2025 should be memorable in video games. If “GTA 6” could be the high point, it is also the one which dictates its law on a very dense schedule of releases. With the Nintendo Switch 2 as another troublemaker.
The year 2024 ended with the coronation ofAstro Botthe platform game for the Playstation 5. A game that gained consensus during a year marked by multiple top titles without really anyone to climb to the top step (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Black Myth: Wukong, Metaphor: Refantazio, Helldivers 2, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines…). Elden Ring in 2022, Baldur’s Gate 3 in 2023 (despite strong competition from Alan Wake 2) were obvious.
If no title really dominated the debates in 2024, the year 2025 could on the other hand be that of all records.
GTA 6 as clock master
The next vintage is shaping up to be one of the strongest in the history of video games and it starts very strongly in February. Of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II (4) to Monster Hunter Wilds (February 28) passing through the return of Civilization VII (February 11) and Assassin’s Creed Shadows (February 14), just after Dynasty Warriors: Origins In January (17), the year gets off to a flying start. All without counting on the highly anticipated Xbox exclusivity, Avowed (18), et Lost Records: Bloom & Rage Tape 1 (18 – Don't Nod) and a number of less ambitious games.
For the rest of the year, the calendar is still unclear. Many big anticipated games have only set their release date with a very vague “sometime in 2025”. There are a good dozen large-scale games that still maintain the mystery (Elden Ring Nightreign, Fable, Ghost of Yotei, Crimson Desert, Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, Death Stranding 2: On the beach…). And for good reason: an ogre scares the entire video game planet.
Confirmed in December 2023, but missing since, Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) is due out in 2025, although we don't know when. In fact, the entire industry is panicking and the games planned for this year want to avoid the same window of impact, as Rockstar Games' game should swallow up everything.
So no one dares to reveal a release date until GTA 6 has given its own. Even 2K Games, Rockstar's parent company, still hasn't announced dates for its two upcoming big titles for fear of a head-on clash: Mafia: The Old Country (summer 2025) and Borderlands 4.
A fool's game that the successor to GTA 5 must delight in. If we should expect (at best) to see it arrive in the last half of 2025, it also does not seem inconceivable that it will postpone its arrival to 2026, Rockstar Games being quite accustomed to doing so. In the meantime, there could be a serious logjam in the summer, or even the fall, of AAA game releases.
The Nintendo Switch, the little needle
And editors must be tying their brains in knots. Because in addition to the GTA 6 case which will crush everything in its path, another highlight of the year could also shake things up: it is very likely that Nintendo will release its next console in 2025. The heir to the Switch is in imminent landing. Even the Kyoto giant lets its investors understand at every point that its arrival is only a matter of months.
The fact remains that the Switch 2 will, like GTA 6, dictate the tempo of the video game calendar of the year. No one wants to be faced with the release of the hybrid console which will also occupy the media field upon its release, with, unsurprisingly, its share of big games, home or otherwise.
We are obviously waiting for a Metroid 4 Prime: Beyond long announced. But it is also very likely that to boost sales, the new Switch will love a new Super Mario game or why not Legend of Zelda as was the case in 2017 with the induction of Breath of the Wild to extol his merits.
Expected to succeed the successful but aging hybrid console, the Switch 2 could promise wonders to its players with more power, a larger screen and magnetic Joy-Con. But above all, it is more beautiful and more ambitious games that players are waiting for. In the meantime, the PC portable console market (Asus ROG Ally, Valve Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, etc.) could also benefit from the popularity of the format and finally take off.
Generative AI, the next revolution in video games?
If the year 2025 should be extremely rich in games with multiple promising titles, even if more discreet (Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, South of Midnight, Little Nightmares III, The Outer Worlds 2, Rematch…), other trends could also rear their heads.
After having laid its first stones through Nvidia or Ubisoft, generative artificial intelligence will be much more present in video games.
Microsoft is working on contributions for developers and players, in game support as well as in the gaming proposition, with the key being an unprecedented level of customization, whether it concerns the scenario or the behavior of non-playable characters. Driving innovation in generative AI, Nvidia should have announcements to make in January at the CES show in Las Vegas.
And then, innovations are multiplying in this direction. Google introduced Genie 2, a model that helps create virtual worlds, based on a single image that comes to life. A sketch of possibilities which suggests great things, even if the developers fear for their profession and their creativity.
In the short term, however, creating levels with AI to support players' imagination no longer seems impossible, as Electronic Arts recently showed with the next developments of the Sims.
The year 2025 could be a turning point in the industry. The Xbox Series and PS5 consoles are reaching the halfway point of their life cycle and the games announced for the next 12 months are finally reaching the graphic level that was expected at their launch.
Enough to forget the multiple layoffs in the industry? Not certain, and the movement risks continuing beyond with the end of development of very large games. But the players should have enough to survive a crazy year. Not sure that 365 days is enough for everyone.
