Big Three Predictions 2025

I love doing this every year. I always stress out a little bit when the annual reminder pops up on my phone, but when I sit down to write the post I always walk away having a grand time. Predictions and imagination are integral to tech coverage, especially video games. It brings a smile to my face to do this on my own, even if I lose to my own rule set...a lot.

For the record and for the curious, you can go back and read all my previous years' predictions—2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

There is only one particular rule in this made up game of mine and that is that whatever is written down must come true within the year. Perhaps I would be better off saying within 365 days of making the prediction (see below), but I will adhere to the calendar year.

There is also the over-the-top prediction, which is dubbed the Kiefer Prediction. This was all Peter Spezia's idea from Show Me Your News! and is inspired by the fact that 24's Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, is the voice of Venom Snake in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

Before venturing into the unknown of 2025, let us go back and see the year that was 2024.

Nintendo 2024 Predictions

1. The next Mario Kart game is announced alongside the next Nintendo console. ❌
2. Metroid Prime 4 is a cross-generational title. ❌
3. Donkey Kong gets a new game. ❌

I was two weeks late on this one. Seriously?! I nailed Mario Kart would join Nintendo Switch 2 at reveal, but Nintendo just haaaaaad to wait and officially announce the system in 2025. 🫠

I guess we will find out in April.

I would have argued for Donkey Kong Country Returns HD simply because I am desperate for some points out of the gate, but it is another 2025 release.

PlayStation 2024 Predictions

1. PlayStation 5 Pro costs at least $599.99. Everyone has PTSD. ✅
2. There is no more than one first-party PS VR2 title. ✅
3. Sony takes over the board at Bungie. ✅

Finally. I am fairly sure this is the first time I have nailed all three predictions for one of the Big Three. Maybe I am good at this?

The PlayStation 5 Pro sure does cost at least $599.99 and people sure did wig out.

Saved by the bell on this one. Who would have thunk that "no more than one" would actually mean zero. Sony has no more first-party games for the PS VR2. The system is almost perpetually $350 now. The PC adapter is out and not too great according to reports. Bums me way out man.

There is no official report on this, but I'm reading the tea leaves and tweets for this point. Bungie fired a ton of their staff this past year. Then 150+ people were moved from Bungie into SIE proper. Outside of performance and firings, the most damning piece is just this tweet from Jeff Grubb;

"Hermen Hulst runs Bungie now."

Bungie is not in command of its own destiny anymore. Sorry, I had to.

Xbox 2024 Predictions

1. Xbox Game Studios (and Bethesda) releases in 2024 will have an average score of 85 on Metacritic. ❌
2. Phil Spencer's desk/shelves tease/reveal Xbox hardware. ❌
3. Three major titles break Series S and X parity. ❌

I was pulling for Xbox this year, I really was. Then they just happened to put out one fewer game than I expected and, honestly, fewer games overall. If you add up and average the scores of the five titles on console with scores on Metacritic, the average comes out to be 80.2.¹ If you throw in the two games with no score, that average drops to 57.8. Theoretically, delaying Avowed out of 2024 hurt my chances of getting this one right.

I bet on CEO subtlety and got CEO directness. To be fair, the news started as a leak, but took on a more official form later in the year. Also, Phil just straight up talks about a handheld Xbox. Wild stuff.

For all my searching, I couldn't find any real news of this. What I did find were plenty of articles and devs saying that the parity clause was what kept them from releasing on Xbox, but that's not really what my prediction states. Credit where it is due though, Indiana Jones on Series S seems to keep quite a few features from its bigger brothers.

This one is a yes in the spiritual sense, but wrong in the literal sense of the prediction.

It was a renaissance year for the 3D character platformer. Astro Bot won numerous Game of the Year awards. The indie scene is flourishing with dynamic movement systems and bold design.

The problem with the prediction is that Nintendo and Xbox had nothing to do with the renaissance in 2024. I was hoping for the next 3D Mario game to at least get mentioned with the Switch 2. I kinda thought Xbox would pull an "announce the game years before it is ready" move again.

2024 was a great year for 3D platforming, just not for my 3D platforming prediction.

So I tied with myself last year—3/10. sucks breath through gritted teeth Dang it. Perhaps the game needs a rule rewrite. I don't know. We'll address it in a year, but for now, let's predict 2025!

Nintendo 2025 Predictions

1. Switch 2 will be at least $399.99 with some form of support for 4K.
2. Nintendo celebrates the 40th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. in style with special edition goodies and surprises.
3. Three dormant IP have projects announced.

I am hedging my bet here by sticking with $400. I think Switch 2 will cost $450, but I really, really want a point, so I am playing it safe. I suspect the original Switch, Lite, and OLED will remain on sale for the foreseeable future, much like the DS and 3DS lines did with their iterations. That means the Switch 2 cannot be any lower than $400 or keeping the first Switch around makes no sense. With over 140 million units out there, I don't see Nintendo just shutting off sales yet.

