2025 is a year full of turmoil, high-profile scandals and unexpected shake-ups in the gaming industry. Gamesindustry.biz portal speak about the most important events that happened every month over the past year.
January: Sony ends live service
After Concord's disastrous failure in 2024, Sony abandoned the direct-service strategy the publisher had adopted under Jim Ryan. Thus, in January the company confirmed the cancellation of two unannounced projects from Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. Some analysts say this signals that the industry's 10 years of endlessly chasing profits from such games may be coming to an end.
January: Xbox goes cross-platform
In an interview in January, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft's gaming division, revealed details about Xbox's plans to release exclusive titles on other platforms. The first of these is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, released on PS5 in April. Already in July, there were statistics showing that 6 of the 10 best-selling games on PlayStation in three months were Microsoft projects. And in October, Xbox announced that a remake of the original Halo would also be released on PS5.
February: Monolith Productions closes
Warner Bros Games announced the closure of several studios in February and Monolith Productions was one of the companies laid off. This 30-year-old team is behind popular games like No One Lives Forever, FEAR, and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. At the time of the shutdown, the developers were also working on a Wonder Woman game, which has also now been cancelled.
April: panic over US tariffs
On the day of the Nintendo Switch 2's first launch, US President Donald Trump announced the imposition of punitive tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, leading to uncertainty about how the situation will affect the gaming industry. Nintendo quickly delayed Switch 2 pre-orders in the US; The price of the new product ultimately remained unchanged, but optional accessories for the Switch 2 became more expensive “due to changes in the market.”
Sony said it was considering manufacturing the PlayStation 5 in the US due to tariffs, and classic console maker Anbernic suspended shipments to the US. Nintendo then increased the price of the original Switch in the US by up to 15%, similar to what happened with the PS5 and Xbox Series.
May: Apple vs. the app stores
A US court has issued an injunction prohibiting Apple from collecting a percentage of app sales made outside the App Store; Most likely, this management decision will change the balance of power in the mobile application market. And a month before that, the European Union fined Apple $568 million for banning access to third-party payment methods in the App Store.
Similarly, in October, Google changed the Play Store rules to allow third-party payment systems to be available in the store – again, due to a court order. And in November, Google and Epic Games reached a deal that could theoretically pave the way for third-party app stores on Android devices worldwide.
June: Switch 2 released
Nintendo released the Switch 2 on June 5, and in the first four days the device sold more than 3.5 million copies. Four months later, that number had increased to 10.36 million – double the original Switch's sales during the same period.
But the public soon began to question Nintendo's new platform. Slow and reluctant distribution of development kits to third-party developers, lack of independent games, controversial prospect of digital copies of games over preserving analog media. Additionally, by the end of the year, Switch 2 sales were down 10% compared to Switch figures.
June: Peak became the viral phenomenon of the year
Collaborative climbing simulation game Peak from studios Aggro Crab and Landfall immediately became the main hit of the summer on Steam – by August, the game had sold 10 million copies. Not a bad result for something that started out as just a game jamming project.
July: Sony sued Tencent over the Horizon series
Sony suddenly filed a lawsuit against Chinese media giant Tencent: allegedly the game Light of Motiram is a shameless copy of the Horizon series. Tencent, in turn, accused Sony of trying to establish a monopoly on genre conventions, but ultimately decided to settle the conflict out of court in December.
July: Microsoft mass layoffs
Microsoft cut about 4% of its workforce in July, causing major upheaval for its gaming division. King, Blizzard, Turn 10, Raven Software, ZeniMax Online Studios lost people, and The Initiative completely shut down. Rare's Everwild has been canceled, as has the unannounced MMO ZeniMax.
August: Ravens ratify union contract
Raven Software, part of Activision, has approved its first alliance with Microsoft. The new deal guarantees studio employees a 10% pay raise over two years, as well as eliminating coercion and mandatory overtime notice of at least one week.
September: Hollow Knight: Silksong takes down digital stores
On August 22, Team Cherry finally announced that Hollow Knight: Silksong would release on September 4. Many other developers had to urgently change their own releases so as not to get lost in the midst of perhaps the most anticipated game in recent years. Furthermore, Silksong was so highly anticipated that on release day, literally all the popular digital game stores closed down – including Steam.
September: EA becomes the property of private investors
In late September, Electronic Arts announced that it had been purchased by a group of investors including Saudi Arabian fund PIF, Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. The trading volume was $55 billion, but the group borrowed $20 billion of it. The deal is likely to receive regulatory approvals and is likely to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027.
October: Rockstar layoffs and union breaks up
The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain has accused Rockstar Games of union busting after the studio fired 31 employees who were reportedly trying to unionize in late October. Rockstar's decision led to protests outside the studio's offices, as well as a collective letter protesting the layoffs, signed by 220 Rockstar North employees. The company denied allegations that the developers were fired for “discussing confidential information on a public forum.”
November: Steam Machine announcement
In November, Valve suddenly reminded itself by announcing a new line of devices: the Steam Frame VR headset, the Steam Controller, and the new Steam Machine – essentially their own console. The second one has caused the biggest buzz: Valve will release the device in early 2026, and for the price, it will be comparable to a similarly powerful PC.
December: Warner Bros. take over
Finally, in early December, it was reported that Netflix intended to acquire Warner Bros. for approximately 82.7 billion USD. Soon after, Paramount Skydance launched its own hostile takeover attempt, in defiance of Warner Bros.'s board of directors. advise investors to abandon it. At the same time, Netflix stated in an official press release that the deal does not consider the Warner Bros. gaming division. is a valuable asset. Because of this, many analysts and casual gamers began to worry about what the takeover could mean for the studios within Warner Bros. Games.
