“Everything is still a little bit on fire”

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So far in 2025 there has been a continuation of layoffs and closures in the games industry, while there has also been a series of investment stories and new studios being founded.

During the Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco panel titled ‘Supercharging Games – What Growth Engines Will Power The Industry’s Progress In 2025?’, Curve Games executive chairman Stuart Dinsey asked the expert speakers how they felt about the state of the industry right now.

“Everything is still a little bit on fire,” said The Powell Group head of business development Charly Harbord. “But we’ve now normalised that fire.”

Harbord added that at conferences this year, including this week for PGC and GDC, there has been a more positive feeling about the sector. She predicted, however, that it will likely take until the end of 2026 before the industry fully normalises.

PlayStack product director Aaron Ludlow said he had seen a lot more indie devs in recent times. He added it’s never been easier to make and publish a game, and felt that, from the indie scene, he was seeing a lot more innovation and unique experiences.

“I’m optimistic,” he stated, adding that it has been sad to see the sheer number of redundancies, but noting that new studios have been forming and there are great games coming out.

Growth engines

Elsewhere on the panel, Dinsey asked Segwise.ai co-founder Brijesh Bharadwaj about the use of AI in games. Bharadwaj claimed that for user acquisition, what was possible with a team of 30 can now be done with one person.

“I think the best marketing capabilities are now being democratised by AI,” he said.

Discussing where developers should be focusing on in the months and years ahead, Bharadwaj stated that devs should imagine what games were not possible two years ago, or even six months ago. 

Gamefam VP of finance Justin Peress agreed in broader terms that, aside from AI, developers shouldn’t conform to past trends. “The player base doesn’t know what they want”, he said.