Who out of all the consoles had the best year in 2023?

• Nintendo Switch (Switch, Switch Lite, Switch OLED)
• PlayStation 5 (PS5, PS5 Digital, PS5 Slim, PS5 Slim Digital)
• Xbox Series (Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S)
• Steam Deck (Steam Deck, Steam Deck OLED, Steam Deck LCD)
• Oculus Quest 3
• Oculus Quest 2 (Quest 2, Quest 2 Pro)
• PlayStation VR 2
• PlayStation Portal
• Lenovo Legion Go
• Atari 2600+

I want to give a little tidbit of info and I hope you can give reasoning to your decisions as well.

Switch sold in 2023 with over 12.82+ million units and ends 2023 with over 133.17+ million units (totals came from VGChartz Jan-Nov Hardware Charts and articles with Japan sales Nov 27th-Dec 17th).

• 4 Nintendo published games with 90+ metacritic score in 2023
• 14 Nintendo published games released in 2023
• Ended 2023 with 330+ million Nintendo Accounts in 164 countries/regions
• Ended 2023 with 38+ million Nintendo Switch Online subscribers
• 11,000 games in Nintendo Switch Library

PlayStation 5 sold in 2023 with 18.99 million units and ends 2023 with 50 million units (totals came from VGChartz articles)

• 1 Sony Interactive Company published game with 90+ metacritic score in 2023
• 7 Sony Interactive Company published games released in 2023
• Ended 2023 with 123 million monthly active Playstation Network users
• Since Sept 2023 there have been around 50 million PlayStation Plus subscribers
• 627 PS5 games

Xbox Series X/S sold in 2023 with approximately 5.64+ million units and ends 2023 with over 25.37+ million units (totals came from VGChartz Jan-Nov Hardware Charts and articles with Japan sales Nov 27th-Dec 17th).

• 1 Microsoft published with 90+ metacritic score in 2023
• 11 Xbox Game Studios games released in 2023
• Ended 2023 with 120+ million monthly active Microsoft Xbox Network users
• Since Sept 2023 there have been 30 million Xbox Game Pass subscribers
• 417 Xbox Series games

Steam Deck sold in 2023 a minimum of around 2 million units and ends 2023 with over 3+ million units (Multiple Millions Nov 13, 2023)

• 1 Valve published game released in 2023
• Ended 2023 with 132 million monthly active Steam users
• 13,000 playable or verified games

Oculus Quest 3 sold in 2023 a minimum of 69,000 units (November data outside VGChartz)

• 1 Oculus Studios game with 90+ metacritic score
• 1 Oculus Studios game released in 2023

Oculus Quest 2 sold in 2023 a minimum of 1.06 million units (difficult to find sales data) and ends 2023 with over 18+ million units

• 1 Oculus Studios game with 90+ metacritic score
• 1 Oculus Studios game released in 2023

PlayStation VR 2 sold as of March 2023 with 0.6 million units.

PlayStation Portal sold in 2023 over 6.7k units (Spain November and Scalper November data)

Lenovo Legion Go (information unavailable)

Atari 2600+ (information unavailable)

*edit: added Microsoft game with 90+ metacritic score, Xbox Game Studios published changed to Microsoft published, added 7 games that I missed that was published by Microsoft (under their plethora of software companies).

Nintendo Switch. Exclusive first party games like Tears Of The Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Mario RPG, Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime Remastered, Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp and Fire Emblem Engage to name some. Great third party support from big and small developers. I think it had its best year since 2017.

Depends on what metric you use. Exclusives Switch wins easily. PS5 had a great year otherwise.

Dreamcast every year until the end of time.

Second to that in 2023 it was PS5. Switch I barely played in 2023 and I love that thing but it's so clear it's winding down. On my PS5 I was playing a lot of stuff. First time since 2018 I believe I played a modern console more than my Switch.

I do agree, it does depend on the metric.

I guess the metric is the undisputed champion of 2023, so it would encompass every metric.

Since the PlayStation Portal is an option I will say the Wii Tennis Racket had the best year in 2023, the clear MVP imo.

I played the most on PS5, and obviously PS5 specs nuke Switch to say the least.
But I still have to give it to Switch. There are many factors in the quality of a platform, but true exclusives, console exclusives, and even timed exclusives trump almost anything else.
Look at Nintendo's first-party lineup in 2023
-GB and GBA added to NSO
-F-Zero 99
And now onto the retail games
-Fire Emblem Engage
-Metroid Prime Remastered
-Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
-Bayonetta Origins
-Advance Wars 1+2
-The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
-Everybody 1-2 Switch!
-Pikmin 4
-Pikmin 1+2
-Detective Pikachu Returns
-Super Mario Bros. Wonder
-WarioWare: Move It!
-Super Mario RPG
And then there is DLC as well like Future Connected, Booster Course Pass, and others
I'm well aware there's some ports and several remakes in there, but still. That seems like one of the most-stacked lineups from any gaming publisher in history. TOTK was excellent, Wonder is amazing, I'm enjoying Super Mario RPG so far, and there are other titles from that lineup I still want to play.
And of course, tons of multiplats to play.
Sony on the other hand, had a light 2023 in software. I'm well-aware 2020 and 2022 had a lot from them, and they have a lot of third-party games to offer. Third-party games weren't lacking in 2023 on PS5, that's for sure.
Switch gave plenty of reasons in 2023 with its software and DLC to get a Switch or keep using one. Most of the notable titles you can play on PS5 from 2023 you can get on Xbox Series X/S or a PC.

Switch just for the first party games alone.

Switch in my personal opinion.
Tears of the Kingdom and Mario Wonder were incredible, Metroid Prime Remastered sets a gold standard for remasters/remakes, their first party lineup as a whole was the best its been since 2017, third party support remains steady, and there's no sign of the usual end of life slump Nintendo consoles go through.

It's rare for a system to remain compelling to me by the time it gets to this age, and while I admit I'm ready for their next system, its also nice that the Switch is going out gracefully.

From a 1st party standpoint, Switch was the winner. Xbox comes in 2nd, and ps5 in 3rd. Overall, software was great across the board.

From a hardware standpoint, I'll give it to Sony with the release if PSVR2, PS Portal, and Ps5 "Slim" model.
Xbox had 8 1st party releases, not 4 (9 if including Ghostwire Tokyo xbox version).