The Ultimate Gamer's Gift Guide: Unlocking the Best Picks for 2023

When searching for gifts for gamers, you might feel like you’re in a game yourself – in a maze with walls you can’t see, no chance of a ray of light. The games, consoles and gaming accessories released in 2023 are numerous, and finding that one magical gift can seem, at times, an impossible task. Don’t worry! Whether you’re after the latest consoles or the perfect game that’ll send them leaping out of their seats, our definitive guide to gifts is there to show you the way to triumph.

Unwrapping the Magic: Finding the Right Gift

Level One: Budget-Friendly Treasures

Not every quest needs a dragon’s hoard. Perhaps your treasure chest isn’t filled with gold? There are plenty of affordable gems to collect here. An ergonomic controller or headset to be paired with their current console set-up is a great (and affordable) addition to your gamer’s life. Likewise, a few months’ access to one of the many video game subscription services out there – giving your gamer access to a large library of games – is another great option. And, of course, you can score big points by purchasing a new release title.

Powering Up: The $100+ Realm

But once you cross the $100 mark, the real fun starts. This is where you begin shopping for ultra-precise mousepads and pro-level gaming peripherals such as gaming mice, professional keyboards, and monitors that promise to take your gameplay (and your game skills) to new levels.

Ultimate Loot: $200 and Beyond

For those prepared to break into the big spenders, the pickings are plentiful. The modern gaming console sits atop the heap of luxurious gifts. With the fastest paint-to-play loading times of any console, zippy next-gen games, and backward compatibility, the PLAYSTATION 5 is a solid choice for gifting to your gamer. The NINTENDO SWITCH’s versatile handheld mode and HD display might work better for your gaming giftee, or the XBOX SERIES X’s powerhouse dynamic scaling power can deliver console gameplay at a level of performance it’s never had before. And if you’re gaming on the go, gaming laptops also serve as top-tier gifts, their desktop grade GPU and processor crammed into a portable machine that’s less than two inches thick.

Special Editions and Collectibles

Scattered among all of that are the holy grails of the collector’s market: the limited-edition, singular-box-number, painstakingly difficult-to-obtain must-haves. Action figures, art books, exclusive playable demos on special edition console bundles, extra online content, 3D glasses, toy figurines of the toys in the game. The true gamer’s heirlooms.

The Gift of Choice: Gift Cards

If that quest still sounds daunting, and the right answer remains elusive, never fear: gift cards that can be redeemed for their favourite gaming platform or store can, like the Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, make the game yours to win.

Gaming Subscriptions: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

As the 21st century has progressed, it’s been filled up by the trend towards digital gaming. You can buy a subscription to services such as Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now and Nintendo Switch Online. Within each of their collections, players will find hundreds of games. They also come with the ability to buy games at agreed discounts and – of course – they enable users to play online with their friends. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Embracing the World of Consoles

The Heart of the Gaming Universe

Consoles are not just machines; they are portals. Each one offers a world unto itself. It is that world that you, the gifter, want to get the gamer – whether it’s a boy, a girl or your gamer-Vogue-reading mom. Your gamer will orient themselves around the console. Each box will form the centre of your gamer’s world. You might choose to ignore this, of course, but if you choose a platform with a wide array of games and a large community of gamers to play with and against, you’ll become a cheesy side dish to the main event. Each gamer is going to want to play with their friends, and since not all their friends have their console (yet!), they’ll need a back-up system to do so. If you want to get your little gamer the tool to joyfully navigate the world of gaming, start by thinking about which world you want your gamer to inhabit. Consoles are the gateways to these worlds that gamers will orient themselves around.

PLAYSTATION 5: A New Era of Gaming

The PLAYSTATION 5 is the gaming console of the future, with its lightning-fast processing speeds, stunning graphics, and new DualSense controller. Games like Ratchet Clank Rift Apart: and Demon’s Souls are exclusive to the PLAYSTATION 5.

XBOX SERIES X|S: Power and Performance

With XBOX SERIES X and Series S, Microsoft caters to the same crowd, celebrating performance and backwards compatibility over cutting-edge technology, while playing into a deep and still growing collection of titles, with more than 100 games available in the cloud via the Xbox Game Pass that players never run out of.

NINTENDO SWITCH: Gaming on the Go

With its portable/dockable hybrid design, it caters to gamers who want to play at home and on the go, and its game library has fine titles suitable for the whole family, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017).

Shopping for gamers in 2023 is a journey without an end. From the world’s best consoles, to new blockbusters and platform exclusives, to one-of-a-kind peripherals and collectibles, there’s a gift for everyone. But remember it isn’t just about the play – it’s what you do with that play that counts. Happy gifting!