Gaming’s biggest night of the year is here once again, and while everyone assumes Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 will sweep the Game Awards 2025, it’s much less clear what new games and trailers will get revealed in-between the winners’ speeches. Will we see a new Star Wars game? Will Nintendo announce DLC for Mario Kart World? Will Hollow Knight: Silksong win any awards? Here’s a quick guide for how to watch and what to expect.
What time does the Game Awards 2025 start?
Geoff Keighley’s adaptation of the Oscars kicks off December 11 (that’s today) with a pre-show at 7:30 p.m. ET. The event is held in-person at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California but is also streamed live on Twitch, YouTube, and even Amazon Prime this year. You can also watch it here with us below:
The pre-show contains some awards and game reveals, but the big ones don’t start until the show proper at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Game Awards usually runs about three to four hours, with the “Best Game” category announced at the end around 11:00 p.m. ET. And you can of course always catch the VOD the day after if that’s past your bedtime.
What’s nominated?
This year’s GOTY contenders are as follows:
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Donkey Kong Bananza
- Hades 2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
While a jury of media members selected from across the world have the most impact on what ends up winning, player voting online is also factored in. The “Player’s Choice” category also highlights the best game according to viewers. And although Clair Obscur is expected to clinch most of the categories it’s up for, Death Stranding 2 and Silksong are also strong contenders across things like direction, music, and sound design.
What game trailers will be at the TGA showcase?
While insiders have been hyping a Half-Life 3 announcement for weeks, no sane person would put money on seeing that at Keighley’s show. Some games have already been confirmed to be appearing, with Housemarque’s Saros, 007 First Light, and a new Tomb Raider already teased by their respective publishers. Braid designer Jonathan Blow and Naughty Dog veteran Bruce Straley have also confirmed their next projects will be revealed tonight.
But from there we start to get into speculation mode. FromSoftware fans think an Armored Core 6 DLC could be shown after the game was mysteriously updated on Steam’s backend. Podcaster NateTheHate has predicted Persona 6, a new Sonic, and a new Mega Man could all be revealed at The Game Awards 2025. Someone who just happened to be in LA for the holidays this week claimed they saw Sony Santa Monica director Cory Barlog at the Peacock Theater, leading to rumors that a new God of War will be shown.
And Larian Studios is believed to be making a new Divinity RPG spin-off following all of the fuss about a demonic statue that appeared in the desert. Of course there are other possibilities that wouldn’t be completely unexpected at this point, like a tease for Final Fantasy VII Remake part three, the upcoming expansion for Monster Hunter Wilds, or a peak at how Microsoft’s new Fable is coming along.
But the most exciting reveals of all are the ones people never see coming, like last year’s Okami sequel. I guess now is as good a time as any to start the summoning circle for Dark Cloud 3.
