What a year.
I’m not the only one to say that 2024 is a special time. a lot ofwhich has some great games and amazing news mixed in with some frustration and incompetence. We’re seeing developers reach the pinnacle of their technology, putting together amazing experiences that will help define this decade. We have also seen mass layoffs, redundancies and short-sightedness, the true harm of which will not be truly known for years to come.
Over the holidays here, as I spend some time reading, drawing my figurines, and maybe playing a game or two, I want to look back and reflect on some of the most important stories that have defined this year, reflecting hard on ordinary situations, cautionary tales, Trends and even a little hope for the future.
Here are five of the most interesting stories that will define the gaming industry in 2024:
5. Black hole games will seriously occupy players’ time
Circana executive director and analyst Mat Piscatella often provides insights into the most played games, tracking player engagement through charts he frequently posts. Looking at the platform charts week after week, month after month, I noticed something very interesting: there was no change in the games on the charts. Not really, anyway. call of Duty“Grand Theft Auto”, “Minecraft”… These “black hole” games account for most of the participation, and there is almost no change. A new game will sometimes appear for a while, only to disappear after a week or two.
This is not to say that nothing new can succeed — NetEase Games’ free-to-play hero shooter Marvel Rivals is off to a strong start, while PlayStation and Arrowhead Game Studios’ Hellraiser 2 Maintaining strong player interest following recent updates — But these instant service success stories are the exception, not the rule.
I honestly don’t think there’s a golden path right now, but developers and publishers need to understand how player habits are evolving. It’s increasingly difficult for many games to charge $70 in the US when most players would rather jump into free-to-play games.
4. Xbox embraces multi-platform publishing
Completed a huge purchase activision blizzard kingMicrosoft kicked off 2024 by adopting a more platform approach. The company has released four former Xbox console exclusives on PlayStation and Nintendo hardware, including games from Rare sea of thieves. 2025, port Indiana Jones and the Circle Expected to launch on PlayStation 5, this year will also see the first-day release of multi-platform games such as Obsidian The Outer World 2 etc.
Now, to be fair, Microsoft has technically been a multi-platform publisher for a long time, releasing Minecraft on nearly every device in the world. The company has also pledged to keep Call of Duty available everywhere as it convinces regulators to acquire Activision Blizzard. Still, this is a company that’s loudly committed to keeping games like Bethesda’s starry sky As an Xbox exclusive.
There are obvious reasons for this to happen (as Xbox becomes a bigger part of Microsoft, which demands bigger profits), but I don’t think we’ve seen the full picture yet. The willingness to put more and more software on more and more platforms is a clear strategy shift, and I’m curious to see how this develops in 2025 and beyond.
3. PlayStation’s Concord launches and now it’s like it never existed
On August 23, 2024, PlayStation Studios announced Concord, a PvP shooter developed by its recently acquired Firewalk Studios and one of many long-gestating live-service games in the company’s portfolio.
Exactly two weeks later, on September 6, the game was taken down and the servers were shut down. Then on October 29th, Firewalk Studios closed.
I’m sorry I’m dead, but it bears repeating. I’ve seen a lot of online-focused games pulled months or years after release, and a lot of games (multiplayer and single-player) failed to find an audience, but I’ve no way Big name publishers like PlayStation and Concord rejected the market altogether. I’m not sure if I would do it again.
A thousand and one fingers can (and have) pointed out different aspects of the game that failed to resonate with audiences, but ultimately, I have to question how the hell this game got past countless internal checks and signed off with executives and leadership to close something. With the studio closed, its only legacy is now the awkward Concord episode of Prime Video’s Secret Level series.
Speaking of studio closures…
2. Layoffs and bankruptcies wreak havoc on industries
my god.
The layoff situation in 2023 is serious. 2024 is indescribable. Thousands of workers across the country Microsoft, sony, hugger group, Electronic Arts, Two points of interactionUbisoft, and many, many others have been axed. Award-winning studios are closing left and right, and dozens of games have been canceled. The same excuses abound, with well-compensated executives touting the need for profit and saying the message isn’t easy to hear.
I don’t believe people will ever understand the scale of the brain drain, or the number of games that won’t succeed in the next few years as a result. The disparity will be more pronounced among some publishers than others, but in the end, they all have a hand in the bloodshed.
Slowly but steadily, however, workers noticed…
1. The rise of trade unions
To try and end it all on a hopeful note, another big thing happened this year, with unions taking over some of the biggest and most critically acclaimed game developers in the world.
Bethesda Game Studios, makers of The Elder Scrolls, Fallout and StarCraft, have formed a comprehensive alliance to The entire World of Warcraft development team at Blizzard Entertainment. Just before the end of the year, ZeniMax Online Studio has also joined the race.
Unions are no absolute guarantee that nothing will go wrong, and their success depends on the hard work of everyone involved. Still, in a bloody year for the game development industry, many unions are voicing hope that no team is immune from organizing and forcing its parent company to take issues seriously.
I’m pleased to see these unions taking hold and I sincerely hope this trend continues in 2025.