PS5 Predictions 2025
Image: Push Square

As has become tradition here on Push Square, we're starting the new year (admittedly more than a week late) with a slew of PlayStation-related predictions. We've gathered our esteemed editorial team so that they can share their hopes and dreams for the next 12 months.

Unsurprisingly, our predictions range from educated guesswork to abject stupidity, so feel free to roll your eyes and shake your head as you read through them.

Now then, let's get started...

Aaron Bayne, Video Producer

Intergalactic

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet gameplay is revealed, plus a 2026 release window

Maybe slightly optimistic but something tells me we’re going to see gameplay for Naughty Dog’s next game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet this year, with a 2026 release window.

Naughty Dog’s last “gameplay reveal” for The Last of Us Part 2 landed two years after the game’s announcement and two years before its eventual release. However, I have a feeling things will run a little quicker this time.We know the game has been in development since 2020, The Last of Us Multiplayer was cancelled freeing up some resources, and call me crazy but the last few seconds of the reveal trailer look an awful lot like gameplay.

My money would be on Sony debuting gameplay once the launch of Ghost of Yotei is out of the way, likely towards the end of the year, with Intergalactic acting as one of the first announced Sony projects launching in 2026.

PS Portal will get an OLED version

I have an inkling that Sony will release an OLED version of the PS Portal. It’s been a surprise success for Sony, and has since received the 30th Anniversary edition, the ability to cloud stream, and a Midnight Black edition was literally just announced days before writing this. The LCD screen is the most obvious way to upgrade the Portal despite it actually being a decent wee panel.

However, it’s undeniable just how much a good OLED screen can enhance your experience, with devices like the Nintendo Switch OLED and Steam Deck OLED showcasing that today, and the PS Vita getting it right way back in the day. The only issue is the Portal is already quite expensive, so an OLED version would be pushing £300, if not going beyond it. Not that Sony has an issue with releasing expensive devices (cough, PS5 Pro, cough).

Opinion on the PS5 Pro will shift as more games benefit from it

One of the big issues with the PS5 Pro when it launched was that it was retroactively amping already released games. A 60fps boost or bumped resolution on a game you’ve already played doesn’t quite sell the same as amping the newest releases.

I think in 2025 we’re going to see the real potential of the Pro, with most games releasing with Pro patches, enhancing frame rates and resolutions, and ultimately making the Pro seem like a far more appealing buy.

History suggests that the latter part of this generation will see the PS5 pushed to its limit, and already we’re seeing some big games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds getting confirmed day one Pro patches to smoothen out and elevate their experiences. I think we’ll start to see plenty of big releases lacking the graphical or performance oomph on base PS5 compared with the Pro, gradually shifting the opinion from “needless upgrade” to a “must-buy” for those that want the best experience for the latest console releases.

If Grand Theft Auto 6 actually comes out this year that could very well be the breaking point for a lot of people.

Khayl Adam, News Reporter

PlayStation

PlayStation enters an unprecedented new golden age

Grandiose, yes, but hear me out. Sony is financially crushing it right now, and that's with one hand tied behind its back: this generation's banger first-party releases. The reasons for this are myriad, not the least of which include its most serious rival in the console space, which is seemingly taking itself out of the race. Microsoft allowing its most valuable IP to come to PlayStation signalled the beginning of the end of the console wars, I feel, and there are a lot of gamers out there suddenly feeling cast adrift.

Social media users can attest to the number of big accounts crossing the picket and picking up a PS5 already; I think this snowball effect will pick up pace in 2025 as more games continue to come over and understandably abandoned-feeling die-hard Xbox fans continue to lay down their arms.

Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2: On the Beach are both incoming and bound to be excellent, likely to move a few consoles. Add to that, the seemingly imminent GTA 6, and we can't see casual consumers running out to buy an Xbox for it in 2025.

Judas is released in Q1 2025, and it's the true successor to BioShock

Ken Levine and the team at Ghost Story Games have been working on Judas for a very long time. Anticipation is high, but this is one of the instances in which I expect my own to be exceeded. I think the team have been cooking, and I predict that when Judas comes out, it will supplant even BioShock's "Would you kindly" mind-blowing moment and similarly be placed on a pedestal.

Further, I think it's coming sooner than we think. While 2025 seems a likely bet, parent Take-Two is expecting some financial return from the title before 1st April, and it's cutting things close now, but I think we could still see a reveal and a release in the intervening months.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is a breakout success for the series

Beginning all the way back in 1991, the legendary Civilization series has never been a true sales phenomenon, despite the respect and prestige it has earned. Strategy games, grand or otherwise, have nearly always struggled in this regard. This trend has started to turn with recent releases; Civ V (2010) managed 8 million copies sold, and VI (2016) had a cool 11 million in lifetime sales, which is trending in a very promising direction.

