Everyone in the video game business seems to be stuck on a difficult boss level at the beginning of 2025. We understand why this has happened. People changed how they spent their money because of inflation. This negatively impacts sales of consoles and games, filling up markets and making the competition tougher for game devs. As the gaming industry reached a peak after the outbreak, many people lost their jobs. Big companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Discord cut staff to save money.
According to Mat Piscatella, the video games director at Circana, the video game market is starting over after years of just getting by. 2025 is expected to carry significant growth and potential. A faint light at the end of the tunnel is associated with new devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 and the much-anticipated Grand Theft Auto VI. Let’s dig deeper so that you get an idea of what to expect from the gaming industry in 2025.
1. Community Ties Will Still Be Strengthening
According to Twitch’s Diversity in Gaming and Livestreaming Report, 89% of respondents think that gaming helps them connect with people who share their interests or backgrounds. At the same time, 81% think that gaming has helped them make connections with people they might not have met in real life. These numbers show that gaming has a special social value as a way to bring people together, especially those from different backgrounds.
Microsoft even chose to bring back two-way friend calls to Xbox after 10 years because they saw this as a trend that would help players connect with both new and old friends. The fact that Discord is expected to have nearly 689 million users by 2025 shows how popular it is as a place for communities to get together. With 19 million active sites in 2023, most of which are used by gamers, it is still a central place for people from all walks of life to find safe places to meet and talk.
All of these changes show that the gaming industry is putting more effort into improving community features and making games safer and more welcoming places for players to meet and play. If your company is working on your first game or you want to make it better, you can always order software development services for startups and get a solution that meets all the needs of the gaming community.
2. AI Will Have a Big Effect on the Industry
A new study from CVL Economics says that the game industry has already used generative AI more than other industries like TV, movies, or music. A poll of 300 CEOs, execs, and managers for the report also found that 73% of video game companies use creative AI tools for different tasks.
According to CVL’s study, “the gaming industry heavily relies — more so than other entertainment markets — on generative AI to do tasks like creating storyboards, character designs, renders, and animations.” Some experts think that generative AI could be used in more than half of the process of making games in the next five to ten years.
With AI, platforms will also be able to create personalized customer trips for everything — from finding products to checking out, getting them delivered, and even returning and exchanging items. Gaming markets will be able to make personalized suggestions that appeal to customers and get them to buy more by using information about them, such as their viewing and buying habits.
3. Marketplaces Will Diversify Payment Methods
Price is always important, but how people can pay for things has become very important to the whole process of shopping for video games. PayPal says that 77% of customers would leave their shopping carts if they couldn’t use the payment method they wanted. There are both world and local choices here. This coming year, marketplaces need to accept more ways to pay. This lets businesses work on a global scale while still earning the trust of customers in their own markets.
4. Sales Will Be Driven by Exclusivity and Nostalgia
In 2025, old games like Final Fantasy VII, Silent Hill, Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and GTA VI will be brought back to life. The exciting thing about these revivals is that we can see them with better quality and give present fans new material.
A lot of attention is also being paid to “early access” games. It gives developers a chance to get feedback and make changes before the official release date. It also lets companies raise the price in the online store for people who want to play the full version before anyone else. 2.2 million people had already signed up to play EA Sports College Football 25 before it even came out.
5. User-Generated Content Games Will Boost the E-Commerce Industry Growth
User-generated content games (UGC) like Roblox and Fortnite will keep growing as places for independent game developers to work until 2025. Roblox lets more than 70 million people around the world make and share video games on a single website. Those who want to make games can use the site to quickly get input from gamers and make changes to their games. Roblox plans to make it easier for at-home makers to make money by adding more ways to buy things inside games and updating the tools they use to make games in 2025.
Let’s Play!
The video game business is about to start over in 2025, which will bring new chances for creators, sellers, and players alike. We are looking forward to another year of coming up with new ideas, making technological progress, building communities, and, of course, bringing you the most-anticipated games of the year.
