Summer Game Fest 2025 Predictions: What to expect

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2025’s Summer Game Fest stands as the most anticipated collection of game unveilings and previews, offering excitement for the remainder of 2025 and beyond.

Although a handful of major releases such as Death Stranding 2 have been officially announced, the lineup for the event remains largely uncertain at present. With GTA 6 no longer set to release in 2025, game publishers are expected to make a strong presence at the event, aiming to launch their titles before the holiday season.

Below, you’ll find our comprehensive collection of Summer Game Fest 2025 forecasts, outlining the anticipated highlights of this year’s event:

*Note that the use of “our full slate” has been replaced with “comprehensive collection,” and “what you should expect to see” was changed to “anticipated highlights.” This maintains the original meaning while providing a more natural and easy-to-read sentence structure.

Hollow Knight Silksong gets shadowdropped

The moment has arrived! Given that the game is slated for a museum exhibition this year, there’s a stronger case than before to anticipate its launch this year, and possibly even receive a release date announcement during this event.

Instead of waiting any longer, Team Cherry might choose to launch Silksong through a surprise drop, or “shadow drop.” Given that six years have passed without a release date and the game is already in a polished enough state for public viewing, it seems plausible that they’d opt for this approach. After all, such an unexpected move would certainly create a stir among fans!

Resident Evil 9 gets revealed

It seems like Resident Evil 4 is a suitable point to pause on remakes and advance with the series, perhaps by introducing a third-person perspective this time instead of the first-person view in games 7 and 8. Ethan Winters’ narrative has reached its conclusion, and it appears to be the ideal moment to pass the torch to iconic Resident Evil characters and let their tales unfold further.

It’s also exciting to think about a reboot of Code: Veronica! Many contemporary Resident Evil enthusiasts haven’t had the chance to experience it, and it would be an excellent choice for a remake. Regardless, it seems unlikely that we won’t hear some news about the Resident Evil series this year.

Lost Planet makes a comeback

As we’re discussing Capcom right now, it seems like an ideal moment to reintroduce the Lost Planet series into the spotlight. Given the success of Helldivers 2, it’s evident that there’s a strong demand for cooperative shooter games where players face challenging odds. It’s not just wishful thinking, but there’s a high possibility that this could become a reality.

Though they’re still delisted from purchase on the Steam store, every Lost Planet game mysteriously had their Games for Windows Live restriction lifted recently, making them playable on PC for the first time in years (though the way they did it unfortunately deleted users’ save data and removed online). It’s hard to think of any reason Capcom would do this other than to bring back the old games or perhaps revive the series. Honestly, I’d just be happy with the ability to play Lost Planet 2 again.

Perfect Dark gets a release window of 2026

Microsoft has gradually been making a strong comeback in the first-party scene, unveiling some impressive games such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, South of Midnight. The Outer Worlds 2 is expected to be their main event for this year, yet there seems to be a delay in updates regarding Perfect Dark.

It’s likely that the appearance of this game could be altered compared to our previous view, as what we saw before was essentially a preliminary simulation or representation of possible gameplay.

Nintendo announces a new Mario game

Given that the Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to launch prior to Summer Game Fest, it wouldn’t come as a shock if Nintendo decided to keep at least one major unveiling of an established franchise under wraps, aiming to entice gamers to purchase the console.

Although several games have been announced, some notable absences remain. The lack of a Mario-centric adventure at the launch of a Nintendo console is quite unusual, so it wouldn’t come as a shock if Nintendo unveiled the upcoming major Mario game during this event.

Virtua Fighter 6 finally gets a gameplay reveal

For quite some time now, SEGA has been subtly hinting at the development of Virtua Fighter 6, sharing only brief gameplay previews and discussing the potential benefits of Nvidia’s graphics technology.

Even though we haven’t witnessed actual gameplay yet, Virtua Fighter 5 remains impressive given its age. Sega has been putting a lot of effort and resources into rejuvenating their esports scene and building excitement for the franchise.

It’s quite unexpected if Virtua Fighter 6 isn’t represented in any form, unless the developer chooses to dedicate all their resources from Ryu Ga Gotoku towards Project Century, rather than aiming for a 2025 launch, which could very well happen.

Marvel vs Capcom 4 (or Capcom vs SNK 3)

There’s a buzz that a significant event related to fighting games could unfold at Summer Games Fest, and it won’t involve Virtua Fighter. Given Capcom’s extensive work on rejuvenating classic fighting games, it wouldn’t be unexpected if they announce a crossover fighter during this time.

In the year 2024, I had the privilege of chatting with Street Fighter 6’s producer, Shuhei Matsumoto. During our conversation, he shared some exciting news – the team has shown a keen interest in developing a brand new Marvel vs Capcom game!

Recently, we had another conversation with Matsumoto not long ago during our latest write-up, and he expressed his thoughts about a potential new Capcom vs SNK: “The desire among our entire fighting game development team, including myself, to create a new ‘Capcom vs SNK’ title has always been present.

Although the team’s wishes don’t guarantee they’re actively working on these projects, it significantly increases the likelihood of those projects existing.

Half Life 3 and Skate 4 both get shown

It’s common knowledge that Electronic Arts (EA) is developing a new Skate game, but so far, we haven’t had a chance to see it in action. Additionally, some intriguing assets have been found within Valve’s Deadlock, which are said to be connected to the development of Half-Life 3. Some data miners speculate that this project has been actively developed for several years now.

Two games, often used as humor when discussing unlikelier releases, might actually be displayed this year. If they do, it would effectively squash these two running jokes simultaneously.

io Interactive finally shows their James Bond game

Io Interactive has confirmed that they are developing the next installment of the James Bond series. However, as of now, there’s no footage revealed. Since they will be attending this upcoming event, it would be quite expected to unveil the title and release date for this project at last.

It seems unlikely that the studio will unveil a new Hitman game given their current focus on developing a major intellectual property such as James Bond. Their success with reviving the Hitman series notwithstanding.

With Summer Game Fest 2025 coming to a close, here are our top picks for what we might expect! Although we’d be thrilled to see new games from our beloved series, we think the games mentioned earlier have a strong likelihood of being released. Keep an eye on Summer Game Fest to discover if our predictions were off target or if they turned out to be right on the money!

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2025-06-01 18:49