State of Play: Who Holds the Power in the Video Games Industry in 2025?

The video games industry in 2025 finds itself caught between the familiar forces of consolidation and job losses that have plagued creative industries, and a newer development: governments and the ultra-wealthy have begun treating games as tools of political influence. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund closed a $55 billion deal for EA this year and acquired Niantic, the makers of Pokemon Go, in March.

Microsoft's 2023 acquisition of Activision already signaled the direction of travel. The workforce has borne the costs of this consolidation. More than 5,000 jobs have been lost in the industry this year, and several studios have shuttered, including Monolith Productions. The instability has pushed unions into greater prominence: United Videogame Workers formed in the US and Canada in March as part of the Communications Workers of America, and the firing of 30 staff from Rockstar Games in the UK brought the IWGB Game Workers Union into the spotlight.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has posted AI-generated images of the president as Halo's Master Chief and used Pokemon and Halo memes to recruit for ICE.

Panem et circenses

[PPH]

Gotta keep the masses entertained and uneducated about politics.

The Consumers

[zenlessyank]

Problem is that they don't realize it.

Re:

[UnknowingFool]

Oh they are starting to realize it. For example, 5 of the 6 Game of the Year nominees in 2025 were from independent studios and not the big developers. Three of the games (Expedition 33, Silksong, Hades II) were priced below the "standard" price of $70. Consumers are starting to reject $70 games they feel are mediocre or poorly made (Call of Duty Black Ops 7, Monster Hunter Wilds, Mindseye, etc)

Re:

[Berkyjay]

Game awards are meaningless and this idea that consumers are rejecting pricy AAA games is flat out wrong.

https://www.gamespot.com/galle... [gamespot.com]

Re:

[UnknowingFool]

Game awards are meaningless

Game awards bring publicity to games. If the general public did not know about Expedition 33 before it won Game of the Year, they do now. After the award, I saw many YouTube game streamers load new videos along the lines of "Since Expedition 33 won Game of the Year, I bought it and streaming game play."

and this idea that consumers are rejecting pricy AAA games is flat out wrong.

Call of Duty Black Op7 sold 80% fewer copies than Black Ops 6 a year ago. [purexbox.com]
Hunter Monster Wilds is being outsold by the 4 year old Hunter Monster Rise. [pcgamer.com] .
Mindseye had less than 4000 concurrent players at laun [80.lv]

Re:

[Berkyjay]

Rationalize it however you want. Indie games never sell more than AAA. Expedition 33 has sold 5 million units in all of 2025. Battlefield 6 has sold 10 million in just one month.

Re:

[UnknowingFool]

Rationalize it however you want.

You presented no actual data other than a relative ranking which does not indicate anything. Again, Call of Duty BO7 was 80% less than BO6 when compared to the exact timelines.

Indie games never sell more than AAA. Expedition 33 has sold 5 million units in all of 2025. Battlefield 6 has sold 10 million in just one month.

And you just ignored Mindseye and Call of Duty BO7 combined is less than Expedition 33. Cherry picking numbers does not help your case.

legal talks regarding pay etc leaking information

[Joe_Dragon]

If they are calling legal talks regarding pay / work hours / work rules / work conditions etc as leaking information. Then they can face an big fine and be forced to rehire workers with back pay.

Money more than politics

[jddimarco]

Video games are a big and rapidly growing market: there's a lot of money to be made. Monopolies are being formed to capture more of that money. Yes, some of those monopolies will be political (the Saudi example is a good one) and that can be worrisome if they impose their politics on the games they fund, but if they do, it can backfire. When games become strongly political, it risks annoying the people who disagree with the game's political message, which can hurt sales more than it helps. The games that do

Another post by msmash...

[CodeInspired]

Making things political when they are not. It's just video games. Their workers aren't slaves. They are incredibly competent coders who chose their profession. Could easily walk away and pick up a job somewhere else in the industry.

a newer development: governments and the ultra-wealthy have begun treating games as tools of political influence

This is a reach at best. Pokemon GO and EA games are not influencing children's politics. The same way they are not influencing their violent behaviors. It's a stupid argument.

Re:

[Dixie_Flatline]

Everything is political. If you don't think that merely existing is political, you've a) got your head buried...somewhere; and b) you're probably some affluent dude that doesn't have to consider other people.

Either way, fuck all the way off.

Like, it's deeply obnoxious to me as a game developer that you can sit and say that huge sovereign wealth funds buying up studios isn't political. That allowing huge anti-competitive mergers isn't political. That workers and their rights aren't political. That the work a

Re:

[CodeInspired]

You have a far too low Slashdot ID to be spouting such nonsense. They are just games. It's not real. Kids know this. They don't even need government warnings. Anything political about this is made up by you and other simple-minded people like you. Your work isn't that important. It's political theatre at best.

Re:

[Dixie_Flatline]

I'm not trying to claim my work is IMPORTANT. I'm saying that politics is inescapable, particularly when a) money; or b) children are involved.

Just games, christ. Microsoft bought Activision-Blizzard for $70 BILLION. How is that 'not real'?

That's like saying music is 'not real' or movies 'aren't real'. Music, TV, movies, games. They're all culture. It takes a distinctly ignorant person to sit here and say otherwise.

Trump? As Mastr Chief?

[Toad-san]

I hope they sue his ass off for stealing even the _thought_ of such an image.

Steam and nVidia

[BrendaEM]

We are just peasants stumbling through the sheriff's expensive forest.

The investors and shareholders of course

[Z80a]

People that demand studios and publishers to follow stupid buzzwords instead of understanding anything about it

Dustborn

[Kunedog]

a newer development: governments and the ultra-wealthy have begun treating games as tools of political influence

Oh, they must be talking about Dustborn, which was funded by the EU to push the establishment narrative about misinformation (among other topics).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Those who own DRM-free games

[devslash0]

I enjoy old games much more than modern games. I can play them at my own pace, whenever I have time, no in-game purchases gives my completionist brain a big dopanime boost whenever I 100% a game... Why would you need modern, always-conntected and always-advertised games? Just because it's a new shiny thing? Just because everyone else has / talks about it and the social pressure gets to you?

Grow up. Stop being a sheep.