We finally did it. After six weeks and dozens of articles, our Patrons settled on the best year in gaming. And by a margin of only three votes, 2004 is our champion.
This was a tough one, but it ultimately came down to 2004 having some more influential games and events – the release of Steam is one of the biggest things to ever happen to gaming, completely changing how games are made and distributed, and opening things up to indie developers like never before. And with Steam came the release of Half-Life 2, and that was a major component of 2004’s victory, as it ensured it had a game which could compete with the original Half-Life. Handhelds also had a massive year, with the release of the Nintendo DS – Nintendo’s best-selling handheld of all time – and the PSP that year, plus a host of stellar Gameboy Advance games, including three Pokemon titles to help 2004 compete against 1998.
2004 was also a year in which games were in the process of going mainstream – a trend which really started in the 2000s – and The Sims 2 was a massive part of that, topping sales charts as it brought entirely new audiences into PC gaming. Halo 2 was possibly the biggest launch of a game ever at that time, and had a massive mainstream impact, while Doom 3 reinvented the franchise and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas set the stage for what that franchise would become two years later. And 2004 had a solid lineup of RTS games as well, with Rome: Total War and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War.
And on the tabletop, 2004 had the edge over 1998 as well. Sure, 1998 had the third edition launch of Warhammer 40,000 – a massive milestone for that game, but 2004 featured the release of 4th edition, a solid iteration on that base game, making it much more playable and incorporating years of errata and suggestions, plus a stellar launch box. 2004 also had two Spiel des Jahres winners – Power Grid and Ticket to Ride, plus some other stand-out games like Betrayal at the House on the Hill.
Ultimately 2004 was able to match 1998 blow-for-blow on its major franchises, but had just a bit extra oomph when it came to handhelds, casual games, important events, and tabletop games. And that’s what made it our best year in gaming.
This was an interesting exercise; we had a blast digging into gaming history and writing these bits, talking about how gaming changed and some of the key trends and titles over the last fifty years. It was a personal project of mine, and I learned a lot as I went through this project, particularly about the history of SEGA and NEC. Seeing our patrons debate the best year and talk about their favorite games was also a blast, even if they got it wrong a couple of times (seriously guys 1997 wasn’t that good).
Whatever the best individual year for gaming was, the best time to be a gamer is right now – we have access to the entire history of gaming at our fingertips, and games are more accessible to larger audiences than ever before, both in terms of playing and developing. There are so many games being released now you can find something in any genre, and entire online careers have been made out of just reviewing the dozens of bad or mediocre games released every month. Yeah, there are some things that suck ass about the industry today, and being able to play some older games is a real issue (especially if they were less popular), but fantastic new games are still coming out every year. 2023 may not have made it far in our competition, but it deserved its high ranking.
Have any questions or feedback? Feel like we got it wrong? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com.
