Our Most Anticipated Games Of The Year, Another Assassin's Creed Shadows Delay, And More Of The Week's Top Stories

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku, Nintendo / Lego / Kotaku, Sony / Kotaku, Image: Rockstar Games / Kojima Productions / Dot Emu / Ubisoft / Kotaku, Ubisoft, Acer / Kotaku, Sony / Kotaku, Remedy / Kotaku, Photo: Nintendo, Nintendo
Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku, Nintendo / Lego / Kotaku, Sony / Kotaku, Image: Rockstar Games / Kojima Productions / Dot Emu / Ubisoft / Kotaku, Ubisoft, Acer / Kotaku, Sony / Kotaku, Remedy / Kotaku, Photo: Nintendo, Nintendo

This week, we took the opportunity to look ahead to what 2025 has in store, and reminded ourselves (and you!) of the many, many exciting games coming our way in the next 12 months. Also, the steady drumbeat of Switch 2 leaks seems to be speeding up, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been hit with another delay, and at CES, Acer revealed a very large gaming “handheld.” All this and more awaits in the pages ahead.

50 Percent Of PS5 Owners Are Freaks And Actually Shut Their Console Down When They Stop Playing

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

I only ever turn my PlayStation 5 off a few times a year, and it’s usually when there’s an unexpected power outage or I accidentally hit the red switch on the power strip it’s plugged into. My PS5 yells at me when I turn it back on and I vow never to do it again. Apparently only about 50 percent of players live this way, however. - Ethan Gach Read More

Our 27 Most Anticipated Games Of 2025

Image: Rockstar Games / Kojima Productions / Dot Emu / Ubisoft / Kotaku
Image: Rockstar Games / Kojima Productions / Dot Emu / Ubisoft / Kotaku

After a quieter year for bigger releases in 2024 (though there was still plenty of great stuff overall), 2025 has the potential to blow the lid off things with a ton of blockbusters ranging from the unexpectedly delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows to the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI (which could also still get delayed—boo, hiss). A ton of major games still don’t have specific release dates, and some of the biggest potential releases—a new 3D Mario from Nintendo, for example— haven’t even been officially announced yet. For now though, and working with the ever-shifting video game release calendar as it’s currently constituted, here are Kotaku’s most anticipated upcoming games of 2025. - Ethan Gach Read More

Assassin’s Creed Shadows Delayed Again

Image: Ubisoft
Image: Ubisoft

Ubisoft has announced that Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed again. The open-world stealth game was set to arrive in February following its initial delay in September 2024, but now it won’t launch until March 20. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

Nintendo Stays Completely Silent Amid Flood Of Switch 2 Leaks At GameStop And CES 2025

Photo: Nintendo
Photo: Nintendo

Nintendo’s ongoing refusal to announce the Switch 2 has reached the point of being downright absurd. As leaks continue apace, we’re piecing together the unacknowledged console like a jigsaw puzzle, rapidly leaving Nintendo with nothing else to say but, “Yup, that.” The latest pieces come from third-party manufacturers; some via a GameStop employee leaking new SKUs listed on the store’s systems, and others from third-party peripheral company Genki. - John Walker Read More

Nintendo’s Releasing A Game Boy Made Of Lego

Screenshot: Nintendo / Lego / Kotaku
Screenshot: Nintendo / Lego / Kotaku

Nintendo just announced a new console and it’s still not the Switch 2. The console maker is teaming up with Lego to release a Game Boy made of plastic bricks. It follows after a previous collaboration in which the two companies released a Lego NES together, complete with retro TV that displayed the first level of the original Super Mario Bros. - Ethan Gach Read More

Nintendo Breaks Silence On Switch 2 Rumors

Photo: Nintendo
Photo: Nintendo

Articles saying Switch 2 leaks and rumors are appearing like a torrent are appearing like a torrent, as CES 2025 produced a new round of speculation, hope, confusion and possible visions of the unrevealed device. All the while, Nintendo has sat silently, presumably watching our frenetic rushing about with arch amusement, perhaps taking some sort of pleasure in not actually announcing the console. But last night, the Japanese company finally spoke up, only to tell us all to sit back down. - John Walker Read More

New ‘Handheld’ Gaming PC Is So Big You Could Kill Someone With It

Image: Acer / Kotaku
Image: Acer / Kotaku

Computer maker Acer is one of the few PC tech companies that hasn’t released a Steam Deck-like handheld gaming device. That changes later this year when it releases not one but three different portable PC devices, one of which is so big that it almost looks like a joke and really begs the question if it’s even a handheld device anymore. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

New Sony Tech Will Put You Inside The World Of The Last Of Us

Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku

Sony has debuted some wild-looking, Star-Trek-holodeck-like technology that, if it works as advertised, will let people step into the world of The Last of Us and get up close and personal with the franchise’s grotesque spore zombies. This new tech will even let you uh...smell them. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

PlayStation 5 Is Getting A New Set Of Killer-Looking, All-Black Accessories

Image: Sony / Kotaku
Image: Sony / Kotaku

The PlayStation 5 lineup of consoles and accessories continues to expand. Just a couple of months after the 30th Anniversary set was released, Sony has revealed another lineup of color variants, this time in all-black. The new PlayStation Portal looks especially slick. - Ethan Gach Read More

Remedy Has A Plan To Make Sure Its Online Shooter Doesn’t Flop Like Concord

Image: Remedy / Kotaku
Image: Remedy / Kotaku

In 2025, the idea of releasing a paid, online-only multiplayer shooter seems very risky, as we’ve seen plenty of them fail. But Remedy, the developers behind Control and Alan Wake, have a plan to make sure their first multiplayer game—FBC: Firebreak—succeeds and doesn’t flop like Concord or XDefiant. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

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