How do game industry executives look back at 2025 and what do they think about 2026? We spoke to Marco Alessandro Minoli, Publishing Director of Slitherine, to find out.
GamesMarkt: What is your verdict as you look back on 2025?
Marco Alessandro Minoli: "2025 was a tremendously interesting year. The industry is showing clearly that players have immense power of choice, but also that the rule of the latest trend dictates successful products more than anything else. We live in a world where being "part of the discussion" means a lot more than anything else, which is inevitably polarizing choices both by genre and by platform. We'll end up selling a lot more of what sells a lot, and a lot less of what struggles to sell, sometimes despite product quality.
For Slitherine, the launch of Broken Arrow has shown that the path to success is a continuous learning curve, and this gives us a lot of confidence for future launches and future product developments."
GamesMarkt: What are your predictions for the gaming industry in 2026?
Marco Alessandro Minoli: "The GTA factor will play a pivotal role, of course, but it's also going to be interesting to see how existing games will manage to retain players. Currently, the majority of the biggest successes are games that were launched many years ago, and the value of recent launches is just a marginal part of the overall turnover. The launch of very big new products will not only impact new launches, but also how existing games retain their user base to monetize. There is a chance that the launch of new big games will impact existing games more than the new ones."
GamesMarkt: How is Slitherine positioned for 2026?
Marco Alessandro Minoli: "Great question! We've got a lot of new games coming up, and we're very actively signing new projects. It's going to be a fundamental year to lay the foundations for the next phase of our growth, mainly because we're preparing for the big changes in technology in development, marketing, and customer relations. Not only AI, but also a greater optimisation of workflow, wider use of meaningful KPIs, and a vastly improved relationship with our players. Adding a lot more science to these fields will drastically change who we play the game."
The Slitherine Group (UK) is a leading producer and publisher of digital strategy and wargames. Through its Slitherine and Matrix Games brands, the company has published hundreds of games, span all digital platforms, from home consoles to PC. The company also collaborates with a wide range of key licensing partners, including NBC Universal, Games Workshop, Sony Pictures, the BBC and Osprey.
