Introduction: For the most part, 2024 has been a challenging year for the video game industry – the same applies to both the businesses and the consumers in this entertainment space. The coming year has raised many hopes about the reversal of those trends. Furthermore, several big moments in the next 12 months should be cornerstones of that process. Among them are hardware developments, mainly Switch 2 from Nintendo, as well as big gaming releases like the hotly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6. These, supplemented by the first Olympic Esports Games give many a reason to believe that the gaming fortunes will turn positive with the coming New Year.
Article: The ebb and flow of the video game industry often produces much bigger waves than other businesses working in the broader entertainment domain. The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 saw a huge injection of funds into the gaming space, with more people than ever being home and willing to spend additional money on their favorite video games and game-related accessories. Then, the industry prospects began to dwindle in early 2023, as the strain on the global economy began to increase. From its record-breaking highs, the gaming industry began waning, and soon, layoffs, studio closures, and project cancellations became the new norm. The last year brought a generally similar atmosphere to the gaming ecosystem.
It had its share of big hits and other important developments, but for the majority of the time, 2024 felt like a continuation of a very negative trend. Now, 2025 is here and while it is poised to be challenging as well, several important upcoming moments could turn the tide. These cover both developments in gaming hardware production and new gaming releases. The coming year will be important for the AAA video game developers, but in many ways, it will be crucial for the independent studios as well. Lastly, 2025 will even include a huge gaming event in the form of the first Olympic Esports Games that will take place in Saudi Arabia. Individually and combined, these do stand a chance to make a much-needed difference in the global gaming industry, but they also provide a breath of fresh air for the consumers as well.
Switch 2 by Nintendo
There were many nay-sayers when Nintendo initially launched its Switch gaming console. Back in 2017, this hybrid home and portable system seemed like an odd choice, especially considering how much of the console market was steadily held by Microsoft and Sony in the mid-2010s. However, it turned out to be a big hit and managed to carve its way into the market. Now, Switch 2 will launch somewhere in 2025 and could turn out to be a death sentence for the struggling Xbox systems over the coming decade. That would make Switch and PlayStation the two biggest console choices and thus remake the same niche drastically – despite this, there is very little official information on Switch 2. However, the console will likely have substantially better hardware and backward compatibility for original Switch games. Those two factors alone could turn it into a better-selling product than the first Switch.
GTA 6
Rockstar Games continues to press on with its development of the new installment of the Grand Theft Auto series. So far, the gaming audiences got a trailer more than a year ago, defining the game’s scope and setting. But, since then, different sources have been coming out and praising the upcoming game’s realism and immersiveness, as well as its next-generation graphics. If even half of the rumors are true, GTA 6 will be a video game unlike anything seen before, which will offer a level of experience considered to be science fiction just 10 or 15 years ago. Among these are AI systems like the one controlling police officers in the game, which will now act as human beings and follow actual police procedures. Older Rockstar Games titles like Red Dead Redemption 2 had elements of this approach, but it looks like GTA 6 will take the same notion much further. Due to this, the game could become the best-selling release of all time before the end of the year, following its launch somewhere in the fall of 2025. In any case, it will not be long after the launch when the game manages to generate its first one billion USD in revenue.
Indie Breakout Hits and Discoverability Problems
The industry experts agree that the coming year will showcase more breakout indie hits than ever before. Games like Balatro will become a regular occurrence and more and more people will play them. At the same time, in 2024, Steam published 19,000 new games. Out of those, a huge majority did not find any audience, including really well-made titles. That paradox of more quality indie games than ever and fewer ways for them to stand out will plague the next year if there is no improvement concerning making game discoveries easier. That does not impact just Steam, but practically any gaming market that holds indie releases. Right now, it is clear that the old mechanisms are failing everyone apart from the publishing platforms, but these too could feel the pinch of dropping using bases in the coming period.
Olympic Esports Games
The last major moment of the upcoming 2025 gaming landscape is the Olympic Esports Games. It will be held in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia after the OIC brokered a 12-year deal with the same nation for its housing. The country has already pledged massive amounts of money to the organization, but the process has not been without controversy, with some esports players and fans boycotting the event due to the Saudi government’s human rights records. But, despite that, the event is bound to attract global attention, especially outside of the regular gaming circles. In the long term, it could be a watershed moment if esports become a part of the regular Olympic competitions.
Year of Change
For better or worse, 2025 will be a year of change for the gaming industry. The models of doing business that are presently failing will continue to fail in the coming months and companies will have to make some changes. At the same time, the big moments of GTA 6 coming out and the Olympic Esports Games will attract new audiences, which is ultimately crucial for any industry. The question is whether or not will the wider business of gaming entertainment manage to adapt to that influx of new players, or will they simply fall through the cracks of faltering companies.
Author: Ivica Milaric, game designer and assistant professor of game design at the Novi Sada Academy of Arts, Republic of Serbia