The article reviews Carolyn Petit's top five games of 2025, highlighting a mix of mainstream and indie titles, with a focus on their unique qualities, design philosophies, and personal significance, emphasizing the importance of integrity and imagination in gaming.
The article reviews the tumultuous year of 2025 in the game industry, highlighting trends such as the rise of generative AI, deprofessionalization, union activity, indie studio funding via Kickstarter, and the impact of tariffs on costs, while also noting the industry's ongoing struggles with economic contraction, exploitation, and social issues.
The ID@Xbox Showcase October 2025 revealed a diverse lineup of upcoming indie and AAA games, including new updates for existing titles, world premieres, gameplay trailers, and release date announcements for titles like 33 Immortals, Aphelion, Darkwood 2, and Planet of Lana II, among others, showcasing the vibrant future of Xbox gaming.
Despite strong consumer interest and a sales boom for Nintendo's Switch 2, independent game developers are experiencing sluggish sales, highlighting challenges in the gaming industry. Additionally, Nvidia and OpenAI are planning a significant $100 billion investment to develop AI infrastructure.
The game VILE: Exhumed was removed from Steam due to vague content policies amid a broader crackdown on adult content by payment processors and platforms, highlighting issues of overreach and censorship in indie gaming and online content distribution.
The article discusses the decline of E3 and the rise of Summer Game Fest as the primary industry event, highlighting the industry's shift towards independent and diverse projects, and covers recent news including layoffs at Playtonic, the cancellation of EA's Black Panther game, the return of Roll7's games to Steam, the launch of Playdate Season 2, and the upcoming release of Nintendo's Switch 2.