1998 comes up a lot in response to this question, for good reason. Pokemon Red/Blue, Baldur's Gate, Metal Gear Solid, Thief, Half-Life, Fallout 2, StarCraft, and on and on. Games were made much more quickly back then, and the technological advancements allowed for a lot of these games to do new things that no one had done before, that were quite predictably going to be well-received.

If I'm putting together a pantheon of great years in gaming, it looks like 1998, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2023. If I've got to pick one, it might be 2004. Half-Life 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (an odd choice for many, but it's maybe my favorite in the series), Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Halo 2, Burnout 3: Takedown, Star Wars: Battlefront, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Unreal Tournament 2004, The Sims 2, Doom 3, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Viewtiful Joe 2, Ninja Gaiden, Counter-Strike: Source, etc., etc. This was a magical time in online multiplayer, where it was pretty new for most, and you could do things like proximity chat in a shooter and expect people to actually use it for the video game at hand instead of spewing slurs into the mic. Local multiplayer was abundant. Obtuse game design made to sell strategy guides was just about obsolete, and DLC had yet to be invented (outside of beefier expansions). Midnight launches were exciting, and I have fond memories of, for reasons I can't explain, playing Halo 2 on launch day in a 12-player LAN using bean bags, projectors, and 3 Xboxes set up in a local college's racket ball court.

if we going by quantity, I think 2007 was the most stacked, like omg the amount of hype for these games at the cafeteria lunch table was insane. https://www.imdb.com/list/ls087306278

it honestly feels weird hearing people call these games "classics" xd I am NOT ready for this!

I agree with other comments here, but, to be honest, this year has been really good! Expedition 33, Silksong, Hades, The Alters, Nightreign, Blue Prince, Dispatch, to name just a few.

2001 or 2011.

2001 easily had the most games that were highly rated and as others have said you some real classics. The PS2 was hitting it's stride, the original Xbox Launched, and the Gamecube was right there.

2011 also had some damn amazing games: Arkham City, Portal 2, Skyrim, Skyward Sword, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat 9, Starcraft II, Bastion, Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3 to name a few.

2001 is hard to beat:

• Metal Gear Solid 2
• Ico
• Silent Hill 2
• Final Fantasy X
• Devil May Cry
• Grand Theft Auto III
• Halo

1998 and 2004 have strong cases, as other comments have mentioned, but I think 2007 has got to be up there as well. The Orange Box alone was massively influential, even for just the new-to-'07 releases (TF2, Portal, HL2EP2), and was almost entirely unique - I don't think we've really seen anything like it before or since. Beyond that, you have stuff like Halo 3, CoD 4, Assassin's Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, Mass Effect, Uncharted, Pokémon Diamond/Pearl, and Guitar Hero 3.

i was going to go with '06, but it looks like '04 was revolutionary for many game genres, and considered a major milestone in video game history due to its lasting affect on future titles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_in_video_games

One could argue Tetris could carry the whole competition alone, but it is joined by Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Spy Hunter, and Gauntlet in 1985

I would leave it at that, except Pac-Man, Frogger, Galaga, Defender, and Donkey Kong make 1981 a contender

2004 has my vote. It was a golden age for PC gaming.

I'd go back to maybe 1997 bit there are so many good years to choose from.

It's probably not the most stacked but I think 2017 was still a monster year for games.

Breath of the Wild Mario Odyssey Persona 5 Nier Automata Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice Divinity Original Sin II Doki Doki Literature Club Cuphead Prey Star Wars Battlefront II Destiny 2 Nintendo Switch itself

These were, for one reason or another, some of the most monumentally influential games in the last 10 years, no matter if you're talking AAA, indie, platformer, shooter, open world, RPG, horror, you name it.

I think 2004 had some really good releases, but so did 2006, 2012, 2008, and I think even 2003.

1997

Maybe 1985, but 1986 and 1987 were good too.

Maybe a hot take but I think this year has been one of the best for gaming in a long time. We got Claire obscur, kcd2, Hades 2, silksong so far