Games analyst firm DFC Intelligence predicts industry resurgence in 2025

DFC Intelligence, the longest-running analyst firms to cover the games industry, says 2025 will see the start of “long period of significant” growth

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DFC Intelligence, the longest-running analyst firms to cover the games industry, says 2025 will see the start of “long period of significant” growth. DFC’s report, which will be available in full in December 2024, comes after two years of significant contraction that resulted in layoffs of tens of thousands of workers in the games industry. These range from Riot and Humble, to full studio closures, such as Sony recently announced for Concord-maker Firewalk and Neon Koi.

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“We’ve been monitoring and analyzing the video game industry since 1995, and over the past 30 years, it’s grown twenty-fold,” DFC Intelligence founder David Cole said in a statement. “While the pandemic initially boosted the market tremendously, it’s been trending downward since early last year, with 2024 representing a chaotic nadir that included mass layoffs, extensive closures and acquisitions of small and mid-sized studios, and disappointing hardware and software sales.” 

“We expect 2025 to mark the beginning of a major upswing that will last at least through the end of the decade.” 

DFC identified five major trends that the firm believes will help influence this resurgence. These include the continued increase in consumer spending on hardware, potentially boosted by the launch of new consoles, and market growth in the PC and console software markets that DFC says may surpass the highs of the Covid pandemic by 2028. 

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The full report will go into more detail on the factors that may make this increase possible, but part of the growth may come from gaps in the AAA market that smaller publishers can fill. DFC predicts that larger publishers will continue chasing profits by focusing on game add-ons and services, which leaves room for other studios to launch new franchises. 

Finally, DFC says the struggle for control over distribution will grow more intense in 2025, and the firm expects major players – Nintendo, Sony, Amazon, and the like – to invest in innovative ways to reach potential consumers in an overcrowded market.