January in the gaming industry is usually a rather slow month, when high-profile announcements and releases are extremely rare. Developers and publishers seem to be catching their breath after the holiday season and preparing to implement plans of varying levels of ambition. In the meantime, this is the perfect time to try to analyze what the next year has in store for us.
You will find such predictions for the year 2025 in the text below. They are based on the opinions of experts and analytical companies, as well as a bit of our own judgment and understanding of the situation on the gaming market. At the end of the year, we will be able to return to this text to assess how well we looked into the future.
Grand Theft Auto VI will become the most successful game in history – if it is released in time
It seems that absolutely no one doubts the phenomenal success of Grand Theft Auto VI right now. This is despite the fact that we know relatively little about the game, and the only high-profile promotional materials it has is the first trailer, which was released in December 2023. Since then, Rockstar Games has remained silent, and fans have been actively generating theories. Meanwhile, Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell successfully: back in September 2024, the game reached 205 million copies sold.
Analysts believe that the developers of GTA VI will be able to earn more than $1 billion from pre-orders alone. This will be another record for Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive. And in the first year of its existence, the game will bring in another $3.2 billion. This is twice as much as GTA V's results for the same period. Let's not forget that Grand Theft Auto VI will also be supported for years through online modes, so it will bring an incredibly stable cash flow. And we are not mentioning the huge number of innovations and unique solutions that the GTA games have always been famous for.
However, there is a possibility that Grand Theft Auto VI will not reach players in 2025. Rockstar Games is known for regularly postponing its key games by several weeks or even months. GTA VI still doesn't have an exact release date, only the end of 2025 is known. It is too big and ambitious a game, so it is quite possible that it will move to 2026. Famous gaming journalist Jason Schreier also shares this opinion.
Nintendo Switch 2 is closer than you might think
The original Switch was released in 2017 and was a huge success for Nintendo, especially against the backdrop of the failed Wii U. The hybrid console brought back the on-the-go or literally anywhere game, which had fallen by the wayside after Sony was not satisfied with the PlayStation Vita's performance. The Switch indirectly influenced the emergence of Steam Deck and other similar devices, and gave us a huge number of outstanding games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which is still selling well.
Nintendo is known for its secrecy and lack of publicity, so when it was officially announced in May 2024 that a successor to the Switch was in the works, it was big news. But since then, the company has remained silent. However, at the beginning of 2025, the Internet was literally flooded with photos of mockups and accessories for the alleged Switch 2, although the console still has no name. It is rumored that the official presentation may take place in mid-January 2025.
So far, everything looks like Switch 2 will be just an improved version of Switch, something on par with PS4 Pro. That is, the jump in graphics will be noticeable, but Nintendo is famous for innovation, which is still lacking in the leaks of information about the new console. This is already causing some concerns. However, this is unlikely to affect good sales of the system and games.
Ubisoft's fate is being decided right now
Almost all of the latest news about Ubisoft boils down to the phrase "things are bad." XDefiant did not repeat the success of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, so the servers will be closed soon, sales of Star Wars Outlaws were not saved even by the strength of the Star Wars brand, and revenues continue to decline. And Assassin's Creed Shadows has already been postponed twice, with the risk of postponing the game once again.
Ubisoft has long fought for independence from Vivendi, which sought to aggressively take over the company. However, in 2025, the famous gaming studio once again faced the risk of being absorbed and losing its independence. It is the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows and the game's financial performance that will be decisive for the future of Ubisoft.
If the game is successful enough, investors will be assured that the Ubisoft formula still works and is capable of generating significant amounts of money. If not, the company will have to go through several stages of serious reorganization. In fact, the transformation is already underway, and it's happening fast. With the latest announcement about the postponement of the Assassin's Creed Shadows release date, it also became known that the company is cutting costs by €200 million and is also working with independent financial organizations to improve its internal situation and find the best potential buyer. Hopefully, these changes will not affect Ubisoft's Ukrainian studios. There are even financial reasons for this: the cost of development in Ukraine is one of the cheapest in the world, and Ukrainian Ubisoft offices do not require as much money as French and Canadian ones.
