Gaming industry analyst Meredith Schwarz examines the radical changes reshaping the global gaming landscape and their impact on developers, publishers, and players.
The gaming industry has reached a decisive moment as we near 2025. Schwarz has been tracking the seismic shifts impacting everything from market perspectives and development practices, to player behavior—all of which have implications for how we operate and how we interact in this period of great change.
Mobile Gaming is Here to Stay
Schwarz’s analysis suggests mobile continues its steady march to the top of the video game market with a 49% market share, up from the prior year by 3%, while other traditional platforms are learning to adapt to a new normal.
Key Takeaways from Mobile Gaming:
- Mobile growth was the only segment to grow among the other gaming segments at 2.8% YoY .
- Casual and hyper-casual games allow access across demographics.
- Mobile-first design principles are showing influence across the entire ecosystem.
- Cross-platform access will become a requirement in order to have success in the future.
Schwarz’s findings suggest mobile growth is not just a trend around convenience; but more importantly, it is rewriting the way we design gameplay, develop monetization models and distribute games.
Market Maturity and Growth Reality
One of Meredith Schwarz’s biggest takeaways is the gaming industry’s movement into a state of market maturity. The global games industry had modest growth of 2% in 2024, with revenues reaching $187.8 billion.
Market Maturity Indicators:
The games market is mature, so thinking about double-digit growth is wishful thinking, and the industry can only expect modest growth from here.
Consolidation is becoming more of the norm as competition increases.
Focus will move away from expanding market share to retaining customers.
Quality versus quantity as the competitive advantage.
This maturity marks a paradigm shift from rapid growth to stable and strategic growth.
The Gaming for Wellness Movement
Meredith Schwartz has noted a surprising trend towards comfort and wellness in gaming, with a segment of the gaming population looking for comfort, calm, and personal wellness. In 2025, two trends are emerging: cozy games & wellness gaming.
Wellness Gaming Elements:
- Cozy games are relaxed, feel-good games with a focus on mental wellness and relaxation
- Gamified fitness and meditation apps are now mainstream
- Awareness around human mental health is driving design of games
- Community building features involve respositories of positive social experiences
This can be seen as a maturing of gaming culture, recognizing that games can have a goodness of fit for positive psychological experiences.
Industry Disruptions and Opportunities
As we wrap up 2024 year, a new and exciting time appears to be up for exploration the gaming industry. 2024 has not been without its challenges as it has brought record-level lay-offs of the game workforce, and it has seen established live service games to tighten the grip on audiences.
Current Industry Disruption Challenges are:
- Instability in the labor force impacts development timelines, experience quality
- We now seem to be in winner-take-all markets for live service games
- Heightened cost for development has shortened the decision timelines
- Audience attention/interest is becoming fragmented across more platforms
Meredith believes that at the same time as these large disruptions emerge, this may, in fact, be the best of times to allow innovative studios to emerge and develop at a pace the rest of the industry cannot keep up.
Regional Market Dynamics
Meredith Schwarz’s analysis of global market trends illustrates glaring regional differences regarding gaming preferences and spending. The Asia-Pacific region is the largest market at $88.1B (with China/Japan leading the way, although Japan saw a 7% spending decline in 2024).
Regional Market Trends:
- North America totalled approx. $50.6B in 2024 (+1.7% YoY) Europe totalled approx.
- $33.6B Emerging market potential for significant growth
- Cultural differences great reasons for gaming design preferences
It is very important for developers to think through the regional differences before they plan their global distribution strategy.
Technology Integration and Innovation
According to Meredith Schwarz’s analysis in technology, the gaming industry in 2025 will be an inspiring mix of creativity, technology and community. This combination is creating new opportunities for games and engaging players.
Trending Technologies:
- Technological advancement driven by AI to generate procedural content
- cloud gaming is lowering barriers to entry to gaming across hardware disappearance
- virtual and augmented reality are still trying to find a worthwhile niche
- blockchain and economic and monetization structures in their gaming experiences
these new technologies are not just features, they are creating entirely new games experiences.
The Development of Gaming Communities
Meredith’s exploration of community suggest that Video Games create community, keep us mentally agile, and allow us to connect with others. The potential of the medium is developed further when we recognize the specific strengths of games to enhance lives – and the world.
Trends in Evolving Community:
- Social gaming features will become ubiquitous within and across genres. User-generated content will engage you for the long term.
- Cross-platform social features will incentivize you to stay engaged despite ecosystem separation.
- Inclusive design principles will broaden the gaming demographic.
The social aspects of gaming evolve from functional game play interspersed with optional multiplayer options to an essential community-building feature.
For Industry Stakeholders
Meredith Schwarz offers concrete actions for thriving in the new gaming landscape of 2025 based on her recommendations:
Key Strategic priorities:
- Change your focus from growth maximization to sustainable growth. –
- Invest in player wellness and community building.
- Create integrated monetization that is sensitive to player interests.
- Enable local adaptation with a global audience reach.
Gaming’s transformation creates challenges and unlimited potential. Solidarity in evolving with the space and industry will be essential for success.
FAQs
Q: What does Meredith Schwarz expect for the gaming market’s growth in 2025?
A: She expects growth to be modest since the gaming space has matured to a place where double-digit growth is unrealistic; they will focus on sustainable growth.
Q: Which segment of the gaming industry is seeing the most growth currently?
A: Mobile gaming is the only segment of the gaming industry that is growing consistently, taking 49% market share with a 2.8% increase year-over-year.
Q: What are the biggest challenges for the gaming industry in 2025?
A: The biggest challenges are, record layoffs, the continued popularity of live-service games, increasing game development costs and the player experience that is divided between many games on multiple platforms.
Q: Wellness gaming is changing the gaming industry. How?
A: Cozy games and gamified wellness are creating new categories based on mental health, relaxation, and positive experiences with social interaction.
Q: What local markets are most critical to regional gaming sector growth?
A: The Asia-Pacific region has generated the highest revenue at $88.1 billion, followed by North America at $50.6 billion and Europe at $33.6 billion, with all regions having differing distinctive aspects and opportunities.
Cautionary Note
This valuation is based on market research and industry publications that have been published or are expected to be published till 2025. The forecasts for the gaming market and related markets can change rapidly and unexpectedly, depending on tech company performance, economic turmoil, and changing player preferences. Everyone in the industry should conduct their own diligence and analysis with respect to strategic decisions based on this information.
