The Biggest Disappointments of 2025

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2025 has fixed america plentifulness of amusement worthy celebrating, but it’s besides gone and brought america consoles that outgo much present than erstwhile they were archetypal released, a Tron movie featuring Jared Leto, and an adjacent bigger spread successful our lives wherever Grand Theft Auto 6 was expected to be.

From terms hikes to lowlights, and missed expectations to cruel cancellations, these are the biggest disappointments of 2025.

Box Office Blunders

Marvel whitethorn person kicked disconnected 2025 by sending a marque caller Cap into a Brave New World, but audiences intelligibly had much than a fewer gripes with Anthony Mackie’s crook successful the Stars and Stripes. Despite what pre-release trailers had suggested, Captain America: Brave New World held backmost Harrison Ford’s translation from President Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross into a scarlet shadiness of Hulk until the last fewer minutes of the film, which surely had fans seeing reddish – conscionable not successful the mode the filmmakers had intended. All told, Captain America: Brave New World suffered a 68% drop-off astatine the container bureau successful its 2nd play and is yet to interruption adjacent connected its estimated $425 cardinal budget, making it person to a Hulk motion than a Hulk smash.

Meanwhile Tron: Ares turned retired to beryllium yet different lacklustre strategy reboot for a franchise that should person astir apt been unopen down, boxed up, and sent to an e-waste disposal halfway by now. The latest instalment successful Disney’s videogame-inspired sci-fi bid whitethorn person featured a certifiably banging soundtrack from Nine Inch Nails, but audiences weren’t precisely burning doing the caller Tron dance. Not since Jared Leto’s Morbius had a Jared Leto-led movie performed truthful poorly astatine the container office, with Tron: Ares’ mustering up conscionable $60.5 cardinal worldwide successful its opening weekend. Despite its disastrous reception, Tron: Ares features a mid-credits country that seemingly sets up a imaginable 4th film. Just don’t expect it for astatine slightest different 15 oregon truthful years, which appears to beryllium the emblematic Tron cycle. (Not to beryllium confused with 1 of those bitchin’ motorbikes.)

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s disconnected live-action Disney remakes that audiences look to person gone, oregon astatine slightest that’s however it appeared aft the middling show of 2025’s Snow White. To beryllium fair, a tick implicit $200 cardinal successful planetary container bureau gross is thing for Sneezy to, well, sneeze at. However, determination was intelligibly lone 1 live-action adaptation astir abbreviated radical carrying pickaxes and singing catchy songs that astir families wanted to spot this year, and that was A Minecraft Movie, which deed theaters conscionable 2 weeks aft Snow White and wholly dwarfed its show astatine the container office. Disney would unrecorded to live-action again, though, since its Lilo & Stitch reboot would ace a cardinal dollars conscionable a mates of months later, perchance owed to the information it was really a bully film. So who’s the fairest of them all? Moviegoers, it would seem.

Elsewhere, The Alto Knights proved that drafting successful the writer of Goodfellas, the manager of Rain Man, and a treble dose of Robert De Niro, didn’t warrant a bully clip astatine the movies. In spite of affirmative reviews from critics (IGN gave it a 9/10), Elio suffered the worst opening play of immoderate Pixar movie ever. (Yes, adjacent worse than The Good Dinosaur.) Sony videogame adaptation Until Dawn managed to some fumble its root worldly and neglect to decently recognition the series’ creators. And Dwayne Johnson’s The Smashing Machine failed to punch supra its weight, returning $6 cardinal connected its opening play against A24’s reported fund of $50 million, not including “many millions much connected promotional efforts”. It seems just to accidental that The Rock is nary longer cooking. Now it seems he’s conscionable cooked.

Streaming Piles

The bombs weren’t confined to the large screen, though, and determination was surely nary shortage of disappointment conveniently streamed straight to our televisions, tablets, and toilet televisions (that’s what we telephone our phones). Anyone who made the mistake of watching Star Trek: Section 31 indispensable person been begging Scotty to beam that watercourse backmost up to Paramount+’s servers, due to the fact that this intergalactic artifact of generic sci-fi schlock was truthful amazingly atrocious it near assemblage faces acceptable to stunned. IGN handed it a uncommon 2/10, stating that “Section 31 volition infuriate Star Trek fans and bore everyone else.” Star Michelle Yeoh, coming disconnected an Oscar triumph successful 2023 for Everything, Everywhere, All astatine Once, was forced to concede that “it’s precise hard to delight each of your assemblage each of the time.” We’d reason that Section 31 didn’t adjacent negociate to delight some of its assemblage any of the time, and that this peculiar Star Trek would person been amended disconnected mislaid successful space.

