By Sagar V. Mankar 
The gaming industry is on the brink of significant growth in 2025, according to a recent report by Metaplay, a leading game backend provider. The report titled “The Game Development Renaissance“, based on the survey conducted with 150 tech leaders and executives at Unity-based game studios, reveals a promising future driven by advanced technology, smarter tools, and innovative business strategies.
Key Findings
The survey highlights widespread optimism, with 77% of respondents expecting growth in 2025 and beyond. Developers are excited about better tools and technologies, which they believe will help create higher-quality games and more engaging experiences for players.
Financial Optimism:
- 73% anticipate more acquisitions and exits
- 71% expect fewer layoffs and studio closures
- 76% foresee more availability of publishing deals
New game:
- 90% of developers aim to release at least one game in 2025, the availability of better tech is cited as the main reason
- 68% of developers expecting more of better-quality games
- 53% of developers focus on improving existing titles
What Drives Success?
Developers identified essential factors for successful games:
- Strong player progression and rewards (39%)
- Regular content updates and live services support (38%)
- Cross-platform compatibility (38%)
Feature Implementation:
- Cross-platform compatibility is the most considered feature (31%) at the concept stage of game development
- At pre-production, developers consider accessibility and inclusivity the most (36%)
- A quarter of developers (27%) only consider LiveOps after global launch
Live Service Expectations:
- 75% of developers expect live service games to generate more revenue
- 73% of developers hope deeper metagames
2025 Toolkit:
- 75% of developers anticipate greater availability of high-quality tooling
- 48% of developers are looking to mostly adopt external tech in 2025
- Only 6% of developers say they’re mostly looking to build tech internally
- 63% of developers anticipate lower game development costs
This survey was conducted with the help of Atomik Research, an independent creative market research agency, from November 22 to 27, 2024, involving experienced professionals from the U.S. and U.K.
Related:
- Recent Study Found Steam Reviews Show a Decline in Positivity
- Africa’s Gaming Market Reaches New Heights: $1 Billion in Revenue in 2024
- PC Gaming Takes the Lead: Analysis Shows 53% Market Share in Non-Mobile Gaming
- UK Gaming Market Drops to £4.62 Billion in 2024
- European Market Sees 188 Million Game Sales in 2024
- Arcade Gaming Market Size to Increase by USD 2.0 Billion in Next 5 Year
- Top Mobile Games of 2024: Most Downloaded and Highest Grossing Titles
Sources: Metaplay Game Development Renaissance Report