Peter Wright was the defending champion, having defeated Michael Smith in the 2022 final,[1] but he lost 4–1 to Kim Huybrechts in the third round.

[6][7] As part of a four-year contract extension signed in 2021, the event was staged at Alexandra Palace in London.

[11] Dutchman Michael van Gerwen went into the event widely seen as the favourite to lift his fourth championship,[12][13][14][15] with Sky Sports pundits Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster both backing him,[16][17] while rival Gerwyn Price of Wales declared him as "the one to beat".

[20] Ladbrokes, who returned to sponsoring the event as an "official betting partner", gave odds of 13/5 for Van Gerwen.

[25] Gerwyn Price described it as a "great initiative", particularly amid the cost of living crisis in the United Kingdom.

[31] The top seeds behind Price, Wright and Van Gerwen were 2022 Grand Slam of Darts champion Michael Smith, four-time 2022 European Tour event winner Luke Humphries, Cross, Jonny Clayton, and James Wade.

1996 BDO champion Steve Beaton also qualified, extending his record to 32 consecutive World Championship appearances.

[36] As well as Rock, other players making their debuts were Martin Lukeman, Scott Williams, Danny Jansen, Cameron Menzies, John O'Shea and Adam Gawlas.

Other players qualifying via the Pro Tour included Heta's World Cup of Darts teammate Simon Whitlock.

The Euro-Asian Darts Corporation qualifier, which was predominately contested by players from Russia and Belarus, was cancelled after both countries were suspended in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[38] The North American Championship was held for the first time since 2019, having been cancelled the previous two years due to COVID-19 restrictions.

[43] Debutants via the international and invitation qualifiers were Sebastian Białecki (Poland), David Cameron (Canada), Mal Cuming (Australia), Leonard Gates (United States), Beau Greaves (England), Xicheng Han (China), Prakash Jiwa (India), Paolo Nebrida (Philippines), Vladyslav Omelchenko (Ukraine), Robert Owen (Wales), Nathan Rafferty (Northern Ireland), Grant Sampson (South Africa), Danny van Trijp (Netherlands), and Nobuhiro Yamamoto (Japan).

[44] Further seeds passed without much difficulty, with Dirk van Duijvenbode's victory over Karel Sedláček being the only match to go to extra legs, and only a further three games going to the final set.

[47] Reigning champion Peter Wright's title came to an end in the third round, after a 4–1 defeat to Belgian Kim Huybrechts.

[52] Dimitri Van den Bergh beat Huybrechts 4–0 in an all Belgian affair, and Price and Michael Smith both triumphed 4–1 over José de Sousa and Joe Cullen respectively.

This made van den Bergh the first Belgian player to qualify for a semi-final, having been eliminated at the quarter-final stage on two previous occasions.

Dobey only managed to take three legs in the entire match as Van Gerwen won 5–0 with an average of 102.39 to reach his eighth semi-final, and his first since the 2020 tournament.

A break of the Clemens throw in the third leg gave Smith the lead in the eighth set, which he held on to, securing a 6–2 victory and qualifying for his third world final, and second consecutive.

Smith became just the second player to record a nine-dart finish in a PDC World Championship final after Adrian Lewis became the first in 2011 against Gary Anderson.

Van Gerwen then won the deciding leg in the next set to regain the advantage, but a 3–1 win for Smith restored parity.

[67] The draw of the tournament was made by Wayne Mardle and Mark Webster live on Sky Sports News and streamed via YouTube on 28 November 2022.

In the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, the event was broadcast by Sky Sports as part of a seven-year contract signed in 2017 with the PDC.

[115] Pundits for the event included former world champions John Part and Mark Webster, plus Wayne Mardle and Laura Turner.

[115] As part of a two-year contract extension signed in 2021,[116] the tournament was also broadcast via radio station Talksport, with former players Paul Nicholson and Chris Mason among the commentary team.

[118] German coverage was aired on Sport1, and achieved a record viewership for darts in Germany for Gabriel Clemens' semi-final.