2024 was a rough year for the game industry. It was dominated by layoffs, significant strategic shifts from some of the biggest companies in the industry, and gigantic live service flops that demonstrated just how hard that space is to break into. In last year’siteration of this article, I wrote that it felt like I was covering a “video game industry bound to head into an odd 2024 that lacks the known quantity bombshells of this year and continues to reel from layoffs.” That certainly proved to be true.
That’s not to say it was all dour. Some fantastic games were released, with some surprise viral successes likePalworldandBlack Myth: Wukongshowing how the right games since have the potential to resonate with millions of players. The video game industry is hurting, though, and looking toward 2025, the launch of Nintendo Switch’s successor andGrand Theft Auto VIwill have to do a lot of heavy lifting to get the industry out of this rut. These news stories shaped the video game industry’s tumultuous 2024.
Layoffs did not slow down
2023 was historic when it came to the number of video game industry layoffs that took place during it. Somehow, 2024 surpassed it. Companies like Embracer continued their downsizing initiatives, but it wasn’t the only major culprit this year. That dubious honor goes to Microsoft, which haslaid off nearly 3,000 Xbox developersthis year following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While there was hope that the finalized purchase would lead to a positive future for the employees of both companies, the reality was that Microsoft had to cost-cut, guttingseveral parts of Activision Blizzardandshutting down Bethesda-owned studioslike Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, Roundhouse Studios, and Mighty Dog Games.
Krafton saved Tango GameworksandHi-Fi Rushand Crash Bandicoot developerToys for Bob bought itself outfrom Microsoft and Activision, but most other game developers weren’t so lucky. Throughout 2024, companies likeSony Interactive Entertainment,EA,Riot Games, Embracer Group, and more laid off developers, shut down studios, and canceled video games in development.“Survive until 2025”currently seems to be the mentality of many in the video game industry; hopefully, things get better next year rather than getting worse.
Xbox starts becoming a multiplatform publisher
Layoffs weren’t the only thing that happened in the wake of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Over the course of 2025, the company also started to shift into becoming a multiplatform publisher. Throughout the first months of 2024, it brought games likePentiment, Grounded, Sea of Thieves, andHi-Fi Rushto competing platforms. Throughout the rest of the year, PS5 releases were also confirmed for newer games likeIndiana Jones and the Great Circle,Doom: The Dark Ages, andThe Outer Worlds 2.While some Xbox games likeSenua’s Saga: Hellblade 2andMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024remained Xbox console exclusives, it’s clear that the tides are shifting.
Microsoft may drop console exclusivity from its first-party game planning even more in 2025 and beyond. Xbox leadership has been more wishy-washy when it comes to confirming how prevalent and widespread this initiative will be. But Microsoft is running ads that show how a lot of things other than an Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S console can be considered, and Xbox and CEO Satya Nadella said that being an Xbox fan “is about being able to enjoy Xbox on all your devices.” Those both speak to theobvious shift taking place. We’ll have to wait and see if games likeAvowedandFablewind up going multiplatform in 2025.
Xbox Game Pass got a lot more complicated
Xbox is not out of the woods just yet, as it also brought some major shakeups to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service in 2024. Ahead ofCall of Duty: Black Ops 6’slaunch into Xbox Game Pass on day one, Microsoft decided to make all of itssubscription service tiers more expensive. It raised the annual price of Game Pass Core to $75, increased PC Game Pass’ monthly subscription price to $12, and Game Pass Ultimate to $20 a month.
Microsoft also replaced Game Pass for Console with Game Pass Standard, a $15-a-month subscription tier that neither supports Xbox Cloud Gaming nor includes day-one titles on the service. Those who wanted to play games likeBlack Ops 6andIndiana Jones and the Great Circleon day one through Game Pass had to pay for the most expensive version of the gaming subscription.This broke Game Pass’ allureas the best deal in gaming.
