With the festive season coming to a close and a new year on the horizon, many of us are focused on new beginnings and what the next trip around the sun will have in store for us.
In 2025, there will be plenty of events and occasions right around the country and the world to keep us interested and entertained. Here in the UK, we’ll celebrate the 200th anniversary of the modern railway, even if that modern railway can struggle to cope with simple things like leaves getting on the track.
England will also be hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup, shining the spotlight back on the town that gave birth to the sport.
2025 will also be a big year for gamers both here in the West Midlands and further afield.
Olympics Esports Games
There was a lot of pushback about the prospect of esports being included in the Tokyo Summer Olympics back in 2021 but the International Olympic Committee has come up with a compromise to satisfy everyone.
This began with the Olympics Esports Series which ran in 2023 and 2024, but it is being replaced in 2025 with the Olympic Esports Games. Rather than being an annual event, as had been the structure of the Esports Series, the new Olympic Esports Games will be a biannual event hosted in between the Summer and Winter Olympics, giving the IOC an event every year.
The inaugural event will take place in Saudi Arabia and will feature digital versions of several popular Olympic sports including cycling, rowing, and sailing, as well as baseball and motorsport. This makes the Olympic Esports Games stand out against most other esports events as it doesn’t feature more graphic or ‘violent’ games like first person shooters.
Brits have picked up several medals in recent years, so here’s to hoping our esports athletes will do the same this year.
iGaming Will Continue to Grow
The UK has long been a pioneer of online casino games. Whilst Blighty wasn’t the first country to allow iGaming companies to operate from its shores, it has been a leader in creating safe regulated markets for players to enjoy a wide variety of gaming options.
As the British market continues to mature throughout 2025, operators in the market will seek ways to stand out. In 2024, we’ve seen leading brands like PokerStars Casino create their own exclusive titles like Aegis of Zeus Rush and Golden Warrior to differentiate their platforms from the rest of the market.
We’re likely to see more of this throughout this year as the market remains very competitive.
Grand Theft Auto VI Dominating the AAA Market
It’s been more than a year since the release of the first GTA VI trailer and fans are becoming very impatient for more new about this ultra-anticipated game. It’s been 11 years since Rockstar Games first put Grand Theft Auto V on sale and that title has been released on two new generations of console since.
GTA VI remains slated for an autumn 2025 launch, but the hold-up in getting the second trailer out is a sign that this might get pushed back.
The sheer mass of popularity that follows the Grand Theft Auto franchise is unparalleled and it can move financial markets, as well as help sell consoles. Therefore, Microsoft, Sony, and Take-Two Interactive will all be hoping for the game to keep to its current timeline as this would coincide perfectly with the 2025 holiday shopping season.
However, it creates headaches for publishers of other video games. After all, you don’t want to be going up against a headline-grabbing, show-stopping, once-in-a-generation video game as you can be certain your sales numbers will take a hit as players flock to buy GTA VI.
With that in mind, it’s likely late 2025 will see fewer big-ticket releases, save for the annual rebadging of games like EA Sports FC and Call of Duty. Instead, expect more titles to land earlier in the year or be pushed into 2026.
Article written by Isabel Ivanova
