When Astro Bot was announced as Game of the Year for 2024 by basically everyone, including The Game Awards and the much more prestigious TheGamer, we all thought GOTY for 2025 was a lock. This is GTA 6. Thanks for playing. See you next year. If we had known at the time that it would be delayed until 2026, we would have had a similar unanimous agreement that Silksong was confirmed as heir to the throne.
That in itself paints an interesting picture of the gaming landscape in 2025. However, he is now considered second favorite by then outsider Clair Obscur. Expedition 33, 2025 looks to be one of the most exciting years on record. But why, and what does it mean for 2026?
The 2025 GOTY nominees are the most interesting in a long time.
Most of the time, when someone says it's been a good year for gaming, it means that a few games came out that they really liked. I guess this is true, but it also means that every year since video games were invented has been a good year for gaming, so it makes no sense.
Sometimes it's just the sheer volume of high-quality releases (see 2023) that makes a year great, but there's a lot more to it than that. When you look at the Golden Joysticks GOTY nominees, you see not only quality but also variety. This is why 2025 will be a good year for gaming. Not because the catalog is stacked against other legendary years (not 2023/2007/2004/1998 despite valiant efforts), but because the opportunity was expertly exploited.
Peak and Blue Prince, triple-A nominees for Ghost of Yotei and Donkey Kong Bananza, could also be seen making the cut. Not only that, but there is also great diversity among the larger candidates. The often-overlooked horror genre is typified by Silent Hill, while Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 was rewarded for sticking to its immersive roots. That's before we get to Hades 2 and Silksong, which carry both the weight of expectation and the apparent appearance of Clair Obscur.
Even if 2025 is a little more empty than other recent years, it seems unlikely that they will be nominated by default either. Assassin's Creed Shadows, Mario Kart World, Ninja Gaiden 4, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Borderlands 4 are all missing here. The peaks ahead of them may not be consistent across all GOTY contests (Golden Joysticks are often more selective), but this is still a key indicator that breadth is their biggest strength in 2025.
What impact will GTA 6 have in 2026?
One of the reasons these indie games were able to thrive was the lack of GTA. Many publishers have publicly admitted their fears about GTA 6, to the point where they moved their release windows to avoid it. But some have skipped the relatively meager release schedule and turned straight to traffic to compete with the very games they were avoiding.
Of course, it's not entirely accurate to say there won't be any major releases in 2025. PlayStation released Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei. Both will win major GOTY awards, but will fall short of most awards. Nintendo has released a full console, and while Mario Kart World hasn't reached the heights of its predecessor, Donkey Kong and Pokemon are set to join the scene this year with Metroid, Kirby, and Zelda spinoffs.
Note: Xbox continues to sleep on sheets filled with its own influences, but it's also released major games like The Outer Worlds 2.
Nonetheless, there is a feeling that 2025 should be treated with caution. It's yet to be seen whether 2026 will be the same, with several studios continuing to space out 2027, or whether they can't delay any longer and will have to compete with GTA 6 anyway. We saw another relative gap in 2021 as COVID-19 delayed production schedules. The bottleneck of 2023 makes it one of the best years in gaming history, at least as far as releases are concerned.
No matter what the future holds, I wonder how we will look back in 2025. There aren't a ton of top-tier games, and the GOTY races don't seem all that exciting as we prepare for Claire's procession. But the variety offered by this year's best games is much more than we're used to seeing, and that's worth celebrating.
- released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Ages 17 and older / Blood and gore, strong language, suggestive themes, violence
- developer
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Sandpole Interactive
- publisher
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Kepler Interactive
