While Microsoft did what it may to trip over price hikes and Xbox Game Pass changes, PlayStation had a much less controversial 12 months.
With no Concord-style flops, PlayStation 5 simply saved on trucking with a comparatively slim lineup of exclusives. Sony even felt charitable sufficient to publish Helldivers 2 on Xbox, seemingly marking the top of the console wars, whereas getting Gears of War and Forza Horizon 5 in return, however 2026 and past will see returns for Insomniac Games, Housemarque, and doubtlessly Naughty Dog – suggesting the quiet interval received’t final lengthy.
Still, with layoffs across multiple studios tallying over 1,500 in recent years, big questions over the future of Bungie, and the rise of the Nintendo Switch 2, it’s not precisely been a spotless 2025.
Minimal hardware changes
Last year saw the launch of the PS5 Pro, and the console actually acquired some love with enhancements for large titles like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Ghost of Yotei, Monster Hunter Wilds, Battlefield 6, and Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, making the console a lot simpler to suggest. Expect upcoming titles like 007: First Light, Saros, and extra to (hopefully) get even higher on the most recent {hardware}.
Perhaps the largest shock is how Microsoft’s video games have adopted the PS5 Pro. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5 are each PS5 Pro-enhanced, that means they’re higher than they had been on Microsoft’s personal console.
Other than the supercharged console coming into its personal, although, {hardware} information was quiet on Sony’s aspect. The firm introduced its own speakers coming in 2026, whereas there was a delicate DualSense revision that improved the battery life. A new PS5 Pro arrived, too, one which’s lighter and runs cooler, whereas the FlexStrike fight stick is slated for next year.
PSVR 2 acquired some new video games like Hitman and Demeo x Dungeons & Dragons: Battlemarked, nevertheless it actually does really feel as if Sony has stepped away from VR in the interim. That’s a disgrace, provided that the headset is an enormous step up from the first-generation model on PS4, however we’ll see if the corporate tries to make VR a much bigger a part of its output in 2026.
Faring higher is the PlayStation Portal. Sony’s distant participant is a far cry from the PSP of yesteryear, nevertheless it now has the choice to play video games from the cloud – no PS5 required. It’s nonetheless tied to PlayStation Plus Premium (the priciest membership tier), nevertheless it’s now accessible for all gamers as of November, having been in beta for a lot of the 12 months.
Finally, there’s no new DualSense, however between Icon Blue, the God of War mannequin, and loads of different recent choices, Sony has saved collectors effectively catered to.
Get to the games
If there’s one thing Sony has done consistently well for years now, it’s to bring tantalizing exclusive titles to its consoles. While next year will see Marvel’s Wolverine, Phantom Blade 0 (also coming to PC), and Saros, PlayStation fans had a quieter 2025 than they may have expected.
Hideo Kojima’s long-awaited Death Stranding sequel, On the Beach, might not sway you if you weren’t convinced by the first game, but Ghost of Yotei was another solid Sucker Punch open-world adventure.
Outside of those, though, it was a pretty quiet one, with plenty of franchises still pretty quiet. With The Last of Us, God of War, Uncharted, and more in its back pocket, Sony can afford to rotate franchises.
This year finally saw Grand Theft Auto 6 break cowl, with PlayStation seemingly snapping up the advertising and marketing rights for Rockstar’s subsequent epic. That has little bearing on this 12 months, particularly given its a number of delays, however anticipate a bumper gross sales 12 months for the system off the again of that.
Sony’s pivot to extra dwell service video games, nonetheless, feels nearly completely in stasis. The firm introduced layoffs this 12 months within the wake of canceled games-as-a-service tasks, with Jade Raymond, founding father of Haven Studios, leaving earlier than Fairgame$ has even shipped.
Arguably, nothing sums up Sony’s present live-service limbo like Bungie. The studio, which has presided over the Destiny franchise since 2014 and has pivoted to 2 expansions per calendar 12 months, has been embroiled in controversy this 12 months.
Following vital layoffs final 12 months, Destiny 2’s Edge of Fate enlargement was a essential drop from 2024’s The Final Shape, and whereas December 2025’s Renegades appears to have improved issues, participant counts have been decrease than ever.
Bungie wants a win, then, with the corporate reportedly being eyed for assimilation into Sony correct, dropping its autonomy. That’s trying extra seemingly, with Marathon slipping from 2025 to subsequent 12 months following accusations of plagiarism for artwork in its world. It’s slated for March 2026.
Finally, it’s value noting that Sony has been pushing extra of its video games to PC. Stellar Blade made the transfer this 12 months, whereas Lost Soul Aside, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 additionally moved to Steam.
The human cost
Again, it’s worth pointing out that developers, even those at Sony studios, are being laid off. While Sony didn’t terminate as many employees as it did in 2024, a round of layoffs in 2025 still hit the PlayStation Visual Arts group following the aforementioned dwell service cancellations.
If Sony, seemingly the corporate promoting loads of software program and {hardware}, continues to be making these sorts of cuts, then what are we doing right here?
Cancelled titles reportedly included a God of War spinoff, and are prone to have been triggered in a roundabout way by the high-profile failure of Concord to search out an viewers in 2024.
In some ways, Sony’s 2025 was similar to its 2024, however with diminished returns. There had been exclusives, however none shone as brightly as Astro Bot, whereas {hardware} adjustments had been minimal after final 12 months’s huge new PS5 Pro reveal and launch, and layoffs stay nearly the one trade fixed – not only for Sony.
With Marvel’s Wolverine, Saros, and extra deliberate for 2026, Sony may very well be set to cease treading water – however with no actual strain, does it must?
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