Unfortunately, Star Trek wasn’t the lone legendary sci-fi spot to beryllium wholly mishandled successful 2025. In July, Prime Video went backmost to the good – oregon specifically, H.G. Wells – to nutrient a modern-day adaptation of The War of the Worlds. The century-old classical caller has antecedently inspired vigor plays, diagnostic films, comic books, and video games, but successful the hands of manager Rich Lee, The War of the Worlds was reimagined as… a 90-minute-long Ice Cube absorption GIF. To beryllium fair, we can’t accidental that this braindead catastrophe didn’t present connected its committedness – astatine slightest if you took the “It’s overmuch worse than you think” tagline from its trailer arsenic an honorable appraisal of the movie’s prime alternatively than a notation to the alien penetration successful its plot. War of the Worlds debuted with a uncommon 0% standing connected Rotten Tomatoes, though has since skyrocketed to a whopping 4%. Meanwhile its shaper insisted that determination wasn’t immoderate merchandise placement successful the film, contempt the information that it’s a movie connected Amazon’s streaming work that makes a leader retired of an Amazon transportation operator and hinges its climax upon the daring piloting of an Amazon drone. You couldn’t get merchandise placement much intentional than that if it was a bundle near connected your doorstep.

Dropping a US president into Die Hard-style scenarios is thing new, spot Harrison Ford successful Air Force One oregon Morgan Freeman successful the Has Fallen films, but contempt its deficiency of originality, Amazon’s G20 inactive had a mates of large positives going for it – namely Viola Davis arsenic the arse-kicking commander-in-chief, and The Boys’ Antony Starr arsenic Homelander turned hammy Hans Gruber. Sadly neither had an support standing precocious capable to elevate the dopey dialog and choppy enactment sequences of this formulaic enactment flick. IGN awarded the movie a 3/10, stating that “G20 isn’t conscionable different streaming movie that feels designed to beryllium half-watched; astatine times, it lone feels half-made, too.”

The Electric State could besides beryllium accused of being half-made, astatine slightest by quality hands, fixed that it was seemingly a co-production betwixt the Russo Brothers and Netflix’s machine-learning algorithm on with assistance from immoderate AI-based post-production tweaks. The arguable signifier of utilizing AI successful movie is wide assumed to beryllium a mode to support accumulation costs down, yet contempt that the fund for this thoroughly disposable hodgepodge of superior sci-fi stories inactive spiralled to a reported $320 million, making it the astir costly movie Netflix has ever made. IGN handed it a 4/10, stating that The Electric State “feels calculated to punctual you of thing you’ve already enjoyed.” For each that wealth and successful spite of the prima powerfulness of Chris Pratt and Millie Bobbie Brown, The Electric State failed to truly spark.

Game and Shame

Any twelvemonth successful video games is invariably going to beryllium a spot similar a Guns N' Roses album. That is, chock afloat of implicit bangers but, soon aft you’ve worn retired your cervix headbanging to You Could Be Mine, My World arrives and promptly ruins the bully times. Like the infamously unspeakable last way connected Use Your Illusion II, 2025 has had america leaping for the eject fastener faster than a flaming combatant pitchy aviator connected much than 1 occasion.

With a heap of show issues and a implicit deficiency of freedom, substance, and… an ending, MindsEye was acold and distant 1 of 2025’s astir disappointing games. Unfortunately, its June motorboat went truthful severely that much than 90 unit astatine its developer Build a Rocket Boy aboriginal referred to it arsenic “one of the worst video crippled launches this decade” successful an unfastened missive to institution management. The missive called for alteration astatine the studio, apologies for not listening to unit concerns astir the game, and “proper compensation for laid-off employees.”

On the taxable of compensation, 2025 marked the twelvemonth erstwhile Nintendo decided it ought to beryllium compensated successful immoderate mode for instructional tech demos of its caller products, starring the institution to merchandise Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour arsenic a paid product, besides successful June. You privation a tutorial astir the console you conscionable bought? Better cough up immoderate much cash. Want to afloat implicit it? Better cough up immoderate much for the required accessories. Remember the much-celebrated escaped pack-in Wii Sports? Former Nintendo of America brag Reggie Fils-Aimé does, and helium surely posted astir it connected societal media astatine an intriguingly coincidental time.

Of course, conscionable due to the fact that a crippled is free, doesn’t mean it’s good. For grounds of that, look nary further than EA’s reboot of the much-loved Skate series. 2025’s aboriginal access, free-to-play Skate is conscionable similar the aged Skate games, lone without the style, the atmosphere, the pros, the customisation, the campaign, the music, the varied maps, the humour, oregon the intro movies. It did, however, person a cardboard costume inspired by the Isaac Clarke’s Dead Space exosuit that outgo astir $35 to secure.

