The gaming industry has faced waves of layoffs as studios slash budgets and voice/mocap actors striking against certain game companies in 2024, whilst in tandem with the Hollywood Actors/Writers strikes that stalled momentum in Film & TV. Yet despite the disruption, Cambashi’s data shows M&E software revenues have held strong.
So, what’s next for global M&E software, considering the potential impact of tariffs, and how is growth unfolding across key software segments?
Current State & Impact of Tariffs on the M&E Software Market
The Media & Entertainment (M&E) software market has shown remarkable resilience despite significant industry challenges.
Over the past two years, the sector has faced issues such as widespread staffing cuts across game studios, disruptions from the Hollywood actors and writers strikes, voice/mocap (motion capture), actors strike in 2024, and strategic restructuring by key players like Unity—particularly in the real-time engine space. Despite these pressures, software revenues have remained relatively stable, highlighting the market’s underlying strength and consistent user demand.
As of yet, the recent Tariffs do not directly affect M&E software, but the broader economic impact is likely to influence the industry. As production studios, broadcasters, and post-production companies face tighter budgets, they may delay software upgrades, reduce license numbers, or choose shorter subscription plans. Some may even shift to more affordable or open-source alternatives.
Still, M&E software remains crucial for productivity—especially in editing, rendering, and content management. In an uncertain economy, companies may rely more on software to streamline operations and cut costs. This could help stabilize short-term demand despite overall market pressure.
According to the latest market analysis from Cambashi (published May 2025, using data from Q1 2025), the global M&E software application market is projected to grow at a robust 5-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 8% through 2029 (measured in Constant USD). However, this is 4% lower than our forecast we made in 2023. This adjustment in the forecast was primarily made due to the turbulence in the industry referred to earlier.
Even though the future growth forecast for the segment remains strong, industry turbulence has affected results in 2024, for most of the M&E sub-segments.
Real-time engines especially felt the impact, boasting an impressive 18.1% growth in 2023 but only 2.9% in 2024. Continuous industry turbulence and potential future tariff impacts have led to a lower forecast for 2025. Nonetheless, the segment still shows potential for stable growth of over 11% in the future.
Rendering, animation, production management, and special effects segments were less impacted, projected to grow between 8% and 11% annually. However, for 2025, growth rates for special effects are expected to be below 8%.
The visual modeling tools market also faces lower projections, with a growth of 6.5% forecasted for this year, yet the potential remains for an annual growth rate between 8% and 8.5%.
Growth is forecasted across various sectors, including gaming, film and television production, and beyond traditional M&E markets.
2025 Outlook: Key Players and Trends in the M&E Software Market
The Media & Entertainment (M&E) software market in 2025 is being shaped by innovation and evolving business strategies among its major players. Companies such as Unity Software Solutions, Autodesk, Nemetschek Group, Epic Games, Adobe, Chaos, and Foundry are not only defining the technological landscape but also adjusting their portfolios to meet shifting industry demands.
Unity Software and Epic Games (Unreal Engine) remain at the core of interactive content creation for both indie and large developers, despite the returning trends of most large games companies continuing to develop their own in-house engines (examples include DICE Frostbite, Capcom RE engine to avoid having to pay for it like with Unity, etc.). While Unity undergoes a strategic portfolio reset—discontinuing non-core products like Ziva and focusing on machine learning and infrastructure improvements—it continues to be a dominant force in real-time development. Meanwhile, Unreal Engine expands deeper into virtual production, revolutionizing workflows for film and TV with cinematic, real-time storytelling tools.
Autodesk, a longstanding leader with Maya and 3ds Max, is strengthening new areas through acquisitions like PIX, Wonder Dynamics, Moxion, and Golaem. Blender, with its open-source model, is rapidly gaining ground in both indie and professional settings, while ZBrush remains an essential tool for high-fidelity character modeling. Other segments in the M&E industry, such as VFX and image/content creation, continue to grow despite the industry challenges mentioned before. VFX provider Celsys has been largely Japanese-based since its inception, but more and more of its products and services are being sold in the US and Europe.
Rendering solutions like V-Ray, Arnold, and OctaneRender are evolving with a focus on performance and sustainability. Foundry, the creator of Nuke (a leading compositing tool), reported modest revenue growth of just 0.2% in 2023—reflecting the significant impact of industry strikes—but maintains a strong position in post-production VFX.
Tools like Autodesk Flow Production Tracking (formerly ShotGrid), Frame.io, and software from Backlight are at the forefront of transforming production workflows. Cloud-based and remote-first solutions are now central to managing distributed teams, streamlining project tracking, feedback loops, and resource allocation.
AI & Procedural Generation Across the board, studios have been using AI and automation for many years to enhance productivity. Houdini’s ‘procedural generation’ tools are now staples in advanced VFX pipelines, enabling scalable and flexible development. ‘AI-assisted animation and content creation’ are accelerating timelines while reducing repetitive tasks.
Shifting Software Economics Changes in licensing models—such as Unity ’s pricing adjustments—and the rising popularity of open-source solutions like Blender are altering how creators approach tool acquisition. The trend is toward greater flexibility, cost-efficiency, and community-driven innovation.
Expanding M&E Horizons
M&E software is expanding its horizons and reshaping other industries. Cambashi’s research reveals a still-growing adoption of the software in sectors such as Manufacturing and ‘Architecture, Engineering, and Construction’ (AEC), empowering professionals to visualize and test projects with unprecedented precision. One example is V-Ray, which is extensively used in architectural visualization to help achieve high-quality visual results.
Additionally, the integration of virtual 3D experiences, powered by platforms such as Unreal Engine, Unity, and Blender, is revolutionizing project engagement. These technologies find critical applications in analyzing LiDAR data, particularly in machine learning for enhanced safety measures within AEC and manufacturing industries.
This shift towards real-time engines is driving a new era of efficiency, accuracy, and innovation, firmly establishing AR and VR as vital tools in AEC and Manufacturing. Adoption is being seen across areas such as learning/training, marketing, review processes and design visualization.
To enable AI-driven, real-time visualization and simulation of digital twins in the infrastructure sector, Bentley Systems has expanded its Bentley iTwin platform by integrating it with NVIDIA Omniverse. In a parallel development, Hexagon AB, one of the key players in digital reality solutions, has also entered a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to facilitate industrial digital twin solutions. The integration of Hexagon’s HxDR and Nexus platforms with NVIDIA Omniverse establishes seamless multi-user workflows, bolstering advancements in digital factories, intelligent cities and infrastructure.
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