Creative Technologies International Scan: 2025 in review

Olsberg•SPI (SPI) is a delivery partner for the CoSTAR Foresight Lab, providing industry intelligence on international research, technology and market trends. This includes quarterly Creative Technologies International Scan (CTIS), which track global developments in creative technologies, policy, investment and innovation across key regions worldwide.[1]

This blog outlines the key developments picked up from the CTISs and broader international scanning and research throughout 2025.

Across the globe, 2025 marked a transition in advanced media production from specialist tools to strategic priorities. AI, virtual production, extended reality (XR)[2] and other forms of advanced media have been actively developed and adopted in the Creative Industries for years; what was distinguishable in 2025 was not the emergence of these technologies across workflows, but their transition from specialist tools to strategic priorities as they became more widely established, better understood, and increasingly embedded. This transition reflected the growing maturity of these technologies, as well as increased confidence among industry stakeholders in their ability to deliver creative and commercial value at scale.

1. AI governance came into full effect and began affecting production workflows

In 2025, AI policy and governance evolved from high-level principles into practical requirements, reflecting the extent to which AI is now being adopted across sectors including the Creative Industries. Disclosure, consent and provenance became central considerations for policymakers and regulators alike. The CoSTAR Foresight Lab’s report, prepared by SPI, AI Policy and its Impacts on the Screen Sector Across the Globe, examines how jurisdictions including Australia, California, Canada and France are addressing these exact issues, from transparency requirements and performer protections, to copyright frameworks and training data governance, providing detailed case studies and lessons for the UK. The CoSTAR Foresight Lab’s policy snapshot on Australia elaborates further on practical developments in AI governance, promoting ethical AI innovation, building national AI capability, and promoting safe and responsible AI adoption.

The start of 2025 (Scan #2, Q1) saw growing pressure for transparency and opt-out rights from training datasets, including California's law against unauthorised digital replicas and South Korea's requirement to label AI-generated content. By mid-2025 (Scan #3, Q2), these laws and regulations were affecting production economics: Italy's new tax credit rules allow actors, directors and writers the right to refuse the exploitation of their work, image, or performance by AI systems, while SAG-AFTRA's commercials agreement requires consent and compensation when generative AI is trained on performers’ likeness.

By the end of 2025, attention turned from debate to enforcement. In Q3 (Scan #4), Europe entered the compliance phase of the EU AI Act. By Q4 (Scan #5), similar approaches to AI compliance began to emerge across India, Kazakhstan and Vietnam.

2. 2025 saw increased governmental investment in incentivising post-production, video games and immersive production

In 2025, governments worldwide increasingly competed to attract post-production, VFX, gaming, and immersive works, expanding incentive funding beyond physical shoots.

In Q3 (Scan #4), New Jersey increased its post-production credit to 40% and expanded eligibility to animation, video games, VFX and immersive works, while Screen Australia awarded over AU$1.4 million (~£740,000) to 26 games projects through its Games Production Fund and Emerging Gamemakers Fund. By Q4 (Scan #5) Ireland introduced a 40% VFX uplift, and New Zealand extended an uplift to post-production-only projects from January 2026.

3. Virtual production scaled, with new skills programmes set up to address critical skills gaps

Virtual production[3] (VP) in 2025 was characterised by scale rather than novelty. By mid-2025 (Scan #3, Q2), VP was becoming increasingly accessible and cost-effective, along with investment in training infrastructure, such as USC's Blavatnik Virtual Production Centre in Los Angeles and Toei's integrated LED studio in Japan. This expansion unfolded alongside a broader market correction following rapid expansion in the early 2020s, when pandemic-era demand drove significant capital investment into VP facilities. In 2025, VP investment patterns reflected a more disciplined approach, with a focus on professional skills development, connecting different stages of the production process more efficiently, and creating final-quality visual effects on set rather than in post-production.  

In Q3 (Scan #4), expansion of LED volume facilities continued across the globe, from Deqing's large-scale LED stage in China to Dubai's first open-access LED volume. By Q4 (Scan #5) VP was no longer confined to high-end, established markets, with smaller markets beginning to develop local VP capacity, such as Croatia's first VP stage.

Critical skill gaps in VP, including understanding how to operate LED volumes, integrate real-time rendering engines like Unreal Engine into production workflows, and coordinate between traditional filmmaking and game engine technologies, were further addressed via a series of programmes. Examples include on-set workflow training in Western Australia (mid-2025, Scan #3, Q2) and Ireland's Virtual Production All-Island Initiative for senior producers and VFX specialists (Q3, Scan #4).

