Well, 2024 is officially behind us — and thank goodness for that. The last 12 months has been a constant roller coaster ride, taking the world through a series of unprecedented events. While the video game industry wasn’t as quite as volatile as, say, the American political landscape, it was certainly a whirlwind year. Mass layoffs left tens of thousands without jobs, hyped-up games flopped, and harassment was on the rise. In between those headaches, we got a surprisingly strong year of unpredictable games like Balatro and Black Myth: Wukong.
That makes 2025 a little difficult to predict. We saw the best and worst of the industry last year, and it’s unclear which side the needle will fall on by December 2025. Are things going to stabilize and give us a year with less layoffs and more great games? Or is the industry going to decay further, giving us more studio closures and big-budget flops?
As I do every year around this time, I’ve put together a list of four predictions for where video games are going in 2025. What I’ve found from interrogating my own thoughts is that I’m surprisingly optimistic this time despite everything that transpired in 2024. That’s thanks to some major hardware and software launches that could refresh the industry when it needs it the most. There’s a major caveat to all of that, though, as one hasty political decision could bring all of that potential momentum to a halt.
The Switch 2 is a hit (for real this time)
If I was feeling lazy, I would just copy and paste everything I wrote last year into this blurb.
Yes, when I wrote this piece last January, I essentially wrote everything I’m about to say again here: The Nintendo Switch 2 will release and be an instant sensation. In my defense, there was good reason to think that would happen by the end of 2024, but Nintendo’s timeline turned out to be a bit longer than anyone expected. Now, the console’s imminent launch feels more inevitable than ever in 2025. The leaks are becoming more credible by the day, even giving us glimpses at what it looks like. It’s much safer to say that the Switch 2 is coming this year and that it’s going to be a big deal.
What’s smart about a 2025 release is that it’s just far enough away from the launches of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020. It feels like it’s been a long time since we got a brand new console, so buyers will be hungry for a shiny new toy. It’s also been a very long time since the Nintendo Switch launched, so many people will be more willing to upgrade. That’s important, because an unwillingness to spend more money on an unnecessary upgrade is partially what hurt the Wii U when it launched. Nintendo will have to sell players on the idea that the Switch is truly a next-generation console that puts its predecessor to shame.
That, of course, is easier than it sounds — especially for Nintendo. The company has never been one to make powerhouse consoles, and there’s little reason to believe that it’s going to wow players with a rounder, pinker Kirby. To really impress players, Nintendo will need to bring its next console’s guts on par with the those of the Steam Deck and pull some serious support from third-party studios to sell what it can do. Essentially, we need to see a great Switch 2 port of Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3. If the Switch 2 still feels behind the times after all this waiting, there’s a chance Nintendo could botch the landing. But still, expect the Switch 2 to have a massive launch that dominates headlines for weeks.
Grand Theft Auto 6 smashes records
Every year, I feel compelled to include one “hubris prediction.” I always want one thing in here that could blow up in my face and properly embarrass me when I revisit this article in December and see what I got right. At a glance, this might not fit that bill. Grand Theft Auto 6 is currently scheduled to release in 2025, and it’s the most anticipated video game of all time. Of course, it’s going to dominate records and likely become one of the bestselling games of all time. Kind of a softball prediction, right?
Yes, but all of this hinges on one big question: Is Grand Theft Auto 6 actually coming out in 2025? I don’t think that answer is obvious at the moment. We’ve still only seen one single trailer for it, and there have virtually been no updates on it since its reveal in 2023. That might just signal that Rockstar is happy to work on the project in secret, but there’s good reason to be skeptical. The studio’s last game, Red Dead Redemption 2, was delayed multiple times before it released to ensure it was polished enough for launch. Rockstar is a perfectionist studio, and the stakes are incredibly high for GTA 6. If any game were to be delayed a few months, it’s this one.
That said, Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick claims that the publisher is confident in a 2025 release date, so I’m going to take him at his word. If it does indeed come out this year, expect it to be an inescapable cultural phenomenon. It will be the only game people talk about for months. It will singlehandedly lift console sales, maybe even turning the PS5 Pro into 2025’s hottest gaming device. It will become a scapegoat for every act of violence across the world for at least five years. However big you think GTA 6 is going to be, think bigger.
Xbox’s acquisitions pay off
Starting in 2021, Xbox made some major power plays in the form of pricey acquisitions. That started with Bethesda and then led to a successful — and exorbitant — Activision Blizzard purchase. While that all sounds like ancient history, it’s still a fairly fresh development. It’s so fresh, in fact, that we haven’t really gotten to see the actual results of it. With how long video games take to develop, we likely haven’t seen any video games released by either company yet that were greenlit by Microsoft. A lot of what we’ve seen over the past few years has been existing projects that were in development before the acqusitions.
In 2025, we’ll likely begin to see that change. Bethesda will have been part of Xbox for four years at that point, long enough for projects largely built under Microsoft’s watch to roll out. Avowed and Doom: The Dark Ages are the only Bethesda games that we know for sure are set to come in 2025, but both could be big releases for Xbox. Similarly, we should see a lot more from Activision Blizzard this year too, including a new Call of Duty game that could capitalize on Black Ops 6, a game that successfully reinvigorated a declining series.
It’s not that we’ll see an enormous wave of games from these companies in 2025. It’s more so that the ones we do get will finally stabilize Xbox. The Series X has been a strange console since its release in 2020, as its struggled to consistently deliver high-quality exclusives. Some years have gone by with only two or three major releases. There’s no room for error in that cadence, as one disappointing game can ruin Xbox players’ entire year. With an extra shot of big releases to pump up the calendar year, Xbox will now be able to achieve a level of consistency that will help it stay afloat in the second half of this current console generation.
Trump presidency creates headache for gamers
The biggest story of 2025 will undoubtedly be President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office. We’re likely in for a chaotic year as Trump uproots much of the work laid by the current Biden administration and implements his own controversial plans. You may think that none of this has anything to do with video games, but you may be in for a rude awakening if that’s the case.
Trump’s current plans could have a major impact on the video game industry — and players may be left with the bill. One of Trump’s biggest plans at the moment is to impose new tariffs on imports from other countries. That includes a 25% tax on products from Canada and Mexico and a 60% tax on ones from China. If those tariffs go through, you can expect the prices of electronics made outside of the U.S. to skyrocket. That would likely include video game systems, which could make devices like the Nintendo Switch 2 much more expensive than you’re expecting.
That’s the primary area that fans will feel an impact, but more headaches could be on the way. In his previous term, Trump used violent video games to explain a rise in mass shootings — a go-to scapegoat for Republican politicians. While it’s unlikely that Trump issues any sort of violent video game ban, you can predict that he’ll invoke them the next time there’s a high-profile case of mass violence in America. In fact, we just saw Among Us inexplicably turned into a piece of evidence in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. With gun control off the table in a second Trump term, expect games to be demonized — especially if Grand Theft Auto 6 releases.
