2025 has been a fairly quiet year in the world of video games with little in the way of scandals or surprises. Gone are the days of Giant Enemy Crabs or Microsoft completely flubbing an Xbox launch. Nevertheless we have spent at least an hour collating and debating these very special awards which are to be presented by Geoff Keighly as soon as we can drag him away from counting the millions of dollars he makes every year from presenting three hours of adverts.
The Most Botched Game Launch Award
When the trailer for Mindseye landed it got the attention of a lot of people, myself included. A big open world action game with driving, explosions, and lots of gun play? Yes, please! But alarm bells started to ring when a very limited number of YouTubers got to preview the game a week before it launched and they came away thoroughly unimpressed. Those alarm bells tuned into the honking of a bin lorry slowly reversing into your house when Build a Rocket Boy decided not to send out any review codes.
When they reviews did arrive they were not good and Mark Gerhard, co-CEO of Build a Rocket Boy, claimed that a “third party” (he means his former employers, Rockstar Games) had made a “concerted effort to trash the game and the studio”. Rather than fix the game post launch, management instead decided to fire 300 employees.
The Most Inevitable Game Delay Award
Speaking of Rockstar, if you have been playing video games for any length of time you will know that Grand Theft Auto games never come out on time and always get delayed at least twice. True to form, Grand Theft Auto VI was delayed not once, but twice in 2025, with Rockstar first pushing it back to May 2026, and then once again until November 2026.
The Most Hated Review Award
Who would have thought the game that got you most riled up this year would be a kid-friendly Pokémon game? We didn’t, but after we awarded Pokémon Legends: Z-A a well-deserved ten out of ten some of you decided to tell us we got it wrong. Did they leave a helpful comment here on the site? No, they found the reviewer’s honeymoon photos on Instagram and posted abuse there instead. Stay classy.
The Worst Promotional Trope Award
Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic. The Elder Scrolls VI. Beyond Good & Evil 2. Fable. The list of games that are revealed with CGI trailers before barely a line of code has been written grows every year and it is immensely frustrating. There is no need to announce your game five years before it comes out other than to impress shareholders. Stop it.
In the case of Fate of the Old Republic, Arcanaut Studios was founded by Casey Hudson this year and he reckons they’ll manage to ship by 2030. We’ll see you in the Most Inevitable Game Delay Award category in a few years.
The Best Xbox Award
This year, Microsoft really pulled it out of the bag and made PlayStation the best place to play Xbox games. You might not have expected this in 2020, but in 2025, the PS5 can play all of Sony’s exclusives and now pretty much all of the recent (former) Xbox exclusives as well. The Xbox fanboys have been incandescent with rage, but Microsoft were very happy with Forza Horizon 5 and other Xbox games topping the PlayStation charts, month after month.
Although it makes no sense to the rabid Xbox fans the decision makes perfect business sense, the Xbox Series X|S consoles dropped to fourth in the US recently, behind PS5, Switch 2, and the NEX Playground.
The Shirley Bassey Award
Valve have announced the Steam Machine, a new PC in a console-like box that’s designed to go under your TV in the living room.
Just like the did ten years ago.
The Most Ridiculous Video Game Title Award
A packed category this year with strong contenders in the shape of DDinosaur with Double D’s which is EXACTLY what you think it is, and FUBUKI ～zero in on Holoearth～ HOLOLIVE ALTERNATIVE. However there is one clear winner and it insists on being in all caps. Well done to BRAZILIAN DRUG DEALER 3: I OPENED A PORTAL TO HELL IN THE FAVELA TRYING TO REVIVE MIT AIA I NEED TO CLOSE IT.
The Most Pointless PS4 Remaster Award
This award is returning for a second year, but for a different reason. Last year The Last of Us Part 2 got a PS5 version which was clearly unnecessary when the PS4 version already had a free update to run at better frame rates on PS5. This year Sony decided to take the slightly polished PC version of Days Gone and shove it back on PS5. Did anyone notice? No.
The Most Obvious Rip-Off, Like, Evs, Award
When Tencent revealed Light of Motiram it was very clear that it was “inspired” but Sony’s Horizon games but when Sony got the lawyers involved we found out there was a lot more to it. It turns out Tencent had, on numerous occasions, pitched a Horizon game to Sony and had been turned down every time. Rather than give up they changed a few things and voila, Light of Motiram.
Sony and Tencent have now reached an out of court agreement and Light of Motiram has been removed from Steam and will no longer will be released. Who could have predicted that?
The “U OK HUN” Award
Someone over at Ubisoft social media seems to be having a breakdown and is posting all sorts of weird “joke” posts on Facebook. We can’t tell if they are trying to be funny or if it is a cry for help.
The Half-Life 3 Award
Awarded for the second year in a row to all those top tipsters on the internet who were 100% convinced that Half Life 3 would be announced, this time as an exclusive for the new Steam Machine boxes.
It wasn’t.
And that’s a wrap! Another strong year in a lot of hotly contested categories, andÂ