Call of Duty went back-to-back Black Ops successful 2024 and 2025, but the lone happening to travel retired of the determination is backlash. Containing what’s rapidly becoming regarded arsenic the worst Call of Duty run successful the agelong past of the series, Black Ops 7 has been wide shredded to pieces pursuing its November merchandise for its unwelcome reinvention of run mode. Now always-online and co-op focused, Black Ops 7’s run mode has nary of the rollercoaster-like pacing of a cinematic Call of Duty story, and opts alternatively for multiplayer-inspired maps and progression, with nary checkpoints, and nary quality to intermission (even erstwhile you’re playing alone). The effect is rather baffling, which is immoderate effect considering the information Black Ops 7 is intended to beryllium a nonstop sequel to Black Ops 2 contempt releasing instantly aft Black Ops 6 is already confusing enough. In the weeks that person followed, the Call of Duty squad has promised nary much back-to-back releases of sub-series similar Modern Warfare oregon Black Ops, but this warrant feels improbable to assistance Black Ops 7 astatine this stage. Sales figures oregon subordinate counts are inactive yet to beryllium discussed, which powerfully suggests Black Ops 7 is heavy successful the red.

This is by nary means an exhaustive database of each the games that disappointed successful 2025, and we haven’t adjacent touched connected FBC Firebreak, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, Football Manager 26, Project Motor Racing, oregon the grammatically abhorrent Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game. Have we missed any? Let america cognize successful the comments.

Rainchecked Release Dates

Some of the biggest gaming disappointments of 2025 weren’t the games that came out, but alternatively the ones that didn’t. After its nationalist alpha trial successful April drew a heated effect from fans and adjacent accusations of plagiarism, Bungie decided to hold its live-service shooter Marathon from its intended September 23, 2025 motorboat to a March 2026 merchandise window. In a station connected its website, Bungie stated “we cognize we request much clip to trade Marathon into the crippled that genuinely reflects your passion.” To beryllium just to the erstwhile location of Halo, it is simply a Marathon and not a sprint.

Meanwhile, Microsoft made the telephone to clasp backmost its Fable reboot for different year. The phantasy RPG bid that hasn’t been seen since the Xbox 360 epoch is presently being reimagined by the talented squad astatine Playground Games, champion known for its Forza Horizon open-world racing series. We’re keen to find retired however the developer makes the accommodation from velocity racers to chickenhearted chasers, but for present Fable is simply a communicative that won’t beryllium told until sometime successful 2026.

At slightest Fable was lone delayed conscionable once, though, dissimilar Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. In May, the planned merchandise of the narrative-driven escapade featuring Captain America, Azzuri, and the Black Panther of the 1940s, was pushed retired of 2025 and into aboriginal 2026. Then successful November, Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra was delayed again, this clip to the somewhat vague sounding model of “beyond aboriginal 2026.” Considering we haven’t seen thing caller from the single-player superhero communicative since an Unreal Engine 5.4 tech demo mode backmost successful aboriginal 2024, we’re inclined to presume that this 1 is inactive a ways off. Will it beryllium worthy the wait? Well, the information that it’s being directed by the creator of the Uncharted bid fills america with much optimism than a pep speech from Steve Rogers.

Of course, the astir devastating hold – and arguably the astir predictable – was that of Grand Theft Auto 6. Rockstar Games proved with Red Dead Redemption 2 that it was prepared to instrumentality its clip successful bid to nutrient the champion crippled possible, and that steadfast attack intelligibly paid off. Still, fixed that we’ve been waiting for a caller GTA crippled since Ben Affleck was Batman, Game of Thrones didn’t yet suck, and everyone was inactive doing the Harlem Shake, it surely near a batch of fans crying successful their Pißwassers erstwhile the series’ agelong awaited instrumentality to Vice City was pushed backmost from Fall 2025 to May 26, 2026.

Things lone got each the much agonising erstwhile that day slipped again, with GTA 6 presently not expected to motorboat until November 19, 2026. Beyond leaving fans feeling the lowest of Lazlows, the further postponement of Rockstar’s landmark motorboat volition apt formed large ripples crossed the games industry, with analysts predicting everything from frantic merchandise docket reshuffling by competing Q4 2026 titles looking to get retired of GTA 6’s way, to adjacent a imaginable hold to the accomplishment of the adjacent console generation. Will GTA 6 unrecorded up to the unprecedented level of hype and expectation? Will GTA 6 endure different delay? And wherefore bash men person nipples? We’ll person the answers to astatine slightest a mates of those questions successful a small little than a year’s time.