I almost went hyper specific with my second prediction and then realized it is not my Kiefer Prediction; more reining back in. It's hard to imagine a major milestone like this without celebration, collector's items, and more. The 30th Anniversary was when Super Mario Maker entered the world. There was even more during the 25th anniversary.

In my head, I am picturing a title card with a bunch of logos promising new games for Switch 2. Favorites for this slot are Kid Icarus, Star Fox, and perhaps F-Zero, although...would that count considering F-Zero 99 came out?

PlayStation 2025 Predictions

1. A GTA VI bundle of the PS5 Pro sells for over $850 (after tax) and sells out.
2. New hardware is announced (Portal, headphones, controller, etc. kind of hardware).
3. Uncharted makes its return.

I won't lie, I am struggling with PlayStation predictions this year. The announced exclusives (Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yōtei) are high on my anticipatory games for 2025, but also it makes the year feel light going in. I long for the years when games were announced far ahead so we at least knew what teams were working on. Funny how that works, because I almost assuredly was complaining about those long lead times when they were happening.

Therefore, my first prediction is one of marketing. PlayStation 5 Pro will more than likely be the place to play Rockstar's upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI. Rockstar and Sony have been close in marketing for generations. I still have a pair of broken GTA V-themed PS3 Pulse headphones in a tote. I think this bundle will easily be over $850, considering it will probably have some deluxe digital edition packed inside.

Sticking with hardware, I think the PS5 suite of accessories will grow in 2025. I have no clue what the mysterious product will be. They have every kind of headphone. The Portal is its own thing. There are plenty of controller types. The PS5 Pro still needs swappable plates. 🙃 The product design has been so consistent this gen for PS5, I feel like there is another product in the wings.

I'm just really hung up on that teaser from the "Live from PS5" ad, which apparently now listed as private on PlayStation's official YouTube page. 🤔

Xbox 2025 Predictions

1. Xbox will discuss their next home console with a launch window of 2026.
2. A Game Pass mobile app is announced.
3. Everything goes cross-platform.

Xbox leadership have openly discussed the next hardware and I sense they want to get ahead of the conversation of PS6. I am imagining a Xbox 360/PS3 scenario, where the Xbox is out almost a year prior to the next PlayStation. But also, the next Xbox can be a TV or a tablet or a phone, speaking of which...

I think 2025 is the year of the Game Pass app. Despite Phil's previous comments about monetization, Microsoft needs to get Game Pass on as many devices and services as possible. A mobile app—not a browser window—is vital for this endeavor.

This is sort of a "know it when you see it" prediction. I don't think Xbox will come outright and say "All our games are multiplatform now!" But I do think that the likes of Halo and Forza will land on PlayStation and Switch. I think all their "exclusives" for 2025 will have promised ports, whether they are paired with a date or not. Nothing is sacred to Xbox anymore. They want the money.

Kept you waiting, huh? It’s time for my Kiefer-level prediction!

In my little placeholder for my Kiefer Prediction I wrote down "What is absurd?" This feels flat out absurd.

One can only hope that the Switch 2 will let older games tap into the more powerful hardware and smooth out some of the rougher framerates, especially in the first party titles (Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom, I am looking at you). There have been rumors about GameCube on NSO, especially the controller. It's about time the GameCube and its library are unleashed onto the world. Free the Cube! Plus, Nintendo has to keep up the tradition of the GameCube controller being the longest running, consecutive controller design in the industry.

I mean, what is there to say about official PS3 emulation? Sony wants to shut down that PSN store. The PS Now servers have been running for over a decade. It's time to let them rest.

In the interest of including all three of the Big Three, I kinda threw Xbox there at the end. Why? Because Xbox is the most active at backward compatibility. Last year's announcement of a Preservation Team gave me a little kindling to include it in this fire prediction. If Xbox is going to talk about the next home console like I hope, then I think an easy pairing is mentioning backward compatibility from said team.

And that's all I got for 2025's annual Big Three predictions! Another year in the bag; another pitiful performance. The game is always fun. Letting imagination run wild and then trying to rein it in is a good discipline in this industry. I still need to work on the reining in part though. 😅 Thank you all for joining me on this ride. Here's to 2025 and all the video games we shall play!

---

Footnotes

1. If you wanted to check the individual scores. ²³⁴⁵⁶⁷ ↩

2. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Victors and Vanquished - N/A ↩

3. Age of Mythology: Retold - 83 ↩

4. DOOM + DOOM II (Remaster) - N/A (Metacritic says TBD) ↩

5. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle - 86 ↩

6. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 - 77 ↩

7. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II - 81 ↩