4. Audience behaviour and creator economics shaped formats and IP strategies

In 2025, format and technology changes were driven by audience behaviour and creator economics, as much as by publishers, games developers and streamers.

At the start of 2025 (Scan #2, Q1), mobile games generated 90% of Africa's total games industry revenue. By mid-2025 (Scan #3, Q2) convergence across film, games and platforms was highlighted through A Minecraft Movie (2025) boosting game engagement and Disney and Epic using generative AI to recreate Darth Vader's voice in Fortnite. In Q3 (Scan #4), Roblox launched a licensing platform linking creators with Netflix, Lionsgate, Sega and Kodansha.

By the end of 2025 (Scan #5, Q4), microdramas[4] saw increased investment. Fox Entertainment partnered with Holywater announcing it will produce over 200 episode vertical video series, while Korean industry leaders at the CRISP Seoul Conference projected US$26 billion in global revenues by 2030. Strong Chinese uptake of microdramas influenced Indian investment, with ShareChat, Amazon's MX Player and Zee Entertainment investing in vertical video.

Immersive theatre proved commercially viable in specific markets. By the end of 2025 (Scan #5, Q4) the immersive theatre production Sleep No More ranked among South Korea's top ten musicals by ticket sales in Q3 2025. Toronto saw skills development through programmes like Bygone Theatre's training in technological competencies for immersive practice.

5. Sustainability grew as a key consideration for creative infrastructure

Sustainability in 2025 increasingly progressed towards formal requirements and incentives, with attention to the energy demands of digital production. By mid-2025 (Scan #3, Q2) France's Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée (CNC) introduced an automatic bonus to audiovisual productions for sustainable practices. In Q3 (Scan #4) the Nordic creative industries implemented the Nordic Ecological Standard, a unified sustainability framework. By the end of 2025 (Scan #5, Q4) The European Commission identified the creative arts as a high-priority sector to drive sustainable practices, and two new all-electric studios in Brooklyn, New York were announced.

6. Investments in immersive tech innovation and infrastructure increased for the arts and heritage sector

In 2025, XR/AR/VR and digital archiving were increasingly positioned as tools for public access and engagement, place-making and spillover growth.

At the start of 2025 (Scan #2, Q1), University of Glasgow's Museums in the Metaverse global survey found 79% of 2,000+ respondents wanted to explore collections via VR/XR, linked to digitising archives (around 90% of museum collections are typically in storage). The EU-funded ekip initiative, found that Cultural and Creative Industries develop innovative technologies but often lack the structures, incubators and funding models needed to support commercialisation, suggesting scope for clearer links between cultural organisations, R&D, suppliers and investment.

In mid-2025 (Scan #3, Q2), Singapore's National Library Board worked with Snap on AR reading experiences using Snap Spectacles, with public trials showing immersive tech as furthering repeatable engagement. In Q3 (Scan #4), a KPMG India report linked digital archiving and AR/VR to public-private partnerships expected to create 21,000+ jobs.

What this means for advanced media production in 2026

The 2025 CTISs indicate that competitive advantage in 2026 will sit with markets and companies that can deliver advanced media production at scale, and with consistent standards. This means operationalising AI compliance across creative workflows, aligning incentives and skills investment with post, digital, and visual effects, games and immersive delivery, and ensuring virtual production is integrated into pipelines beyond premium facilities. Sustainability should be treated as enabling infrastructure, supported by credible reporting and access to clean power. In 2026, the differentiator will be whether markets can consistently deliver advanced media production in a way that is scalable, compliant, and demonstrably robust.

For further information on this research, please contact this blog’s author, SPI Research Analyst Peter Cobb.

To explore these themes in more depth, see SPI’s wider CoSTAR work and related outputs.

For more information on the global policies being developed to support the adoption of technologies in the Creative Industries, see the CoSTAR Foresight Lab’s Policy Snapshots on India and Japan.

[1] The sector scope includes film and television, video games, immersive and technology-enabled live entertainment, virtual production (VP), post-production, visual effects (VFX), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and extended reality (XR).

[2] Extended reality: an umbrella term encompassing all immersive technologies that blend physical and digital worlds, including Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR)

[3] Virtual production is a filmmaking process that merges live-action footage with digital, computer-generated (CGI) environments in real-time, allowing filmmakers to view, light, and modify the final shot immediately on set. It bridges physical production and post-production, using LED walls (volumes) powered by game engines like Unreal Engine to replace traditional green screens.

[4] Microdrama: mobile-first, short-form scripted fiction format, typically delivered in serialised episodes of approximately one to three minutes designed to sustain repeat viewing on vertical video and social platforms