Unhappy Endings

While crippled delays are frustrating, they’re typically a considerably much tolerable enactment to the alternative: cancellation. That is, being postponed is amended than ne'er arriving astatine all. One is steaming into New York a time oregon 2 late, the different is hitting an iceberg and becoming James Cameron’s favourite vacation destination, two-and-a-half miles beneath the aboveground of the North Atlantic Ocean.

In July, Microsoft cancelled the long-gestating Perfect Dark reboot and wholly unopen down The Initiative, which was the improvement squad down the troubled project. The Initiative had been processing the crippled alongside Crystal Dynamics, which was revealed to beryllium partnering connected the task successful 2021. Xbox officially revealed Perfect Dark’s instrumentality astatine The Game Awards 2020, but it had established The Initiative backmost successful 2018 arsenic the company’s archetypal “AAAA” studio. Unfortunately, it appears AAAA appears to person simply been shorthand for, “AAAArgh, it’s each gone wrong.” Perfect Dark really didn’t completely cease improvement astatine that time, however, and remained successful accumulation astatine Crystal Dynamics up until August. Crystal Dynamics was reportedly adjacent to securing a woody with Take-Two to prevention the game, but this fell through. This resulted successful an unconfirmed fig of layoffs astatine Crystal Dynamics arsenic the lights yet went retired connected Perfect Dark, permanently.

Avalanche Studios’ Contraband was besides unopen down astatine this time. The workplace down Just Cause and Mad Max had been processing Contraband successful conjunction with Xbox for 4 years, but it appears we’ll ne'er spot it. A co-op, open-world smuggling crippled acceptable successful the 1970s, Avalanche confirmed astatine the clip that progressive improvement connected the crippled had stopped portion it evaluated the project’s future, but since past Avalanche has laid disconnected unit successful Malmö and Stockholm successful Sweden, and closed its UK workplace successful Liverpool.

Legendary UK workplace Rare’s Everwild was besides cancelled by Microsoft during this aforesaid period. Everwild was announced mode backmost successful November 2019 during Xbox’s X019 presentation, but small factual accusation astir however the extremity merchandise was going to play was yet revealed implicit the astir six years that followed. These cancellations were associated with wide layoffs astatine Rare and elsewhere astir Microsoft arsenic the institution grappled with… grounds fiscal show levels successful 2025 and a 15% summation successful revenue, astatine $281.7 billion. These layoffs besides deed Forza Motorsport developer Turn 10, with immoderate reports claiming that the Forza Motorsport squad was fundamentally “no more.” It’s since been clarified that Forza Motorsport volition seemingly proceed to spot enactment successful spite of the unit cuts, but whether the racing bid volition person immoderate aboriginal aft 2025 remains to beryllium seen.

Sadly, 1 racing crippled with no future is EA Sports WRC, with Codemasters confirming successful May that determination volition beryllium nary follow-up to its authoritative WRC crippled and that the squad has “reached the extremity of the road” moving connected the bid aft conscionable 1 game. Unfortunately, alongside this quality came the further confirmation that the EA-owned workplace is besides “pausing improvement plans connected aboriginal rally titles,” which is simply a large dose of ungraded to bull successful the look from a squad that’s been astatine the forefront of rallying video games for astir 3 decades, dating backmost to 1998’s iconic Colin McRae Rally.

WRC wasn’t the lone unfortunate astatine EA, either; the institution was swinging the axe rather liberally successful 2025. In March it was reported that EA had softly cancelled an unannounced, multiplayer first-person shooter from Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, though the crippled successful question was seemingly lone successful highly aboriginal development. It’s not astatine each uncommon for things similar this to happen, however, and if you poured 1 retired for each unannounced, unnamed task that didn’t marque it retired of incubation you’d dice of thirst. That said, a period aboriginal it came to airy that EA had besides reportedly cancelled an unannounced Titanfall game, which does hurt somewhat much than accustomed considering Titanfall 2 contains what’s wide considered to beryllium 1 of the very champion FPS campaigns successful the past of the genre. We’re officially surviving successful a satellite wherever Bubsy 3D tin person a sequel announced successful 2025, portion Titanfall 2 has 1 cancelled. Nothing makes consciousness anymore. This chartless Titanfall crippled appears to person been a unfortunate of EA layoffs that deed 300 workers, astir 100 of which came from Respawn Entertainment. No different details regarding what this Titanfall task was are known.

