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In This Edition
- 2025’s big unreleased games
- Where now for Xbox?
- The Stop Killing Games campaign
- Nintendo’s dev cost mission
Hello there from sunny Brighton!
This week, I went to Develop:Brighton to meet up with old friend and colleague James Batchelor to record today’s episode, where we dive into the biggest games still to come out in 2025, using data supplied by Game Discover, IGN, Fandom and Fancensus.
We also chat Xbox, Helldivers 2, Stop Killing Games and Nintendo’s plans to deal with rising dev costs. Plus, James shares his experience launching his first video game.
You can check out the show above, or via your podcasting platform of choice, or alternatively I’ve dived into the big games below. Enjoy!
No GTA, No Problem? What will be the big games of 2025
Predicting what games will come out top during the year is a difficult task.
There are the obvious ones. Call of Duty, NBA, EA Sports FC, Madden... those will always be there. But we’ve consistently seen huge franchises fail to connect, and smaller titles come out of nowhere to dominate the charts. If you had predicted at the start of 2024 that the best-selling games of the year would be Helldivers 2, Palworld and Space Marine 2, and that Star Wars Outlaws and Dragon Age would barely make the Top 50, you might just be the best analyst in the world.
Nevertheless, with under six months left of the year and with Grand Theft Auto 6 delayed until 2026, I asked a number of data suppliers to help select the biggest 2025 games still to come based on data.
Game Discover kindly provided its Steam Wishlist rankings, IGN offered up its IGN Playlist Wishlist chart, Fandom (the Wiki business that also runs GameSpot) shared the games generating the most traffic, and Fancensus gave us social and press coverage data.
Let’s take a look at the games.
Games That Appear On Every Top Ten
Borderlands 4
2K Games/Gearbox
September 12, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X, Nintendo Switch 2
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.3, IGN Wishlist No.10, Fandom Traffic No.1, Press Coverage No.1, YouTube Views No.1, Overall Social Posts No.1
In terms of pure numbers terms, Borderlands is the biggest franchise on this list. The last game sold 22 million copies, which is the fastest-selling game 2K has ever released. It’s still got a bit of catching up to do on Borderlands 2, which is on over 30 million, but it’s getting there faster than before.
Spin-off game Tiny Tina’s Wonderland released in 2022, and although on a smaller scale, it surpassed 2K’s expectations and has shifted nearly four million copies across Europe alone.
What didn’t beat their expectations was the Borderlands movie, a box office flop with $33m made on a $120m - $150m budget. Despite this, last summer (when the movie came out) was big for the Borderlands games. Due to the movie and inclusion in the PS Plus subscription service, 2.15 million people played Borderlands 3 in July, and that rose to 2.16 million in August. And sales of the game jumped 418% across Europe, too. If the movie did any brand damage, the data suggests otherwise.
Ghost of Yotei
Sony/Sucker Punch
October 2, 2025
PlayStation 5
Positions: Steam Wishlist N/A, IGN Wishlist No.3, Fandom Traffic No.2, Press Coverage No.3, YouTube Views No.10, Overall Social Posts No.5
The big PS5 exclusive of the year. Its predecessor, Ghost of Tsuhsima, was a breakout hit for Sucker Punch and PlayStation back in 2020. Sony spent, according to filings, $60m on the game and it delivered nearly $400m. As of September last year, it had shifted 13 million units.
Now the test to see if the series can go further. There’s big promotional activity around this, and its setting matches another recent success: Assassin’s Creed Shadows. It’s also been a while since we’ve seen a big first-party PlayStation story game. Spider-Man 2 was the last one way back in 2023 (Death Stranding: On The Beach is a little more specialist). So assuming it delivers the quality, expect this one to be a major PS5 moment.
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Team Cherry
2025
PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S and X, Xbox One, Switch, Switch 2
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.1, IGN Wishlist No.5, Fandom Traffic No.4, Press Coverage No.7, YouTube Views No.8, Overall Social Posts No.7
Getting exact numbers on the original Hollow Knight is hard to find. We know the game hit under three million sales by 2019. But that was over six years ago. The title has easily surpassed that since.
It’s the biggest Metroidvania in the world, selling more than the games the genre is named after. It’s difficult to know if its huge online popularity and fan love is reflected in its overall sales, but it’s clear it’s destined for a very big launch.
