AAA Titles Releasing 2023
Despite not launching until February and there being other products released before it, including Forspoken and the Dead Space remake, Hogwarts Legacy has received the most press coverage so far this year seeing a little under 2500 articles and also tops the Twitter charts with the most tweets. Despite there being quite a bit of negative press during the second half of last year mostly driven by the uproar against J.K Rowling, as we move closer to release we’re seeing predominantly neutral or positive coverage.
Surprisingly, Forspoken and Dead Space, both release before the end of January, come in 3rd and 7th respectively when looking at press and 2nd and 6th respectively for tweet count.
Interestingly, Redfall, which as yet does not have a definite release date is just behind Hogwarts Legacy for press coverage having about 500 fewer articles and is 3rd for Twitter with less than half the amount of tweets.
Another highly-anticipated game that's still generating a lot of buzz even after multiple delays is Skull and Bones, which currently holds the 4th spot in terms of press coverage, between Forspoken and Warzone 2. There has been controversy and negative press surrounding the delays and also the gameplay shown in trailers, however there’s still plenty of hype ahead of its release on March 9th.
Indie Titles Releasing in 2023
When it comes to indie games, the rankings become even more intriguing. Desta: The Memories Between stands out as the clear leader by some margin when it comes to press coverage, far surpassing the second-placed, Aka. However, it only makes it to 4th on the Twitter rankings, with less than 100 tweets. Whilst, Aka sits in 1st, with around 120 tweets.
One surprise in the indie ranking is the low amount of press and twitter coverage for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Despite being expected to be in the top 3 indie games of the year, it seems the game hasn't been performing well in terms of PR, being only 7th on the list with almost 200 articles. Sentiment wise, the highest percentage of the coverage has been neutral, along with some negative press regarding delays to the launch. It remains to be seen how this title will perform closer to release but I've got high hopes for Hollow Knight: Silksong!