The Best Video Game Documentaries to Watch in 2025
If you are a gamer or interested in games, you might like to get a sneak peek into the behind the scenes of how games are made or the stories following the making of them. But video games have a long and storied history, and even the most casual gamers will find these industry tales compelling. These are the best video game documentaries you need to watch in 2025.
Indie Game: The Movie (Amazon Prime Video)
AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Final Fantasy 7 Remake require a small army of developers plus a nine-figure budget. Independent games are made with far less, usually by less than a couple handfuls of people. Sometimes, they’re made by just one person.
Indie Game: The Movie shows the grit, dedication and perseverance required of indie devs. This award-winning documentary is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video.
Atari: Game Over (YouTube)
Just as the dot-com bubble burst at the turn of the century, the video game market crashed in the early ’80s. There were many causes, but many fingers point to E.T. on the Atari, a historic commercial flop. Atari: Game Over is the story of Atari’s rise and fall, and it also investigates the tale that Atari buried unsold copies of E.T. in the New Mexico desert. It’s available to buy or rent on YouTube.
High Score (Netflix)
If you’re looking to dive into video gaming history more generally. Each episode covers a specific element of the industry, like Atari’s downfall, the rise of Nintendo and Street Fighter 2’s influence on esports. The segment on Sega’s challenge has some crossover with Console Wars, providing a more rounded perspective on the story if you watch both.