Fans were bemused to see its first re-reveal occur via a very short clip during the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal. But platform holders know its impact, with Xbox highlighting the game during its Xbox Summer Showcase as a potential key title for its upcoming Xbox handhelds.
Mafia: The Old Country
2K/Hangar 13
August 8, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.7, IGN Wishlist No.7, Fandom Traffic No.7, Press Coverage No.4, YouTube Views No.9, Overall Social Posts No.9
It's been a long time since we’ve seen a new Mafia game, nine years in fact (although we’ve had a few remasters). The last game, Mafia III, sold seven million copies in total. This new title is positioned as a smaller, more linear take on the series (closer to the first two games) and has a lower price than other AAA games. It appears on every list, but in the lower half of most of them.
Games That Appear On Most Top Tens
Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
Konami
August 28, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.8, IGN Wishlist No.2, Fandom Traffic No.5, Press Coverage No.6, YouTube Views No.13, Overall Social Posts No.3
This is a remake of the fan favourite Metal Gear Solid 3, which is not the biggest game in the series. In fact, it sold around four million copies, which is well below the seven million reported for Metal Gear Solid 2. But it’s well-loved with fans and works as a standalone entry point to the series. They’ve also dropped the ‘3’ from the title, presumably to encourage people to jump in here.
Remakes and remasters typically appeal to core fans over new ones. And this is right in that mid-2000s nostalgia window. However, it’s also a type of game - stealth action – that we don’t see a lot of anymore. So perhaps this one might go beyond the core, and the early buzz across social and the press suggest good things.
Metroid Prime 4
Nintendo/Retro Studios
2025
Nintendo Switch and Switch 2
Positions: Steam Wishlist N/A, IGN Wishlist No.4, Fandom Traffic No.3, Press Coverage No.6, YouTube Views No.12, Overall Social Posts No.14
Metroid is not a big franchise. Its high point actually comes on Nintendo Switch with the 2D game Metroid Dread, which shifted over three million copies. Not terrible, but a minnow compared to some of Nintendo’s other IPs. Mario Kart World sold more in one week.
The reason this game charts so highly, compared to other Nintendo titles like Donkey Kong Bonanza that doesn’t make this list, is how passionate the Metroid fanbase is. It’s very well loved but core Nintendo gamers.
Metroidvania games are slowly growing in popularity. The franchise should do better, and with a cross-platform approach, a stunning looking game, and a potential technical demonstration for the new Switch 2 hardware, perhaps this one can finally take the series up a notch. Although I’m thinking five million sales, not ten million.
The Outer Worlds 2
Microsoft/Obsidian
October 24, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series X and S
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.18, IGN Wishlist No.9, Fandom Traffic No.6, Press Coverage No.8, YouTube Views No.16, Overall Social Posts No.16
Obsidian’s take on Fallout series may seem slightly redundant now Microsoft owns Fallout, but the first Outer Worlds was a hit. Even without Game Pass, it sold four million units (the first game was published by Private Division), and it reviewed well.
With the first title under its belt, Obsidian has been tweaking the bits people didn’t like while adding new elements, and Xbox is backing this one strongly. It was Xbox’s featured game during its Summer Showcase (a spot previously occupied by Call of Duty and Starfield), with a video featuring Hollywood actor Ben Schwartz.
It’s not dominating every list. So there’s still some awareness to drive. But with the Game Pass element, this could prove to be a popular one over the Christmas window.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Game Freak/Nintendo
Nintendo Switch and Switch 2
October 16, 2025
Positions: Steam Wishlist N/A, IGN Wishlist No.8, Press Coverage No.5, YouTube Views No.2, Overall Social Posts No.4
Pokémon is clearly going to be a big game. The first Pokémon Legends, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, was a fan-favourite and sold 15 million units. A big number, if a fair bit off the 27 million units that Pokémon Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet achieved.
Legends: Z-A has a different look to the last game, and that has had a varied online reaction. Recent technical issues with big Pokémon games have also made fans wary. As a result, there’s a bit of a wait and see going on by some of the community. As a result, it may follow a similar trend to Legends: Arceus, which had a late surge of interest and caught Nintendo by surprise, resulting in the game selling out at many retailers.
There’s clearly interest. It’s the No.2 most watched unreleased 2025 game on YouTube and TikTok.