As for who might become the new owner of Ubisoft if Assassin's Creed Shadows fails, it is the Chinese Tencent, which already owns 9.99% of the company's shares. Yes, the same Tencent, which is considered one of the largest gaming companies in the world, is actively buying up Western studios, and recently got on the Pentagon's blacklist as a supplier to the Chinese army.
Hollow Knight: Silksong may finally reach players
Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced back in 2019. What was originally supposed to be DLC for the original Hollow Knight turned into one of the most anticipated games. Still, Hollow Knight turned out to be outstanding as a metroidvania and simply an adventure game. There is enough information about Hollow Knight: Silksong is enough, it's not the phantom marketing of GTA VI, but the game is still not released.
Once it seemed that we would finally see it. In 2022, the official Xbox Twitter/X account said that the game would be released during the following year (2023). However, this never happened, making Hollow Knight: Silksong even more mysterious.
However, in 2025, hope for the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong is still coming back. The original Hollow Knight was a great success on Nintendo Switch, so the release of the Switch successor could have a positive impact on the game's potential release. Moreover, some insiders have become more active with rumors surrounding the game's release this year.
There will be more AI in games, but this is not necessarily good or bad
Generative artificial intelligence is one of the things that cause ambiguous attitudes on the part of players. On the one hand, it can greatly simplify work in almost any field. On the other hand, the ethicality of its use is still a big question mark, and the results are not always good. The gaming industry is actively looking at AI, but we still haven't seen any good games or just some good examples.
The year 2025 may be crucial for the fate of AI in the gaming industry. While the CEO of Electronic Arts believes in AI as a game changer, creators around the world only criticize literally everything from neural networks. Very strange games created with the help of artificial intelligence only reinforce doubts. The gap between managers who want to "optimize" everything with AI and specialists is only growing.
This year, we can already see games from large and well-known studios with some important elements made with the help of AI. It is the reaction to such projects from both players and developers that will decide whether neural networks will take root among game developers. At the same time, AI already has a huge potential for NPC development: neural networks can make interaction with characters in games more lively, unpredictable, and interesting. And tools such as ChatGPT are already actively used to organize internal workflows, and quite successfully.
Layoffs in the gaming industry are not over yet, but the situation will get better
Over the past couple of years, the video game development industry has been hardly a stable place for employment. Constant layoffs, closures, and reorganizations have put tens of thousands of people out of work. And these are only the cases known to the public; some closures and redundancies are taking place in the shadows.
It may seem that the industry has begun to "heal" - or, more precisely, to return to normal after the abnormal rise due to the coronavirus epidemic, when everyone stayed home and played games. However, in 2025, there have already been several cuts and "optimizations". So, don't think that game development is again about big money and stable earnings. The massive layoffs of recent years have only emphasized the tendency that work in the gaming industry is often limited to one stable project for several years with the risk of losing your job while preparing for the next game.
At the same time, there will definitely be fewer layoffs and studio closures. Large companies are approaching the final stages of financial optimization, and the market has returned to stable economic performance after a sharp decline. So now we can work relatively calmly with the current economic and social situation in the world. The increase in the number of open positions in various studios only shows that the video game market has improved.
Talks around woke games will not disappear, but Western developers will change their approaches
In 2024, talk about the "leftist agenda" in video games, "woke" development methods, and other, let's be honest, somewhat far-fetched first-world problems reached a peak. The name of the studio Sweet Baby Inc. has become a common phraseology, and each new release and announcement is discussed separately by players on the topic of the attractiveness of the main characters and the socio-political aspects of the world.
In 2025, these conversations will not disappear, they are too deeply rooted in the gaming community - especially among those who do not play games but like to discuss them. Even opinion leaders such as Elon Musk and former Blizzard Entertainment developer Mark Kern are only fueling such discussions. The situation with Kern is particularly interesting because he hasn't been able to release his own game for eight years, and instead is looking for traces of the "woke" virus everywhere.
