The announcements from the various Summer Game Fest conferences have certainly bolstered the previously pretty barren latter half of 2024 with big releases. But, even with the addition of the likes of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Astro Bot, and the Silent Hill 2 remake to the already confirmed 2024 releases, the slate doesn't quite have the same impact as the almost unrelenting 2023 schedule. 2025 is clearly where it's at.
Now, that's not to diminish any games that are set to release before the end of this year, because there are a lot of fantastic-looking new games en route. However, there's a certain gravitas to the broad strokes of next year's releases that means 2025 is going to be a huge year for the games industry.
Xbox's sparkling 2025
Let's start with Xbox. While its Xbox Games Showcase was impressive (despite the backdrop of the recent studio closures and layoffs), it strangely failed to date the two big exclusive Xbox games due to land this side of the Holidays - Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Avowed. Of course, the Avowed release date has since leaked from Obsidian itself but was hastily deleted, suggesting that Microsoft has deliberately held back the duo of dates for another announcement beat. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 of course is another of Microsoft's big focuses for 2024, with the perks of the Activision buyout now in full swing, but despite coming to Xbox Game Pass Day One, it's still legally bound to keep COD a multiplatform release - or at least for the next five years at least.
However, the Xbox Games Showcase did give us a fantastic look at what Microsoft's plans are for next year, with so many of the Xbox first-party titles featured during the Xbox Games Showcase sporting loose 2025 launch windows. Doom: The Dark Ages, with its skull-crushing gun and dragon-riding is arriving sometime next year from id Software, as is the awesome-looking South of Midnight from We Happy Few developer Compulsion Games. My own personal wishlist-topper, Fable, is also now penciled in for 2025 with developer PlayGround Games absolutely nailing the series' brief with each hilarious, but seriously moreish, trailer.
2025 is clearly the year where all of Microsoft's investments are going to pay off. Yes, there are still some AWOL titles - Everwild, Contraband, The Outer Worlds 2 - but with its 2025 slate coupled with long-awaited fresh looks at State of Decay 3 and the Perfect Dark reboot, it finally feels like we're getting the results of Microsoft's long-term release vision in 2025.
Nintendo and PlayStation lining up
The same can probably be said for PlayStation too, which is having probably its quietest year since the PS5 launched back in 2020. As I wrote off the back of May's State of Play showcase, while Concord and Astro Bot look great, they are a symptom of the weird year PlayStation and the PS5 is having. PlayStation has always said that it wouldn't be releasing any "major existing franchise titles" before April 1, 2025, which suggests that 2025 is going to be a more traditional year for the platform holder - even if we have much less of a clear idea what the PS5's 2025 will look like.
It's a similar story for Nintendo too. Although it has said it is doing some kind of Nintendo Direct in June, that's yet to be dated, so we're currently a little in the dark as to what both 2024 and 2025 look like for Nintendo Switch gamers. Well, with one rather large caveat - the Nintendo Switch 2. Nintendo says it will announce its next-gen Switch successor "within this fiscal year" – so before March 31, 2025 – with the launch expected to fall sometime in 2025. With such a huge stake in 2025 for Nintendo, you'd imagine that this next model Switch will need to be joined with some beefy launch titles. My money's on Metroid Prime 4 and Super Mario Odyssey 2.
2025 at large
If you look outside the platform holders too, it's even clearer that 2025 is going to be a huge year for games. The newly announced Civilization 7 was immediately penciled in for 2025, with the highly-anticipated strategy game launching simultaneously on PC and consoles for the first time. Bound to be absolutely massive on PC in particular, it's certainly going to be one to watch.
Capcom also delivered us two utterly gorgeous Monster Hunter Wilds trailers in the last few weeks, showcasing all kinds of new features, improved graphics, and even a new monster for its open-world title. It's certainly been one of the standouts of the show for me, and not just because your Palico can apparently talk now. Knowing how fervent the Monster Hunter community is, this huge series' entry is going to cause quite the stir.
And for the shooter fans, one that stands out already for 2025 is Marvel Rivals. With so many hero shooters currently on the books for this year and next, it'll be interesting to see how another attempt at a multiplayer Marvel game holds up.
And that's before we've even addressed the mammoth-esque elephant in the room that is Rockstar's GTA 6. Knowing how colossally Rockstar's releases usually take over the year they're released in, I'd imagine that there's going to be quite the bum shuffle of developers desperately trying to get out of the way of the GTA 6 release date. Currently, it's just set to launch sometime in Fall 2025, which could well mean that the earlier months of next year are more jam-packed with AAA releases or at least there's less of a cluster around those holiday months. It could well be that 2025 becomes a year not unlike 2023, with the likes of Baldur's Gate 3, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Alan Wake 2 having been much more evenly spread throughout the year.
For more confirmed release dates for this year and beyond, check out our comprehensive new games roundup.