With Civ VII, it seems the conditions are aligning for a true breakout success. The Civ series has always been a gateway drug for historical-minded gamers to test the strategic waters, and with a day-and-date launch on PS5, not to mention a palpable amount of pre-release hype behind this next entry, has me convinced it will take the series to an entirely new level.

Liam Croft, Assistant Editor

Silksong

Resident Evil 9 is announced for a 2026 launch

I have another Resident Evil prediction I'm so confident about that I'd be willing to bet significant money on it, but it relates to Resident Evil remakes rather than new games, so this is what I have for 2025.

Capcom will reveal Resident Evil 9, but it won't release until the first half of 2026. It'll again use a subtitle like Resident Evil Village, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the developer fits the Roman numerals "IX" around it. It either needs a word that literally starts "Ix" or has those two letters together somewhere else. Resident Evil Mix, anyone?

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach earns the highest Metacritic rating of any PS5 game released this year

The passage of time has been kind to Death Stranding, a game that was misunderstood by many upon its original PS4 release. The first game has a Metacritic rating of 82, rising to 85 with the PS5's Director's Cut. Six years later, I think we all have a much better grasp of what Hideo Kojima is going for with the series, and so Death Stranding 2 will be far better received than the first.

It's going to be so good, in fact, that I predict it'll be the PS5's highest-rated game on Metacritic come the end of 2025. With this bet, I'm also essentially saying Grand Theft Auto 6 is delayed to 2026.

Hollow Knight: Silksong releases

That's it. That's the prediction. After years upon years of waiting, Team Cherry finally returns with the Hollow Knight follow-up first announced all the way back in February 2019. Will it live up to six years of anticipation and hope? Probably not, but I'm sure it'll still be a great game.

Robert Ramsey, Assistant Editor

Ghost of Yotei

Starfield comes to PS5 as some kind of complete edition later in the year

It felt a bit like Microsoft was testing the waters in 2024 in terms of bringing Xbox titles to PlayStation, and as such, I can see 2025 being a much more eventful year for port announcements.

(Master) Chief among them, I'm guessing, will be Starfield — Bethesda's universally hyped but ultimately divisive sci-fi RPG. It's unclear whether Starfield's getting a second expansion, but even if it doesn't, I think that some kind of 'complete' or 'definitive' edition will launch across all platforms — including PS5.

Assuming it comes true, it'll be especially interesting to see how PlayStation fans react to this reveal, although I imagine that it'll be flanked by other port announcements, which will no doubt take the edge off.

Jin Sakai will be playable in Ghost of Yotei (through a flashback sequence)

Yep, I think Jin Sakai will return in Ghost of Yotei, but given that the sequel takes place over 300 years after the events of Tsushima, our boy will be long dead.

With that in mind, I'm betting that Yotei's story will have ties to the events of the first game. Jin's transformation into the Ghost will be referenced as a kind of shadowy folktale, with new protagonist Atsu seeking inspiration from the legend.

By extension, there'll be a flashback where you take control of an overpowered, mythical-like Jin — and maybe it ends with Atsu adopting the 'Ghost' name and legacy, in order to help her achieve her goals.

And here's an extra prediction for you: Atsu will, at some point, come to inherit the Sakai katana.

The Final Fantasy 9 remake is revealed, built on Unreal Engine

It's really difficult to predict the scope of this long-rumoured remake, but seeing as it's been in development for at least several years — based on that old Nvidia leak — I believe that it'll finally be announced in 2025.

Part of my reasoning is that Square Enix's schedule seems to be quite barren this year. 2024 was about Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and we won't be seeing part three of that trilogy until 2026 at the earliest. There's always Kingdom Hearts 4, I suppose, but I'm looking at this from a Final Fantasy perspective.

The Final Fantasy 9 remake makes sense, then — at least to me. All of the evidence suggests that it's a real thing, but I just can't see it being a full-on, mega-budget remake like what's happened with Final Fantasy 7. A ground-up Unreal Engine recreation of the PS1 classic is my bet, complete with some modernised gameplay adjustments.

Sammy Barker, Editor

Microsoft PlayStation

Sony will announce a game playable on PS5, PC, and mobile

I’m increasingly of the opinion that gaming’s future hinges on having access to all of your games everywhere, but I think PlayStation will take a slightly more subtle path to that goal than Microsoft. I’m predicting that at some point in 2025, the platform holder will announce (not necessarily release) some kind of game which spans PS5, PC, and mobile.