However, the failures of games like Dustborn, which emphasized inclusivity, will definitely force developers to reconsider their approaches to the topic. After all, the main moral is as follows: players don't buy sexy character models or important contemporary thoughts, but rather interesting games. But then it is important to maintain a balance and not start flirting with the wrong audience, as happened with the developers of Lords of the Fallen. CI Games stated that they are against DEI elements in the studio's games, but players noticed that instead of choosing a gender in the Lords of the Fallen character editor, the player chooses "Body Type A" or "Body Type B". There was also some general criticism of the game's quality.
Donald Trump's presidency will make its own adjustments
This point is directly related to the previous one. President Joe Biden was more democratic and leaned toward the left of the political spectrum. It was during his tenure that the gaming community saw the intensification of conversations about DEI in games. Donald Trump is a more conservative person who promotes traditional values. Just like his electorate. Given that many game developers and publishers are based in the United States, the new president will definitely have an impact on the global gaming industry.
This applies not only to content but also to more specific things like budgets. Under the Trump administration, console prices could rise by 40% due to higher taxes on imports from China. Also, Trump, as a conservative, is concerned about the "somewhat" far-fetched issue of violence and cruelty in video games.
The US can monitor the gaming industry more closely and make adjustments. This is particularly important in the context of large deals like Microsoft's with Activision Blizzard. In addition, developers are worried about deteriorating working conditions and security guarantees. There are also situations when liberal-minded people want to leave the US during Trump's presidential term. Video game developers are among them.
The balance of power in the industry will shift towards new regions and markets
Another point that follows from the previous one, but not only. The cost of video game development continues to rise, and not only because of the complexity of technology and the complexity of interaction between different specialists and departments. Real estate and the cost of living in general continue to rise in price, and this is also felt in America. The hundred-million-dollar budgets of AAA games include even the banal cost of renting a room, transportation, and food. That is why large companies are looking for cheaper regions to continue operations and cut costs.
Against this background, Asian countries look like the most attractive option. We have already described in a separate large text how Asian countries are strengthening their presence in the video game market. In short, there are plenty of highly skilled professionals there who have even worked with top Western game studios, but they ask for several times less money. At the same time, many Asian developers are highly motivated: they work not only for money or a good project in their portfolio, but also to represent their country well on the world stage.
The emergence of new studios at increasingly higher prices is possible in literally any region. Eastern Europe also looks like an attractive option because of its affordable prices. We also dream about the growth of Ukraine's attractiveness in the eyes of investors, especially after the success of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and the quality work of various foreign development studios during the full-scale war. Unfortunately, a complete change in attitude towards investment in the Ukrainian gaming industry remains a pleasant fantasy until the end of hostilities, but anything is possible.
Microsoft can finally strike back with good games
Microsoft has been actively buying up studios for several years in a row. The acquisitions of ZeniMax Media and Activision Blizzard were particularly high-profile. At the same time, the Xbox Series X|S is still not able to compete with the PlayStation 5 on equal terms. As of September 2024, the situation is almost twice as favorable for Sony: PlayStation 5 - 62 million consoles sold (including all versions), Xbox Series X/S - 30 million consoles sold.
In 2025, Microsoft's policy may finally start to bear fruit. In 2024, the company has already distinguished itself with extremely high-quality Senua's Saga: Hellblade II and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which, although not a financial success, have received good reviews from players and critics. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II was also recognized at The Game Awards 2024. Microsoft has prepared a strong set of games for this year. Avowed, The Outer Worlds 2, and Doom: The Dark Ages alone are worth it.
At the same time, it seems that the company is becoming less interested in selling games and even consoles, and more interested in engaging players in the overall Xbox ecosystem and Game Pass subscriptions. The advertising campaign that many things can become Xbox only confirms this. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly difficult to evaluate the success of Xbox games by sales figures and even just the number of players. Therefore, we are waiting to see where Microsoft's gaming journey will lead next, while looking forward to its announcements and releases.
