YouTuber SkillUp just released his annual year-end retrospective for 2025, a nearly hour-long deep dive into what turned out to be one of gaming’s most surprising years. While 2025 delivered plenty of quality releases, it also brought unexpected twists, from a tiny French studio sweeping the Game Awards to major franchises stumbling at launch.
The video covers everything from PlayStation’s strategic shifts and cancelled live service games to Monster Hunter Wilds’ troubled debut and the shocking success story of Clair Obscure: Expedition 33. For anyone who spent the year buried in games, SkillUp’s retrospective offers perspective on how all those individual releases fit into gaming’s broader narrative.
PlayStation’s Live Service Retreat
January kicked off with PlayStation making a significant strategic pivot. After Concord’s disastrous launch became a cautionary tale about live service hubris, Sony cancelled two games in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games. The company also appointed Hideyaki Noshino to oversee a new direction focused away from the live service obsession that had consumed PlayStation’s strategy for years.
This retreat from live service marked a turning point for Sony’s approach to game development. Instead of chasing Fortnite-level success with risky multiplayer experiments, PlayStation began refocusing on the single-player narrative experiences that built the brand’s reputation. The Concord disaster, which reportedly cost over $200 million and was pulled from sale within two weeks, served as an expensive lesson about trying to force live service mechanics into markets that don’t want them.
February’s Mixed Signals
February brought Monster Hunter Wilds into the conversation, though not for reasons Capcom hoped. Despite being one of the most anticipated releases of the year, the game launched with significant performance problems that would plague it throughout 2025. SkillUp notes this became perhaps the most talked-about game of February, but for valid reasons reflecting very valid perspectives.
Obsidian’s Avowed also arrived in February, generating divided opinions. SkillUp personally didn’t connect with it, though he acknowledges the game found its audience among players looking for a more traditional fantasy RPG experience. The mixed reception highlighted how difficult it is for games to escape comparisons to genre-defining titles, with Avowed constantly measured against Skyrim despite being a very different beast.
The Kingdom Come Surprise
One of the year’s pleasant surprises came from Warhorse Studios. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 arrived with minimal performance issues despite being a massive open-world RPG. The game achieved what few others managed in 2025 – a completely zero-stutter experience even on modest PC hardware. This technical achievement stood in stark contrast to other high-profile releases that shipped broken and promised fixes later.
While the hardcore historical simulation wasn’t for everyone, those who embraced its demanding realism found one of the year’s deepest RPG experiences. The 100-plus hour runtime and uncompromising approach to medieval authenticity made it essentially game of the year for anyone who managed to get through it all.
April’s Underdog Story
From a charming little office in Montpellier, France, Sandfall Interactive delivered Clair Obscure: Expedition 33, a game that would touch almost everyone who played it and close out the year by taking home nine awards at the Game Awards. SkillUp emphasizes this wasn’t just another indie success story – this was a complete unknown delivering one of 2025’s most polished and creative experiences.
The game combined French art direction inspired by Belle Époque aesthetics with JRPG mechanics and action-oriented combat featuring tight quick-time events. What made Clair Obscure special wasn’t just its unique cultural perspective, but how confidently it executed on every element. The combat had both flash and surprising depth, with systems like Lune’s elemental stains creating complex tactical considerations beneath the stylish surface.
Industry observers note that Sandfall was initially pretty nervous about Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered potentially stealing their spotlight when both games launched near each other. Instead, Oblivion released in such poor condition that it barely registered, while Clair Obscure became the feel-good story of the year. The champagne flowed at Sandfall’s small office as their passion project became a genuine phenomenon.
Summer Gaming Highlights
The summer months brought a steady stream of quality releases. Pippy Strillo and the Cursed Yo-Yo reminded players that humble top-down 2D adventure games still exist and deserve to exist for a long time to come. The game took a simple concept – a weapon on a string that returns to you – and iterated on it in mind-blowing ways with unlockable special moves and intricate puzzles.
Elden Ring: Night Reign dropped with a bit of a slow start but eventually found its footing as a cooperative roguelike spin on FromSoftware’s formula. While not all elements hit right – story, dragon riding, and mech battles received mixed reactions – it represented FromSoftware having some fun with what felt like the third game of a trilogy.
100-line Last Defense Academy became essentially game of the year for anyone who managed to get through its demanding 100-plus hour runtime. These marathon RPGs represent a specific kind of gaming commitment that only certain players can embrace, but for those who do, they create unforgettable experiences.
Monster Hunter’s Rough Year
Monster Hunter Wilds never quite recovered from its rocky launch. The game achieved impressive player counts, hitting 2 million players in just three days and eventually selling an estimated 6 to 10 million copies when accounting for subscription services. But the persistent performance issues, particularly on PC, overshadowed what should have been a triumph for Capcom.
