Things Gaming Needs to Leave Behind in 2025

2024, what a year, eh? We didn't have the constant bombardment of fantastic games to distract us from the more negative side of the industry, and even with the good releases that we got, it felt like there was such a wave of discourse around them that it became hard to decide whether you actually liked the content or the conversation around a title. There was a lot of good in 2024, don't get us wrong, but there are also some things that should be left behind as we look forward to 2025 and beyond, so let's take a look at what gaming should leave firmly in its rear-view mirror.

1. Toxicity/The Woke Wars

Begun, the woke wars have. It does seem like 2024 - more so than any year in recent memory - gaming discourse has grown a lot more toxic, and wading in to say whether you like a game or not feels like stepping on ice as thin as a paper sheet that has a minefield sitting under it. We could write reams on this topic, but it's worth making it clear that this point is less about the sides themselves, and more the way that gaming discourse has shifted. The us and them mentality has never been stronger, and because of blanket terms like woke, DEI, and more, it's easier than ever to whip up a crowd over very small things. The jumps to extreme viewpoints have also become more apparent, and even if you agree that Concord's design was absolute donkey cheeks, it's hard to feel like you can throw yourselves in with the critics without joining racist Joe and all of his friends.

The discussion of female representation in games has especially taken a drastic turn this year, with many lauding the release of Stellar Blade and its protagonist Eve like the second coming of Christ. It's fine to have preferences over characters, especially in a medium like gaming where you'd hope to escape to another world, but it has become very odd how games like Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit, that give their protagonist a different look, are being mocked for not being as curvaceous as the other 2D women people have fallen in love with. The people that are so extreme are a small, but very vocal minority, and in 2025 I hope some more common sense takes on both sides can come out, leading to proper conversations once more, without buzzwords and echo chambers.

2. Live-Service Slop

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League came out in 2024, and before a whole year had passed, it was given out for free via Prime Gaming. On Steam sales, it drops 95%. Concord was barely out for two weeks before it was axed. It's tragic stuff, especially when you consider the time that could have been spent chasing something besides another live-service slopfest. I've said it before and I'll say it time and time again: people, even gamers, don't have unlimited time. They can't spend forty hours playing Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, Helldivers II, or any of the other games they actually like, and then flick over to yet another game that's trying desperately to get their attention. You can't rescue every dog at the pound, no matter how much you'd like to, and you can't play every live-service game. Sure, Marvel Rivals and Helldivers II might just give suits enough examples to believe they can make their $250 million dollar bomb a hit, but as we see more and more of these titles fall by the wayside, I'd rather see talented developers make something they're passionate about, and leave the live-service space largely behind.

3. Greed/Predatory Monetisation Policies

Speaking of live-service, here's one of its biggest sins. When sculpting this article, I asked around to see if anyone had anything they'd like to add on their list of bugbears, and a mix of responses came in around gatcha games, loot boxes, battle passes, and they can all be summed up in the general net of greed. Gaming is an industry with a lot of money, and so of course it attracts people that want to buy classic cars rather than help save their employees' jobs. This overly corporate feeling has lingered in games for a while now, where you can tell a title is being made because marketability rather than passion. More expensive editions of games, pricey cosmetic items, and more have made their presence known in 2024, and while we're not expecting gaming to get any cheaper, it would be nice not to feel like you're having an ice pick shoved between your buttocks when you log in to play your favourite titles. Not all games and companies are guilty of this, and there are some that realise you can make a lot of money, more than enough money, without outwardly pissing off the majority of your player base, but until everyone figures that out, this stays on the list.

4. Layoffs

Probably wishful thinking, this, but I do hope that we're not seeing thousands of people suddenly lose their livelihoods next year. We thought 2023 was bad, but 2024 took layoffs to a whole new level. Even creators of great games like Hi-Fi Rush weren't safe, and it makes you wonder if there's anything that can keep a job secure in gaming if you're not at the top of the ladder. Even in the journalistic space, we've seen multiple shut downs, including the likes of GGRecon, Game Informer, and Play Magazine. It's very hard to stay positive about this piece of gaming, when it seems like talented people are losing their jobs every week, but hopefully we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel in 2025 and beyond.

5. Super Early Reveals

Before you get typing, I completely understand why companies reveal games that are more than five years away. It creates a buzz, it lets audiences know what they're working on so they don't get false hopes, it might also allow for hiring on games from prospective developers, as well as informing shareholders what a company is working on. However, from a consumer standpoint, it really does feel like a knife in the gut when you see the game you've waited years, perhaps even a decade for, only to then be told that you won't see that release until you're old and grey. Franchises are becoming harder and harder to stay attached to, as the time between entries just grows too great. I was in my mid-teens when I played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the first time, and I don't know if I'll see the sequel before I'm thirty. That's not a great feeling to have, and while The Witcher 4 has only got its proper reveal recently, there are plenty of games revealed years ago that have remained in the public conscience, only to give us next to nothing. 2025 looks to be a phenomenal gaming year, but let's hope we don't have another run of Geoff Keighley saying with that soulless smile and unblinking eyes that we can expect to see that super awesome game that he played this summer in 2043.

Before I finish, I'd like to highlight that while there was some bleak stuff this year, gaming as a whole can still be a very positive thing. Being lucky enough to do this job, and go out to conventions, the people I meet never fail to amaze me, from those making and promoting games to the people there simply to enjoy them. There are also real troopers out there, like Amir Satvat, the guy who went out of his way to find jobs for people who had lost theirs in gaming. Yes, the gaming community might show its toxic side again with someone like Satvat, but he stands as proof that there are always going to be people that love gaming more than there are those that pretend to love it, only so they can grift the hatred of it.