It’ll be a live service title published by the platform holder, and you’ll be able to transfer your progress seamlessly between all three devices by using your PSN login, with all of your activity stored in the cloud.

GTA 6 will have a modular multiplayer map allowing Rockstar to change parts of the city

I think there’s a good chance GTA 6 gets delayed, but at the very least I anticipate we’ll learn a lot more about the game this year.

One thing I’m predicting is that the game’s multiplayer mode will feature a modular sandbox which Rockstar can change and alter for seasonal events. GTA 5 repurposed Los Santos for its online mode, but I think over time it’s got a little tired.

I’m expecting elements of GTA 6’s single player map to be used in multiplayer, but I think Rockstar will be able to swap in entire new districts and city segments at will, allowing it to completely change the flavour of the open world for various events and updates. Think about how Fortnite’s map changes and evolves over the course of a season, and you should get the gist of what I’m imagining here.

Microsoft becomes the biggest publisher on PS5 by far

With Activision and Bethesda already under its belt, Xbox is already one of the biggest publishers on PS5. But I think, because so much of its content remains console exclusive, it’s been kneecapped. I expect that to change in 2025, as I’m anticipating the vast majority of its slate to end up on Sony’s system.

I think bandwidth was a big issue for Xbox in 2024, with many of its studios still not geared to develop for multiple platforms; I predict it’ll have fixed that behind the scenes, and we’re not only going to see ports of past titles like Forza Horizon 5 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 this year, but also day one releases for the vast majority of its lineup.

I think some of these games have the potential to blow up on PS5’s much larger install base – much like Sea of Thieves has – and when you combine all of that with the obligatory annual Call of Duty release, I think Microsoft will be PS5’s biggest publisher in 2025.

Stephen Tailby, Assistant Editor

Project 007

We'll spy our first glimpse of Project 007 this year

Hitman developer IO Interactive announced it's making a James Bond game way back in 2020, and I have a good feeling we may finally see something of it in 2025. I'm not saying it'll necessarily launch this year, but the team has been tinkering away at this for nearly half a decade. The timing feels about right to me, even if it's just a brief trailer, a final game title, or a peek at what the secret agent looks like in this original story.

This prediction, much like the game's original announcement, is largely based on nothing, but five years down the line, I think it's time for this game's undercover mission to come to an end. We get it, IO, you're good at making stealth games; don't keep this in the shadows forever!

Team Asobi isn't quite done with Astro Bot just yet

The brilliant platformer launched last year, and received several free updates adding new levels with Special Bots to collect. With the additional levels included, most of the copyright notices in the game's credits make sense — but there are still a couple that may possibly hint at more to come.

As far as I can work out, Assassin's Creed and Beyond Good & Evil are the only series mentioned in the Astro Bot credits that do not currently appear anywhere in the game. It's possible these were considered and then fell through, but another likelihood is that characters from these franchises will appear in some future update.

More puzzling, though, is that Gex — a character found in the festive-themed DLC stage — is not currently mentioned in the credits. While probably an oversight, this does mean games and publishers not brought up are still in the running, and we all know a certain RPG series from a certain Japanese publisher is still MIA.

What does all of this mean? I reckon Astro Bot will get one or two more bonus stages, squeezing in the Final Fantasy characters it's sorely missing, and throw in those aforementioned Ubisoft reps for good measure.

EA will announce an arcade racing game, and it's either a Burnout revival or a Need for Speed remaster

I've been pining for Burnout to make its triumphant comeback for far too long. I'd love to see EA take my favourite racing series out for another spin with a fresh, modern game, though admittedly I'd equally take a remastered Burnout 3: Takedown and all will be forgiven.

A rumour from about a year ago was that Stellar Entertainment is working on something (its website states it's making a triple-A, Unreal Engine 5 arcade racer after all), and it'd be amazing if that's true — perhaps 2025 is the year we see it.

Failing that, though, Need for Speed is still relatively popular. Granted, Need for Speed Unbound sort of flopped, but the series ain't dead yet, and there's an interesting pattern that could tell us what's next.

Developer Criterion Games has flip-flopped between remasters and new games since the release of Burnout Paradise Remastered, and following Unbound, a remaster of Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012) would fit the pattern.

It's either that, or the franchise looks even further into its past; perhaps a remaster or remake of NFS Underground 2, or 2005's Most Wanted? Whatever the case, I reckon the publisher will show us an arcade racer of some fashion this year.


What do you make of our predictions for 2025? Are we out of our minds, or can you see some of these coming true? Be sure to share your own insane predictions in the comments section below.