Aream & Co.: Gaming Company CEOs on expectations for 2025
The general outlook is rather positive.
The survey included about 50 gaming company executives; conducted in December 2024.
Aream & Co. has advised deals such as the sale of Superplay ($2 billion); Easybrain ($1.2 billion); Plarium ($620 million) and many others. It’s the world’s leading investment bank focusing on games.
Market Condition
49% of respondents believe users will spend more on games in 2025. 49% think spending levels will remain unchanged. Only 2% are pessimistic and expect people to spend less on games.
The mobile segment is viewed most positively (41% expected growth in IAP payments; 31% growth in advertising revenue). The PC segment comes second (33% anticipated growth). The console market is seen as most static (70% predict no growth; 15% each forecast growth or decline). Interestingly, PC has the least negative outlook.
The most common problems in the gaming industry, according to CEOs, are too much content (33% noted this point); difficulties in attracting audience (31%); macroeconomic environment and consumer demand (17%); rising development costs (12%). A small portion noted regulatory changes (5%) and lack of innovation (2%).
Plans for 2025
54% of executives plan to start working on more games than in 2024. 35% plan to work on the same number of projects, while 12% want to reduce the number of games in development.
Meanwhile, 37% are ready to increase budgets; 49% plan to maintain them at the same level; 14% plan to reduce spending on new development.
In 2025, 48% of company executives plan to increase marketing spending. 41% want to stay at the same level, while 12% want to reduce expenses.
In terms of hiring, executives are most interested in game developers (71%), engineers (42%), Live Ops and community building specialists (32%), as well as marketing and UA specialists (24%).
❗️Live Ops and community management are combined in the survey - I would argue that they should be in one basket.
Working with AI
21% of executives reported AI implementation across several teams. 63% apply it in rare cases. 16% either haven’t started integration or are conducting tests.
AI finds the most application in creating art and game design documents (35%); in writing code (21%); in marketing (19%); in analytics (14%); in QA (9%) and in user support (2%).
Investment Opportunities
71% of executives believe more M&A opportunities will emerge in the market in 2025. 29% think the market won’t change. No one said there would be fewer opportunities.
