least some of these multiplayer games could be delayed into 2024, we cannot rule out potential surprise releases, like the long-awaited The Last of Us multiplayer game by Naughty Dog or the survival MMO Dune: Awakening by Funcom.
Also in Wccftech's Most Anticipated Games of 2023 lists: Fighting, RPG
Ark: Survival Evolved remained popular among multiplayer games fans for many years, earning enough revenue to warrant spin-off games like the VR title ARK Park and the Minecraft-lookalike PixARK, not to mention an animated series featuring big-time actors like Vin Diesel, Gerard Butler, Russell Crowe, Michelle Yeoh, Elliot Page, Jeffrey Wright, Karl Urban, Malcolm McDowell, Monica Bellucci, David Tennant, and Alan Tudyk. Most importantly, the sequel game will be released in 2023, starring Vin Diesel.
With the help of Unreal Engine 5, Studio Wildcard aims to deliver big changes and improvements in Ark 2, such as cross-platform modding, third-person Soulslike melee combat, dynamic world events, sensory-based creature AI, deeper progression/skill systems, localized weather, and much more.
Unlike most Korean MMOs, it will put a lot more emphasis on PvE activities like raids and boss fights in an effort to win over the Western PC and console audience. Of course, that doesn't mean PvP won't be available; Guild and Occupation Wars are confirmed. However, most of the zones in Throne and Liberty will be safe, so players won't find themselves attacked by other players if they don't want to.
NCSoft also promises a living, dynamic world where the day/night cycle and the weather are a major influence on the monster population and even on how certain class abilities work. The whole world is said to be seamless, dungeons included.
Blizzard has also improved cooperation between players, who will be able to create clans, trade between themselves, and group up regardless of the character levels. Giant world bosses roam the zones of Sanctuary, encouraging Diablo IV players to band together and defeat them in the newly implemented seamless open world maps. It may not be a full-fledged MMOARPG like Diablo Immortal or Lost Ark, but it's close.
Luckily, Blue Protocol resurfaced in late 2022 thanks to publisher Amazon Games, with a scheduled release date in the second half of 2023 for PC (Steam) and next-gen consoles. After choosing one out of five classes (that can be swapped at any time), players may face the game's PvE content solo or with the help of fellow players. If you don't have any friends playing, Blue Protocol lets you join with others through matchmaking or simply by browsing the recruiting parties.
But the game's largest challenge will be the Raid activity, where up to 30 players fight against a massive boss. To manage such large groups in-game, Bandai Namco Online added the Teams feature, Blue Protocol's equivalent to Guilds or Clans.
Online matches are a world apart from its predecessor. Street Fighter 6's experience was almost flawless, even though the game is still far from release. Being in Italy, I played smooth matches against players from the rest of Europe with no rollback, as well as matches against players from further away regions like the United Arab Emirates and even the United States; although these matches did have a little rollback, but nothing that made the experience unplayable. I even played against a Japanese player, and the experience was not smooth, although I expected much worse. There are also some options that players have been asking for for years, such as canceling the match if the system detects it is being laggy or getting awarded League Points if the opponent ragequits.
CAPCOM may have added a World Tour single player story mode, but the heart of Street Fighter 6 will be its highly competitive multiplayer games and tournaments.
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