But wait, due to the fact that EA wasn’t done: successful May it cancelled its Black Panther crippled and shuttered Cliffhanger Games, which was producing Black Panther arsenic its debut project. Black Panther, which was announced backmost successful July 2023, was acceptable to beryllium a single-player open-world game. EA claimed astatine the clip that the determination to ditch the task was made successful bid to “sharpen” the company’s absorption and enactment its “creative vigor down the astir important maturation opportunities.” We’re guessing EA’s spreadsheet squad were unenthused by this single-player game’s deficiency of a Wakanda Ultimate Team mode.

Black Panther isn’t the lone superhero to person the rug pulled retired from beneath them successful 2025, either. In February 2025 it was confirmed that Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman crippled was cancelled and developer Monolith would beryllium unopen down. In a horrible twist, Wonder Woman would person been Monolith’s follow-up to its much-loved Middle-earth bid and was expected to diagnostic Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War’s fantabulous and patented Nemesis system.

First announced astatine the 2021 Game Awards, Wonder Woman was a unfortunate of a Warner Bros. determination to restructure its operations astir “building the champion games possible” with its “key franchises.” Of course, contempt an overt absorption connected much Warner Bros. franchises than you could poke a carrot at, this restructure besides didn’t impact the endurance of WB brawler MultiVersus, either. The free-to-play warring crippled was taken offline permanently and delisted successful May.

A Price To Play

Rising prices are impacting plentifulness much than conscionable video games. Hell, if supermarkets get immoderate much expensive, groceries amended commencement coming gold-plated. In the discourse of video games, however, 2025 has been similar Quentin Tarantino sitting down and watching back-to-back Paul Dano movies: it’s conscionable 1 monolithic disappointment aft another.

In April, Sony raised the recommended retail prices of PlayStation 5 consoles crossed Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, citing “a challenging economical environment, including precocious ostentation and fluctuating speech rates” arsenic the catalyst for the increase. Following akin terms hikes made backmost successful 2022, the PS5 was present considerably much costly successful galore territories than it was astatine its launch. Sony subsequently besides pumped up the terms of each PlayStation 5 models successful the US, with the RRP of each of these jumping by 50 bucks successful August.

Microsoft raised the prices connected Xbox consoles and assorted accessories backmost successful May, and successful October it kicked Game Pass prices into the stratosphere, with prices present reflecting a 50% hike successful subscription costs since the erstwhile 2024 terms bump. Microsoft tempered this October astonishment by stressing that there'd beryllium nary further terms increases for Xbox… extracurricular the US. Inside the US, however, Xbox console prices climbed by a further $20-$70, for the 2nd clip successful little than six months. Xbox Series X|S? More similar Xbox Series Excessive.

Not to beryllium outtrumped, Nintendo besides announced a scope of terms increases successful August – for the eight-year-old archetypal Switch and its proceeding Lite and OLED models. Pricing for the Switch 2 was near alone, but Nintendo’s determination did travel with a informing that terms adjustments to things similar the Switch 2, carnal and integer Switch and Switch 2 games, and Nintendo Switch Online memberships “may beryllium indispensable successful the future.” Nintendo is apt trying to hole america for the worst here, but there’s nary escaping the information it sounds similar the benignant of ultimatum you typically get from 2 heavyset guys carrying shot bats, driving a 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille.

That said, Nintendo president Shuntaru Furukawa precocious indicated Switch 2 pricing should enactment enactment for now, saying Nintendo believes it tin “maintain the existent level of profitability for hardware for the clip being unless determination are important changes successful outer factors, specified arsenic a displacement successful tariff assumptions, oregon different unexpected events.”

It’s already been wide discussed however US tariffs person resulted successful important adjustments to however companies equilibrium the books, with accrued costs unsurprisingly being passed onto consumers. Inflation unit is besides a contributing factor; aft a agelong play of stableness since the planetary fiscal situation successful 2008, planetary ostentation surged dramatically successful the aftermath of the pandemic and Russia’s penetration of Ukraine. The frustrating part, however, is that this remains each rather unprecedented. That is, this procreation Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft person wholly flipped the publication connected console pricing trends that day each the mode backmost to the ’70s and ’80s. Over galore decades, consoles person reliably and traditionally dropped successful terms implicit their lifespans – archetypal via dilatory but earthy erosion successful worth caused by the effects of modular inflation, and past by overt terms cuts that bring the terms of introduction close down. This existent harvest of consoles, however, is not dropping successful terms – successful fact, they’re going the implicit other way.

Unfortunately, if radical support buying them astatine these prices, console terms drops whitethorn spell the mode of old-timey bicycles and the funniest two-digit fig betwixt 60 and 70 being 69: a happening of the past.

Tristan Ogilvie is simply a elder video exertion astatine IGN's Sydney office. Luke is simply a Senior Editor connected the IGN reviews team.

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