Black Myth: Wukong and more become viral hits
The biggest games of 2024 weren’t the ones that could be easily predicted heading into the year. In January, the Pokémon-with-guns survival gamePalworldrocketed to successwhen it hit early access due to its ridiculous concept.Helldivers 2followed suit in February, thanks to its unique bombastic take on the co-op shooting formula.EA Sports College Football 25even managed to outgrossCall of Duty: Black Ops 6. While the virality of all those games was nothing to balk at, the most popular game of the year wasBlack Myth: Wukong. This adaptation ofJourney to the Westbecame a cultural phenomenon in China and impressed worldwide audiences with beautiful visuals and Soulslike combat.
According todata from SteamDB,Black Myth: Wukongpeaked at a concurrent player count of 2,415,714 on PC alone just two days after its release.Black Myth: Wukongsold10 million copiesin its first few days on the market, and that number of copies sold seems to bewell over 20 millionat this point, although data on it has not been shared recently. It speaks to the power international markets still hold in the game industry and how massive success can be found when embracing those studios and the cultures of those countries. In a grim year for the video game industry, it’s important to remember successes like this.
Concord becomes one of the biggest game flops of all time
With the mighty successes also come the grand failures.Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguestarted 2024 off on a rocky note, but thefailure ofConcordgot even more attention. This hero shooter from Sony Interactive Entertainment and former Destiny developers at Firewalk Studios was positioned by the PS5 maker to become the next big thing. It was the headlining reveal of May’s State of Play, had aSecret Levelepisode green-lit (and several other weekly cutscenes animated) prior to its release, and reportedly had a development budget somewhere between$200 million and $400 million dollars. When its launch rolled around, it was disastrous.
Launching just a few days afterBlack Myth: Wukong,SteamDB showsthat this multiplayer game could only attract a measly 697 concurrent players all-time high on PC. Within two weeks of its release,Sony took the game down from saleto reevaluate its future. In October, Sony confirmedConcordwould not returnand would shut down Firewalk. Just a couple of weeks afterConcord, Sony would release theGame of the Year-winningAstro Bot, which it promoted a lot less but got a lot more adoration for.Concordis a rare big-budget misfire from PlayStation and has been brought offline, never to be played again.
Nintendo sues the developer of Palworld
Palworldmay have become a viral success upon its launch in January, but that success did not go unnoticed by The Pokémon Company. In February, The Pokémon Company put out a statement confirming that it wasaware ofPalworld’sexistenceand would “investigate and take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to the Pokémon.” In September, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company confirmed they wouldsue developer Pocketpair. “This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds thatPalworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights,” their statement on the matter mentioned.
While Nintendo’s statement didn’t go into specifics, Pocketpair eventually revealed that threepatents were at the center of the lawsuit. They had to with how players could actively throw a ball-like device to capture creatures and transition from walking to riding or flying on said creatures. Interestingly, the lawsuit does not address any Pal designs that look eerily similar to Pokémon. Asclone games become vogue again, the results of this case will likely set parameters for how much developers can copy games they enjoy.
PS5 Pro is finally revealed and released… for $700
After over a year of speculation, Sony finally revealed and released thePlayStation 5 Proin 2024. It featured a better GPU than the base PS5 and used machine learning technology to upscale games throughPlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. On PS5 Pro, more console games can consistently hit 60 frame-per-second frame rates at higher resolutions. Games likeMarvel’s Spider-Man 2andRatchet & Clank: Rift Apartlook fantastic when played on Sony’s new hardware. The PS5 Pro was not a slam dunk for Sony, though, mainly because its visual improvements were incremental, and the console itselfcost $700.
The jump from PS5 to PS5 Pro is less recognizable than the difference between a base PS4 and PS4 Pro. On top of that, some games wererunning worse on PS5 Pro. Plus, PS5 Pro does not come with a disc drive or stand for the console. Considering that it is already $200 more expensive than a regular PS5, those were some pretty massive caveats PlayStation fans had to deal with. The PS5 Pro still stands as the biggest gaming hardware release of 2024, considering we did not get a new Nintendo console. Its lofty price tag is making us start to think about how much Nintendo’s Switch successor and future PlayStation and Xbox consoles will cost, too.
