The best gifts for gamers in 2023

If you’re buying a gift for someone who primarily plays games on their phone, consider treating them to the best mobile gamepad on the market. At $100, the Backbone One is pricey, but it easily surpasses competitors like the Razer Kishi in build quality. It also comes with a surprisingly robust companion app that makes capturing screenshots and clips a breeze. Each new Backbone One controller also comes with complimentary access to services like Xbox Game Pass, giving owners a few different ways to add to their game library.

In a year as stacked as this one, it may seem crazy to recommend a remake of a release from 2008, but Dead Space is easily one of the best games of the year. EA’s Motive Studio managed to elevate an already great experience into something even scarier and more atmospheric than the original, all while remaining true to what made it so compelling. Dead Space 2023’s presentation is an obvious highlight, but there are also smart story edits and gameplay tweaks that do a lot to enhance the package. There’s also an excellent new game-plus mode that fans of the series will definitely want to complete. Best of all, the remake never wastes your time. It’s a breath of fresh air in a world where modern games suffer from absurd bloat.

With the popularity of multiplayer games, you may want to consider gifting your friend or family member a gaming headset, especially if you share the same household. For an affordable option that features a clean sound signature that’s tuned for first-person shooters, it’s hard to go wrong with the Drop and Epos PC38X.

Epos may not be a household name, but most people have definitely heard of Sennheiser. The former came out of the latter, and that should tell you what to expect from the PC38X. It’s a headset that has more in common with classic headphones like the HD600 than its gaming peers. An open-back design helps the PC38X produce an immersive sound stage that can give users an edge in games like Valorant and Call of Duty: Warzone. The built-in microphone is one of the best ones you’ll find on a gaming headset at this price. It’s a wired headset too, meaning there’s no need to worry about battery life and compatibility. Notably, Drop frequently sells the PC38X below its usual $180 price.

Don’t let the Logitech G305’s affordable $50 price fool you, it’s a gaming mouse almost any gamer would happily add to their collection. At 99 grams, it’s one of the lighter mice in Logitech’s stable and all six buttons are programmable. It also includes the company’s fast and responsive Hero optical sensor and Lightspeed wireless technology for “wired-like” performance. A single AA battery provides the G305 with up to 250 hours of life, and it’s possible to get as much as nine months of use with some tweaking. Best of all, the G305 is available in a few different colors, including a handful of cheerful pastels. There’s even a K/DA version for fans of Riot’s virtual K-pop group. That versatility makes a perfect gift for a PC gamer.

By all accounts, Nintendo will likely release a successor to the Nintendo Switch sometime in the next 18 months. For that reason, it might seem strange to recommend a six-year-old handheld at the end of its life, but if Super Mario Bros. Wonder ends up being the last original game the company releases for the Switch, the console will still have one of the strongest game libraries of all time. Between first-party exclusives like Tears of the Kingdom and indies like Hollow Knight, the Switch has more than enough quality titles to keep even the most enthusiastic gamers busy for years to come. And the best way to experience all those titles is on the OLED model. Internally, it’s the same device that debuted in 2017, but a new and larger 7-inch display makes all the difference, offering improved brightness, more life-like colors and better energy efficiency.

If you’re buying a gift for someone who already owns a Switch, there’s a good chance they’ll appreciate more storage for their handheld. A previous version of this guide recommended Switch-specific microSD cards from SanDisk, but the company’s reputation for reliability and customer service isn’t what it used to be, and the reality is that any UHS-1 compatible microSD card that offers transfer speeds of at least 60 MB/s will do. For those set on going with a well-known brand name, Samsung’s Evo Select series meets all of Nintendo’s compatibility requirements and they’re affordable too, with the 512GB model frequently priced at less than $40.

Even if your friend or loved one is an avid gamer, I’m going to go ahead and say there’s a good chance they haven’t played Tunic (available on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch). I can’t think of a game that has stayed with me the way it has over the last few years. I could go on about Tunic’s art direction, music and gameplay, but what makes it so special is the way it makes you feel when you figure out its most devious puzzles. I’m being purposefully vague because saying too much would rob Tunic of its magic. When you give the game to your friend or loved one, make sure you tell them to try to solve it on their own. They’ll thank you later.

After more than two decades of iteration, it’s hard to find a fault with Microsoft’s Xbox controllers. The latest Series X/S version refines a design that was already excellent with the Xbox One, but it lacks customization. That’s something Microsoft’s Elite Wireless controller corrects. The Series 2 model comes with six different thumbsticks, four separate paddles and a set of two d-pads. With all those components included, even the most discerning players should be able to tune the controller to their liking.

In fact, the Xbox Elite Controller has been so popular for Microsoft, that Sony came out with its own customizable gamepad, the DualSense Edge, earlier this year. If your friend or loved one primarily plays games on a PlayStation 5, the Edge would make for a great gift, just as long as they’re not a stickler for battery life.

In last year’s gift guide, I recommended Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Bloomberg journalist Jason Schreier. At the time, I hadn’t had a chance to read Schreier’s latest behind-the-scenes look at the video game industry, Press Reset. Since then, I’ve remedied that oversight, and can now safely say that Press Reset is just as good, if not better. Schreier’s thoughtful reporting and ability to gain access in an industry known for its secrecy is what separates this book from the competition.

For those with aspirations to create their own games one day, consider gifting them Ask Iwata. Before he passed away in 2015, former Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata conducted a semi-regular Q&A series called “Iwata Asks” where he interviewed some of the company’s most talented developers, including the likes of Ocarina of Time lead designer Eiji Aonuma. Having worked as a programmer at one point in his career (Iwata famously played an important role in the development of Pokémon Gold and Silver), the interviews are often filled with insights that show just how tough it is to create a game. It’s also a poignant read. Even translated, Iwata’s wry sense of humor and humanity is present on every page.