Texture quality remained absurdly low for GPUs with 8GB of VRAM even after patches. Frame rates tanked in desert environments with ray tracing disabled, leaving players wondering where their GPU power was going. The community created their own texture decompression patches that players relied on for months while Capcom struggled to deliver fixes.
What makes the Monster Hunter situation particularly frustrating is that beneath the technical mess lies an excellent action RPG. The combat represents the series’ peak, with Focus Mode and wound mechanics adding new depth without warping the experience like Iceborne’s clutch claw did. The narrative is the strongest in Monster Hunter’s 20-year history. When the game works, it’s sublime. The problem is it doesn’t work consistently enough.
The Live Service Graveyard
Throughout the year, multiple live service experiments quietly died. Games that launched with grand ambitions of becoming the next big thing faded into obscurity within months. The Concord disaster loomed over every live service announcement, making players and publishers alike question whether chasing that particular dragon was worth the investment.
PlayStation’s cancellation of two live service projects in January signaled the beginning of this retreat. By year’s end, the industry consensus had shifted – live service success requires either being first to a genre or bringing something genuinely revolutionary. Simply having good mechanics and hoping players show up no longer cuts it in an environment where established titles like Fortnite and Apex Legends dominate player attention.
Year-End Awards Shakeup
The Game Awards 2025 delivered the single largest sweep in the show’s history when Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 took home nine awards. Did anyone really expect a game from a small French studio to dominate against established franchises and massive AAA productions? The victory represented validation for mid-budget games with strong creative vision over massive productions that play it safe.
SkillUp notes that 2025 had some big surprises, not all of them good. The year started strong, maintained quality throughout spring and summer, but ended on uncertain notes as major releases like Monster Hunter Wilds failed to stick their landings and industry layoffs continued despite strong game sales.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is SkillUp’s 2025 year in videogames video about?
SkillUp’s nearly hour-long retrospective covers the major gaming events, releases, and industry shifts throughout 2025, including PlayStation’s live service retreat, Clair Obscure’s surprise success, Monster Hunter Wilds’ technical problems, and the overall state of the gaming industry.
What game dominated the Game Awards 2025?
Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 from French studio Sandfall Interactive achieved the single largest sweep in Game Awards history, taking home nine awards. The small-budget RPG became 2025’s biggest underdog success story.
Why did Monster Hunter Wilds underperform expectations?
Despite strong sales of 6-10 million copies, Monster Hunter Wilds launched with severe performance issues on PC that persisted throughout 2025. Poor texture quality, frame rate problems, and optimization failures overshadowed what was otherwise excellent combat and the series’ strongest narrative.
What happened to PlayStation’s live service games?
After Concord’s disastrous failure, PlayStation cancelled two live service games in development at Bend Studio and Bluepoint Games in January 2025. The company shifted strategy away from live service experiments back toward single-player narrative experiences.
Was Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 successful?
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 became a technical success story, launching with zero-stutter performance even on modest PC hardware. While its hardcore historical simulation approach wasn’t for everyone, those who embraced it found one of 2025’s deepest RPG experiences.
What was the best indie game of 2025?
Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 dominated conversations as a mid-budget success story, though several smaller indies like Pippy Strillo and the Cursed Yo-Yo also earned praise. The year proved that creative vision and polish matter more than massive budgets.
Did Avowed succeed?
Obsidian’s Avowed received mixed reception. While it found an audience among players wanting traditional fantasy RPG experiences, many reviewers including SkillUp didn’t connect with it. The game struggled under constant comparisons to Skyrim despite being mechanically different.
Reflections on a Complex Year
SkillUp’s retrospective paints 2025 as a year of contradictions. Quality releases arrived regularly throughout the calendar, with standouts emerging from unexpected places. Yet the year also exposed persistent problems – publishers shipping broken games while promising future fixes, live service experiments failing spectacularly, and talented developers losing jobs despite strong industry revenues.
The Clair Obscure success story offers hope that smaller teams with strong creative vision can still break through in an industry increasingly dominated by safe sequels and massive budgets. Sandfall Interactive proved that you don’t need a $200 million budget to create something that resonates with players and critics alike.
Conversely, Monster Hunter Wilds demonstrates how even beloved franchises from respected developers can stumble when they prioritize launch dates over polish. Capcom’s willingness to ship a fundamentally broken PC version while continuing to take customers’ money reflects poorly on the publisher’s commitment to quality.
As the video concludes, SkillUp acknowledges it was a damn good year for games, though one that ended on uncertain notes. The industry faces challenges around sustainability, live service obsession, and the disconnect between strong game sales and mass layoffs. But for players who just want great games to play, 2025 delivered more than enough to keep controllers warm and keyboards clacking. Looking ahead to 2026, the question becomes whether publishers learned the right lessons from this year’s successes and failures, or if we’re doomed to watch history repeat itself.