The thing we all knew was going to happen has finally happened: GTA 6 has been delayed. Originally scheduled for release during 2025, what is almost certainly the most anticipated game of all time is now due to arrive on May 26, 2026.
But that doesn’t mean that 2025 is going to go down in history as a disappointing year for games. Far from it! Already this year we’ve had some phenomenal releases in the form of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Blue Prince, and Split Fiction, and there are plenty more in the pipeline. Dozens of them, in fact. There’s Ghost of Yotei if you need a second samurai fix this year, Borderlands 4 for your co-op chaos needs, and even a brand new console and accompanying games from a little company called Nintendo.
Here’s everything you have to look forward to in the rest of 2025 that doesn’t have the words “Grand Theft Auto 6” in the title.
What’s next?
With GTA 6 originally scheduled for later in the year, you almost certainly hadn’t made any space in your gaming calendar over the next couple of months. But just in case you did, there are some massive drops imminent. Doom: The Dark Ages arrives on Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on May 15, and looks to be an incredible goth reimagining of the shooter we know and love. Following not long after is something for all the Souls fans, as Elden Ring Nightreign drops on May 30 for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. This one’s a co-op roguelike, so brand new territory for FromSoft, but if you’ve been looking for a faster take on the studio’s core formula, then it could be the mainstay of your multiplayer nights for the foreseeable future.
Skip forward a month into June and you can strap in for Hideo Kojima’s next wild adventure in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Arriving on June 26 exclusively for PS5, its trailers are already packed to the brim with wild and weird ideas, so we’re expecting this one to push the envelope much further than its FedEx simulator predecessor. Talking of games where its difficult to walk over large surfaces without things going horribly wrong, Dune: Awakening lands on PC on June 10. Watch out for the sandworms and drink plenty of water, please.
Switch 2
With GTA 6 now gone, the biggest event of the year is unquestionably the Nintendo Switch 2. The new console launches on June 5, alongside its first major game: Mario Kart World. Also releasing on the same day are the Switch 2 editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, so you’ll be able to play those classics at much better resolutions and frame rates. Then there’s the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour, the console’s mini-game based tutorial, as well as a bunch of third party games coming to the system, including Hogwarts Legacy, Spit Fiction, Street Fighter 6, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, Cyberpunk 2077, and – of course – Fortnite.
June is just the start, though, as just a few weeks later Donkey Kong Bananza will arrive on July 17 to ensure the Switch 2 isn’t without its mandatory 3D platformer. And from what we’ve seen so far, it looks worth going bananas for. Later in the year, you can also look forward to Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, Pokemon Legends: Z-A and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. Oh, and a little game called Hollow Knight: Silksong, which apparently really will arrive on Switch 2 and everything else this year.
Big Hitters
It wouldn’t be the end of the year without a three or four months of big hitters leading into the Christmas holiday. While not formally announced yet, we’re sure to get a new Call of Duty as well as EA Sports FC 26 around that time.
September will see the launch of two massive shooters: Borderlands 4 on the 12th, and Marathon on the 23rd. You know what kooky violent fun to expect from Borderlands, but this time the gun drops are promised to be even better. Marathon is more of an unknown, but an extraction shooter from the minds behind Destiny is surely something to keep an eye on.
PlayStation’s long-awaited Tsushima follow-up, Ghost of Yotei, will arrive on October 2, and bring with it a tale of vengeance against a group of shadowy masked samurai – hopefully this year’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows only left you wanting even more of that plotline.
There will likely be a few others to get excited about, too. While we have no confirmed dates, we’d expect highly anticipated games scheduled for 2025, like The Outer Worlds 2 and Crimson Desert, to also arrive in the last section of the year.
2025 Release Timeline
That’s far from everything on the horizon. For a larger list of things coming this year, take a look at our timeline of the biggest games confirmed to be coming in the year’s remaining months.
- Doom the Dark Ages – May 15
- Blades of Fire – May 22
- Elden Ring Nightreign – May 30
- F1 25 – May 30
- Mario Kart World – June 5
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – June 5
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition – June 5
- Deltarune: Chapter 3 + 4 – June 5
- Dune Awakening – June 10
- FBC: Firebreak – June 17
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach – June 26
- Tamagotchi Plaza – June 27
- EA Sports College Football 26 – July 10
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 – July 11
- Donkey Kong Bananza – July 17
- Shadow Labyrinth – July 18
- Wuchang: Fallen Feathers – July 24
- Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game – July 29
- Mafia: The Old Country – August 8
- Madden NFL 26 – August 14
- Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater – August 28
- Lost Soul Aside – August 29
- Hell Is Us – September 4
- Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion – September 5
- Terminator 2D: No Fate – September 5
- Borderlands 4 – September 12
- Marathon – September 23
- Ghost of Yotei – October 2
- Directive 8020 – October 2
- Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 – October 2025
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment – Winter 2025
- Crimson Desert – Q4 2025
- Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Late 2025
- Little Nightmares 3 – 2025
- Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – 2025
- Kirby Air Ride – 2025
- Dying Light: The Beast – 2025
- Hollow Knight Silksong – 2025
- Ninja Gaiden 4 – 2025
- The Outer Worlds 2 – 2025
- Cronos: The New Dawn – 2025
- Professor Layton and the New World of Steam – 2025
- Witchbrook – 2025
Matt Purslow is IGN’s Senior Features Editor.
