April 2025 was a bustling month across the gaming industry, with major developments in AAA studios, mobile gaming trends, and indie game successes. Here’s a roundup of the most important stories from the past few weeks.
Major Moves in the AAA Industry
Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 team officially formed the Overwatch Gamemakers Guild-CWA, a union made up of nearly 200 developers across disciplines. Microsoft, now Blizzard’s parent company, recognized the union, signaling an industry-wide trend toward increased labor organization and employee protections.
Meanwhile, Nintendo’s highly anticipated Switch 2 console faced preorder delays in the U.S. due to newly imposed tariffs on hardware components. Despite these challenges, the console is still slated for release on June 5, featuring 4K HDR support and launching with a new title: Mario Kart World.
Electronic Arts (EA) announced layoffs affecting around 300 employees as part of internal restructuring. Studios such as Respawn were impacted after two unannounced projects were canceled, continuing a wave of strategic refocusing across AAA publishers.
Mobile Gaming Trends and Monetization Models
Mobile gaming continues to flourish in 2025, with hybrid monetization (in-app purchases + ads) driving strong growth in both revenue and engagement. Mid-core and hypercasual genres, in particular, are benefiting from this blended approach.
A nostalgic surprise came this month with the return of Flappy Bird. Now available via the Epic Games Store for Android, the game includes new content and monetization through ad views and cosmetic purchases—without any crypto or NFTs involved.
More about the recent launch in this article.
Indie Hits and Cross-Platform Evolution
Australian indie studio TVGS released Schedule 1, a controversial drug-dealing business simulator, which quickly became a viral hit on Steam. The title peaked at over 460,000 concurrent players and remained a top seller for over two weeks.
Cross-platform gaming continues to rise, with more users seamlessly switching between console, mobile, and cloud-based play. Services like Xbox Cloud Gaming are pushing the industry toward universal accessibility and play-anywhere experiences.
Sources:
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/04/nintendo-delays-switch-2-preorders-in-response-to-tariffs/
https://cbswatchmagazine.com/ea-cuts-hundreds-of-jobs/
https://rocketbrush.com/blog/mobile-gaming-industry-trends
https://www.businessinsider.com/schedule-1-drug-dealing-simulator-indie-game-hit-steam-2025-5?IR=T