Movie adaptations of video games will become commonplace
Once upon a time, video game adaptations in the format of movies or TV series were rather a cause for ridicule, as they did not stand out for their quality. Let's be honest, even in 2024, there were quite a few dubious attempts to bring video games to the big and small screens. For example, the authors of the second season of Halo didn't seem to understand why people love this series of shooters.
However, the successes of Sonic The Hedgehog 3, the Fallout series, and the second season of Arcane show that game adaptations can be excellent, even masterpieces, without being strictly dependent on the original source. So in 2025, there will be even more video games in the format of movies and TV series.
We already know about the adaptations of Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy's 2, and the second season of The Last of Us. And that's just to name a few. Sony seems to want to turn all its games into movies, TV series, and cartoons. So the consolidation of different media formats around video games will only continue.
The race for gaming services will slow down, and current giants will become even bigger
A few years ago, almost all large - and even very small - studios dreamed of having their own game service that would bring them money for years. Yet the money made by Fortnite, Roblox, GTA V, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, and other similar games is a fantasy for many developers. Even Sony, with its current emphasis on blockbuster games, decided to enter this field. But then Concord happened - with a sad ending.
This story has become indicative for everyone. After all, it turned out that even Sony's money, resources, and talents do not guarantee success when it comes to game services. This is at a time when Helldivers II was actively growing its player base, although almost no one expected it to perform so well. No major company likes this kind of ad hoc dependency, so we will see fewer attempts to create game services.
As a result, the existing leading games of the genre, such as Grand Theft Auto Online, Counter-Strike 2, Call Of Duty: Warzone, and Fortnite, will become even bigger and more expensive. However, this does not mean that new game services will disappear altogether. At least Dune Awakening, Project Ethos, and Splitgate 2 will be released. These are smaller games that will either finally dash all hopes of earning money from game services and show that the market is overheated, or become another unexpected success that will bring millions of dollars in profit.
The crisis in the field of gaming media will worsen
In 2024, the crisis hit not only game studios but also gaming media. The closure of the famous game magazine Game Informer alone is worth a lot. Journalists in general actively lost their jobs in 2024, and the field of game journalism was no exception.
In 2024, the IGN Entertainment conglomerate bought a number of well-known websites, including Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz, Rock Paper Shotgun, and VG247. As a result, many professionals also lost their jobs. It's ironic that not much is written about this anymore, because it was the people who were fired who covered such events. And in 2025, the situation may become even worse.
At the same time, the gaming community is rather gloating about such news, as the gap between gaming journalists and ordinary players has been growing for years. We are likely to see less and less traditional gaming media and more and more gaming sections on global sites like Forbes, The Verge, and Bloomberg.
Some major studio acquisitions and mergers are likely
The good financial performance of game studios during the coronavirus pandemic allowed many companies to actively buy up smaller studios. It was then that talk of consolidation and potentially dangerous monopolization of video game development began. The crisis in the industry has slowed down these processes, but this does not mean that they have stopped altogether.
In addition to the obvious Ubisoft, other large studios may lose their independence. Among them are even Electronic Arts and Epic Games, which are being looked at by Disney. Discord may also go public and be taken over. And Kadokawa Corporation, which owns FromSoftware, Spike Chunsoft, and many other companies, may become part of Sony.
Rumors of varying degrees of reliability also circulate about the following companies: Warner Bros. Games, Remedy Entertainment (Tencent already has a 14% stake), SHIFT UP Corporation (authors of Stellar Blade), and some other studios.
Maybe the world will finally wait for Half-Life 3
It's a bit strange to write this in 2025, but yes, rumors about Half-Life 3 are spreading on the Internet again. The most mystical game of our time began to appear in the information space on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Half-Life 2. A cryptic message on January 1 from Mike Shapiro, who voiced the character G-Man in the Half-Life games, only fueled the players' interest.
Now, fans are actively following SteamDB to be the first to learn about any hints of Half-Life 3. And if the game is indeed released in 2025, then the Grand Theft Auto VI titan will have an extremely serious competitor.
What do you expect from gaming in 2025? What predictions can you make on your own, which of the above seem most likely to you? Share your thoughts in the comments.
The list of the most anticipated games of 2025 can be found in a separate article.