Jamie’s Soapbox – Sony has to show this year’s PS5 games during the first 2025 State of Play or lose out to Nintendo
- Rumors suggest that Sony will hold a State of Play around February 14, 2025
- We’ve had a light year on actual PlayStation Studios releases
- A Switch 2-focused Nintendo Direct is set for April 2, 2025, with a release date expected
I believe that Sony can make 2025 the best year the PS5 has ever seen or miss out entirely to Nintendo. The Nintendo Switch 2 has dominated news ever since it was released, though I won’t be sold on it unless we get medals, and now it looks like we’re getting a release date for that console in just a couple of months.
The first Switch 2 Nintendo Direct takes place on April 2, 2025, and the entire world awaits it with bated breath. I’m 99% sure that a release date of Q4 2025 will be announced for Nintendo’s new hybrid handheld, and from there, that’ll be the main focus of anyone hoping to spend big on games and consoles for the rest of the year.
However, Sony has a golden opportunity, a brief blind spot to undertake Nintendo if it plays its cards right. If this rumored State of Play does take place this month, with February 14, 2025, seeming the most likely date so far, then 2025 could be the year of the PS5 instead of the year of the Switch 2.
Sony’s 2025 could be bigger than Nintendo’s, but it’s all about perspective
The PS5 has some solid hits on it, but if we think about titles that push the needle and really shine on the platform and make it worth owning over anything else, it’s difficult to pick out games. Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 might be the first truly next-gen PS5 RPG that makes the most of the technology, and Monster Hunter Wilds could be the first next-gen multiplayer experience.
If you look at the year ahead, we have a couple of PS5 games that could be incredible and make PS5 the best place to play in 2025. I’m talking about Ghost of Yotei, Death Stranding 2 On The Beach, and Baby Steps, and that’s without mentioning the multiplatform epics such as Elden Ring Nightreign and Borderlands 4.
Nintendo, on the other hand, has an entirely new console on the horizon. Metroid Prime 4 Beyond and Pokemon Legends Z-A are two great Switch titles I’d expect to be compatible with the platform’s successor, and I’m sure Nintendo has a host of other first-party games worth buying the platform up its sleeve.
But it still has to announce a release date. I do not doubt that the Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in late 2025, and I’m sure it’ll have supply issues that only drive more demand and make it more exciting. A new console doesn’t win anything, though, it’s the software you can play on it. The games.
If you lay it all out on paper, Nintendo is set to have a much more exciting year than PlayStation. But that’s just on paper. Sony can turn the tide with a February State of Play and make PS5 the biggest platform of the year, even counting the potential release of GTA 6.
Sony could steal the year from Nintendo if it hosts a State of Play that only features games it guarantees will be launching in 2025. Delays are, of course, sometimes necessary, but some games don’t run into them. Think about Like a Dragon Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, a game that by all accounts is massive and packed with hundreds of hours of content, yet hasn’t faltered.
If we get a solid showcase of ten or so big name games that are slated for 2025, then PS5 suddenly becomes an incredible platform to play on. Sure, Nintendo’s getting new hardware this year, but as far as we know, all the games can still be played on the Switch.
With a move like this, Sony could push past Nintendo’s obviously massive news with consistent releases throughout the year that repeatedly bring you back to its platform. The biggest disappointment with any State of Play is a “coming soon” or “202X” release date. I don’t want to see a game if it’s two or three years away. I’d rather see footage of an upcoming indie game I can play on my PS5 in a few months.
You hit the news if you show off the biggest and best names in games, which is why showcases and events like Summer Game Fest are always packed with them. You’ll forget about them within 24 hours if there are years between you and that release date, though.
Sony could make a slam dunk and snap up 2025 as the year of the PS5 if it starts out on the right foot. If not, I guess we’d better start wearing our Mario hats and marking our 2026 and 2027 calendars for the games we might be able to play.
Do you want us to be able to add more entries to our list of the best PS5 games with titles that launch in 2025? Please let me know in the comments, because I definitely do and I will take a year’s delay for Hideo Kojima’s next epic if it means I get an exciting look at an indie game where you suck Victorian gentlemen dry (Cabernet)