Notable Mentions
Little Nightmares 3
Bandai Namco/Supermassive Games
October 10, 2025
PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S and X, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.5, IGN Wishlist No.6,
Little Nightmares has a strong following, with the first two games delivering a combined 20 million units globally. There is pressure on this one. Little Nightmares is the brainchild of developer Tarsier, which created the first two games. But it was acquired by Embracer, so Bandai Namco has teamed up with Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games for the third title. It’s an established horror studio, but a changing of developer has its risks, especially with Tarsier developing its own game in the same style called Reanimal.
ARC Raiders
Nexon/Embark
October 30, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X
Positions: Steam Wishlist No.2
The new shooter from The Finals developer Embark Studios is generating a huge amount of buzz. It is yet another extraction shooter, but it’s a striking game and its technical test received plenty of positive feedback. It’s only on the Steam Wishlist, but it is No.2 on that list. With Bungie’s Marathon pushed back, ARC Raiders might just be the big PC shooter of the year.
Dying Light: The Beast
Techland
August 21, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X
Positions: Steam Wishlist 4, Press Coverage No.15, YouTube Views No.7, Overall Social Posts No.18
Dying Light is a huge zombie franchise, with 45 million players since its launch. The second game, 2022’s Dying Light 2, sold through five million units in a month. Dying Light: The Beast was intended to be DLC for the second game, and is a smaller scale game. Nevertheless, it is No.4 in the Steam Wishlists for games due out in 2025.
Silent Hill f
Konami/Neobards
September 25, 2025
PC, PS5, Xbox Series S and X
Positions: Steam Wishlist 12, Press Coverage No.2, YouTube Views No.4, Overall Social Posts No.2
Last year’s Silent Hill 2 remake was very well received and shifted two million copies, which is a good result for the franchise. Silent Hill f’s recent trailer has gone down well and performed strongly on YouTube (No.4 in terms of views) and TikTok (No.1). It’s not exactly Resident Evil, but early signs are positive.
There is clearly a lot of big games still due this year, but when looking at the data, there are not many surprises in terms of what’s generating attention right now. It’s clear to see why analysts predict a down year for the industry in 2025.
But as always, although there are bound to be a few disappointments, we should expect to see a few major successes emerge from seemingly nowhere, too.
Meanwhile…
The German federal government is increasing public funding for game development to €125 million, up from €50 million, according to the country’s trade association.
Stop Killing Games, the consumer campaign demanding publishers ensure their games are playable once they’ve stopped supporting the titles, has surpassed one million signatures and prompted a response from the EU trade body (Video Games Europe). VGE wrote: “We appreciate the passion of our community. However, the decision to discontinue online services is multi-faceted, never taken lightly and must be an option for companies when an online experience is no longer commercially viable. We understand that it can be disappointing for players but, when it does happen, the industry ensures that players are given fair notice of the prospective changes in compliance with local consumer protection laws."
Nintendo is considering new approaches to reduce dev cycles. The firm’s president Shuntaro Furukawaka said during an investor Q&A: “We believe it is possible to develop games with shorter development periods that still offer consumers a sense of novelty. We see this as one potential solution to the concern about rising costs and prices, and we will explore it from various angles within the company.”
Helldivers 2 is coming to Xbox. The hit PS5 and PC game, which was published and funded by PlayStation, will launch August 26.
The UK Government has announced the members of the UK video games council. This includes Jason Kingsley CBE (Rebellion), Nick Button-Brown (Outright Games), Emily Bailey (JECO), Saad Choudri (Miniclip), Charu Desodt (Interior:Night), Kirsty Rigden (Futurlab), Dave Gould (Take-Two), Chris van der Kuyl CBE (4J Studios), Donna Orlowski (Chucklefish), Nick Poole OBE (Ukie), Tara Saunders (Larian), Maria Sayans (ustwo Games), Tim Varney (Microsoft), Dr Richard Wilson OBE (TIGA)
Ubisoft has cut 19 employees from its Red Storm team as part of on-going ‘restructuring and global cost-saving efforts’.
Apple will appeal EU's $568.6 million (€500m) fine for violating EU law by not allow App Store apps to link or reference alternative payment options. Apple calls the fine ‘unprecedented’.
Romero Games isn’t completely closed. Although staff are currently going through a consultancy process, the studio is hoping to secure a new publisher for its game after having its funding pulled by its previous publishing partner (which is widely reported as being Microsoft)
That’s it for today. Join us next week when we’ll finally run that piece with Zynga!
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