GamesIndustry.biz's Top Features of 2025: A Year in Review

As the year draws to a close, we're taking a moment to reflect on the exceptional range of features published on GamesIndustry.biz in 2025. With the new year rapidly approaching, we've curated a list of highlights that are definitely worth revisiting. Below, you'll find a collection of our top picks, showcasing the most insightful and engaging stories from the world of gaming. We had the opportunity to speak with the masterminds behind some of the year's biggest games, including Tonda Ros, creator of Blue Prince, and the teams behind Dispatch and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. François Meurisse from Sandfall Interactive and Matthew Handrahan from Kepler Interactive shared their perspectives on the benefits of maintaining smaller team sizes. We also delved into the impact of major hits on studios' plans, such as Brandon Sheffield discussing the postponement of Demonschool to avoid clashing with Hollow Knight: Silksong. Additionally, we looked ahead to upcoming titles, featuring interviews with Quantic Dream about their unexpected foray into MMOs with Spellcasters Chronicles, and Neon Giant about No Law and their enduring love for cyberpunk. Our site gathered reactions from industry leaders on significant events, including the surprise buyout of EA, the rebranding of GDC as a 'Festival of Gaming', the delay of GTA 6, and the impending acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix. We examined the shortage of Switch 2 development kits at launch and questioned the co-founder of Metacritic about the site's inner workings. Jeremy Peel explored the crackdown on adult content by Steam and itch.io, as well as the blocking of games and websites under the UK's newly introduced Online Safety Act. BAFTA's executive director of awards and content revealed the judging process for the BAFTA Games Awards, while two studios shared their experiences with the challenging issue of layoffs. Unity provided insights into recovering from the Runtime Fee debacle, and the head of Godot discussed how the open-source engine has benefited from the episode and continues to grow. One of our most popular features was an in-depth look at what went wrong with the To The Moon Expo at the Birmingham NEC, and we interviewed Santa Ragione co-founder Pietro Righi Riva about the potential consequences of Steam's ban on their game Horses. Finally, we zoomed out to consider the future of the games industry, asking whether it will experience growth or plateau, and featuring a two-part analysis by analysts, including former PlayStation head Shawn Layden, on the industry's current challenges and potential trajectory. We also explored the trend of transmedia and its implications for game adaptations, discussing the success of A Minecraft Movie and the struggles of Thatgamecompany to find funding for a movie based on Sky: Children of the Light. The rise of relatively small games on Steam was another area of focus, with Rick Lane examining the success of Schedule I, and the emergence of VR natives – young people who primarily play multiplayer games in VR. While the conventional wisdom advises against chasing gaming trends, Allan Smith shared his experience of pivoting his game to capitalize on the popularity of Vampire Survivors, involving some late nights in the process. The push towards unionization in the games industry continued, with the IWGB union and ZA/UM sharing their efforts and successes. In terms of technology, we spoke to the teams behind the new game bundle platform Digiphile, the 'Goodreads for games' app Playnist, and the AI NPC concept Teammates from Ubisoft. We also examined the challenges and opportunities of user-generated content and discussed the shift towards smaller games with Devolver Digital and 11-Bit Studios. Throughout the year, company heads shared their insights with GamesIndustry.biz, including Playstack CEO Harvey Elliott on the success of Balatro and Abiotic Factor, Build A Rocket Boy head Leslie Benzies on MindsEye and Everywhere, and ProbablyMonsters founder Harold Ryan on pivoting from AAA to smaller titles. Other notable interviews included Atari CEO Wade Rosen on purchasing Thunderful, Relic Entertainment CEO Justin Dowdeswell on making games more quickly, and Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy on the company's focus on Runescape. Wizards of the Coast president John Hight discussed his hopes for creating a new Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG, while Tetris Company CEO Maya Rogers emphasized the need for more women in the games industry. Revolution Software head Charles Cecil shared his thoughts on the 'expensive mistake' of using AI in Broken Sword: Reforged, and Amplitude Studios co-founder Romain de Waubert de Genlis explained why the studio had to break away from Sega. Bonfire Studios head Rob Pardo discussed the nine-year development of the PvP multiplayer title Arkheron, and Tencent Games VP Yong-yi Zhu outlined the company's strategy for its Western studios and Chinese development teams. IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak talked about James Bond, Hitman, Dispatch, and the GTA 6 delay, while Coherence head Dino Patti shared his vision for making multiplayer easy and his experiences with Playdead. As we looked back on the year, several features on GamesIndustry.biz examined the history of gaming and the importance of preserving it. Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick expressed his disappointment with Nintendo's introduction of Game-Key Cards for the Switch 2, and Digital Eclipse discussed the games they'd like to revive, including a Sega Saturn-based fighting game collection. Peter Molyneux reflected on his much-vaunted Kinect game Project Milo, and former Deep Silver head of communications Martin Wein explained why Yager's version of Dead Island 2 was canceled. Former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida shared his memories of the European launch of the PlayStation 30 years ago, and Alex Josef discussed his plans to resurrect Acclaim. Finally, we highlighted a trio of thought-provoking features, including Ignas Vieversys' conversation with Palestinian Voices in Games about empowering Palestinian game developers, and Vic Hood's interviews with a dozen women about their experiences in the industry since Gamergate.