There was no single, authoritative “Top 10 MMORPGs in 2023” ranking. The strongest year-specific evidence points to two different leaders: MMORPG.com’s staff named Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker its Best MMORPG of 2023, while readers in its Players’ Choice awards selected Black Desert Online. Both groups also recognized World of Warcraft and New World among the leading alternatives. Those results offer a grounded shortlist—not a universal verdict or a defensible numbered top ten.
What “top MMORPGs in 2023” can—and can’t—mean
This retrospective covers games active during 2023, including established live-service games that received updates. It is not a list limited to games released that year, nor does it claim to rank ten games on a common scale. MMORPG.com noted that ongoing updates can give a long-running game a standout year even without a major expansion, and separated expansion recognition from its main game award. Its 2023 awards provide a useful snapshot of staff and reader opinion, but they do not establish genre-wide consensus, player counts, or an objective order.
A separate SteamDB list answers a narrower question: it filters for Steam games released in 2023, tagged MMORPG, with at least 500 reviews, then ranks those games by user reviews. That platform- and release-specific measure is not a ranking of all MMORPGs active in 2023. SteamDB’s filtered list should be read within those limits.
The best-supported MMORPGs of 2023
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker — the staff-award leader
MMORPG.com’s staff selected Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker as Best MMORPG of 2023. The write-up pointed to the game’s continuing story and updates; it also looked ahead to Dawntrail, then expected the following summer. The award recognizes the staff’s view of the game’s year, not a measured comparison of every MMORPG.
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Black Desert Online — the Players’ Choice leader
MMORPG.com readers selected Black Desert Online as Players’ Choice Best MMORPG of 2023. The award write-up highlighted the game’s updates and its expansion that year. Pearl Abyss later reported that 1,500 readers submitted votes over a two-week period in November and December. That is the publisher’s reported participation for this award—not a survey of all MMORPG players. Pearl Abyss’s award announcement corroborates the result and voter count.
World of Warcraft — a leading alternative in both award perspectives
World of Warcraft appeared among the runners-up in both the staff and Players’ Choice MMORPG awards. The staff results distinguish Retail and Classic; the awards do not provide a single combined placement that would justify assigning the game a precise rank below the winners.
Rank #2
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New World — another runner-up, with a year of recorded activity
New World was also a runner-up in both award perspectives. Amazon Games reported 5,887,977 Expedition runs from January 1 through November 28, 2023, including 1,825,590 runs of Garden of Genesis. These are activity figures for New World during that stated period, not a comparable measure of the game’s total population or of the MMORPG genre. Amazon Games’ 2023 year-in-review supplies the figures.
A notable expansion: The Land of the Morning Light
The Land of the Morning Light, an expansion for Black Desert Online, won MMORPG.com’s Players’ Choice Best MMO Expansion of 2023. The award write-up describes a narrative-focused expansion inspired by Joseon-era Korea, featuring a new region, boss fights, and stories. New World: Rise of the Angry Earth was the runner-up in that expansion category. These are expansion-award results; they should not be counted as separate MMORPGs in a list of games.
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- No player elimination until a second, shorter phase
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How to use these results when choosing a game
- For a staff-selected 2023 winner: start with Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.
- For the readers’ 2023 winner: start with Black Desert Online, keeping in mind that the reported vote came from 1,500 participating readers.
- For other award-recognized options: consider World of Warcraft or New World; both appeared among the runners-up in the two MMORPG award perspectives.
- For a 2023 expansion pick: consider The Land of the Morning Light, which won the Players’ Choice expansion award.
- For games released specifically in 2023: use a release-year-filtered list, such as SteamDB’s, rather than treating this retrospective of active games as an answer to that different question.
The available award and activity evidence does not provide a consistent comparison of ten games, a comparable genre-wide player total, or an independently measured popularity ranking. It supports naming the award leaders and notable alternatives, but not filling ten ranked places without adding evidence for each title.
Quick Recap
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Rank #4
- TACTICAL 2 PLAYER AREA CONTROL: Battle for dominance across ancient Ireland in a tense head-to-head strategy experience where every move shapes the map. Expand your followers, control territories, and outmaneuver your opponent to claim victory.
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