tech
December 22, 2025
State of play: who holds the power in the video games industry in 2025?
This year has brought us many brilliant video games – but as wealth continues to concentrate, and games are used to exert economic and political influence, we need to keep an eye on the top players
TL;DR
- Small-scale games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Hollow Knight: Silksong achieved significant success, highlighting that high-quality games don't require massive budgets.
- The Nintendo Switch 2 was released and well-received, revitalizing enthusiasm for gaming despite external economic pressures.
- The industry faced a 'reckoning' with late-capitalist forces, leading to over 5,000 job losses and the closure of studios like Monolith Productions.
- AI disruption increased, with companies pushing AI technologies and facing pushback from workers.
- Video game worker unions gained prominence, with new formations like the United Videogame Workers in the US and Canada and increased visibility for the UK's IWGB Game Workers Union.
- Industry consolidation continued, notably with Saudi Arabia's PIF making large investments in companies like EA and Niantic.
- The intersection of games with politics became more apparent, with political figures and movements utilizing game imagery and themes.
- The author acknowledges their own left-leaning, inclusive perspective, informed by skepticism of corporate power, as a journalist for The Guardian.
Continue reading the original article