2025 is a make-or-break year for the gaming industry with many massive releases planned for this year. After a year of layoffs, studio closures, and acquisitions, many people are left wondering, where will the industry go from here?
2024, while a good year economically with the industry growing in worth, had catastrophic effects on the culture of the industry. Throughout the year, 14,600 people were laid off, which includes developers from both indie and AAA studios. In 2023, 10,500 jobs were lost. This shows a trend with more and more developers losing their jobs each year. With this outrageous number of layoffs, the industry has seen a decline in morale with smaller, indie studios have been forced to shut down or be bought out by a bigger corporation, and game projects have been cancelled entirely. This, coupled with rising development costs, has forced the gaming industry to attempt new business models in order to make money. Katsuhiro Harada, producer for Bandai Namco, reported that games now cost ten times more to make compared to what they did in the 90’s. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, believes that the solution is to expand the demand for games by reaching out to potential consumers who do not play video games. The shift in strategy can also be seen by Warner Bros. Gaming, who has attempted to create free-to-play, live service games that can have a long lifespan and contain microtransactions. This has not proven to be effective for them, as their biggest game of this description, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, lost the company $200 million.
Another issue with the industry is the overworking of game developers and creators. Many developers feel that they’re being incredibly overworked and it’s impacting their performance.
Overall, the gaming industry does have some serious issues afflicting it, but the future is not completely bleak.
This year has some incredibly massive releases planned, both game and console wise. Unarguably the biggest potential release of the year is Grand Theft Auto VI, which has been anticipated since its prequel, GTA V, came out in 2013. The first trailer for GTA VI came out in 2023 with no information being released since. GTA VI returns to its series’ roots and takes place in the fictional ‘Vice City,’ which is based on Miami. The GTA series has resonated with fans for its humor and fun gameplay since its’ release with Grand Theft Auto in 1997. The series has changed in countless ways since then, the biggest constant has been the fact that the series parodies real world events in an insane manner. While Rockstar, the studio behind the GTA franchise, has yet to confirm an official release date, they have stated that it will release this year. However, Rockstar has been known to delay their major releases in the past, such as with Red Dead Redemption 2 being delayed by nearly a full year. If GTA VI does release this year, however, it is expected to make $3.2 billion in its first year, with some speculating that the game will make over a billion in pre-orders alone.
Besides GTA VI, there are many other major releases planned for this year. These include Ghost of Yotei, the long-awaited sequel to the hit game by Sucker Punch Productions Ghost of Tsushima, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, an entry set in feudal Japan in the incredible franchise, and Elden Ring: Nightreign, a spinoff of the Game of the Year 2022 winner Elden Ring created by FromSoft Studios. A remake of the classic game Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater is also planned for release this year, titled Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, which is still helmed by the beloved game developer Hideo Kojima. Marvel Rivals, the Marvel hero-shooter game in which teams of 6 compete to complete an objective while fighting as their favorite Marvel hero or villain, continued its strong launch in late December of 2024 with its second season, which added four new playable characters and many game modes and maps. A new entry in the Pokémon franchise is also planned for this year, with Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
Another major release this year is the Nintendo Switch 2, the long-awaited successor to the Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch took the world by storm when it first released in 2017, and has since become the third highest selling console in the world, behind the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2. This was a massive from the colossal failure that was the Wii U, which only sold 13.56 million units, in comparison to the Xbox One and the PS4, consoles of the same generation, selling around 58 million units and around 117.2 million units, respectively. The Switch selling that well was a massive break for the company. The Switch has had a long lifespan for a home console, with it having been around for 7 years total. In that time, fans have speculated countless times about the release of a sequel to the Nintendo Switch, only to be met with disappointment. But, on January 16th of this year, a reveal trailer was released. In only two weeks, the video on YouTube received 19 million views and it’s received countless more on the Nintendo website and on X (formerly known as Twitter). Along with the reveal of the console, a new game in Mario Kart 9 was shown off. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe released in 2017 with the release of the Switch and is the 5th highest selling game of all time. However, it is only a revamped version of Mario Kart 8, released in 2014, with added maps and characters. People have been playing this game for years now, so a new entry in the series brings a much-awaited change.
While this is a big year for Nintendo, it much be approached delicately. This is the first Nintendo console in years without some involvement by Satoru Iwata, who passed away from cancer in 2015. Iwata helped the company tremendously by developing a compression tool that allowed Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver to store more data, allowing the franchise to continue into what it is today. When Iwata took over as president of Nintendo, he turned the company around from its $15 million yen debt into the multi-billion-dollar corporation it is today. Iwata made the people feel that Nintendo was their friend. Without Iwata, Nintendo has felt emptier and more corporate.
The gaming industry is at an odd stage. While there are many fantastic games being released, the business practices performed by some companies have left a sour taste in many consumer and developers’ mouths. Due to the layoffs, it is increasingly hard for companies to release games on time, which has disappointed many people. But, perhaps with 2025 being such a major year for the industry, we’ll see a change.
