I don’t know about you, but I’ve been finding it very easy to forget that Take Two Interactive exists. Surely they had many great hits in the 00’s and 2010’s, but it feels like they’ve been mostly absent since 2019 or so when it comes to exciting or even very successful releases. Next year seems like it’ll be its year, though, since the publisher has four games coming out with the potential to be absolutely huge.

Of the potential big games being published by Take Two over the course of 2025, one is a guaranteed mega-hit, two are new entries in long-running series, and only one is an entirely new IP. Starting with the mega-hit, it’s Grand Theft Auto VI. There’s really not much to be said here. It’ll be the first new entry in the series in over a decade, sporting a ton of new advances in its open world along with new characters for fans to get to know. There are probably only a relative few game enjoyers out there (myself included) who aren’t going to run out and by this one within a month of release. It’s probably not going to hit until the end of next year, though, so there’s still some waiting to be done yet.

The two series getting new entries are Borderlands and Mafia, with the actual games being Borderlands 4 and Mafia 4. It’ll be interesting to see how these do, as it could go either way. Borderlands 3 sold well initially, but criticism of it has been growing over the past couple of years as has a general air of dissatisfaction with its developer, Gearbox. The Borderlands gameplay loop has been aging too, so one wonders if Borderlands 4 will see a similar level of interest to its predecessors. 

Mafia 4 is probably in a similar boat. It’s been 8 years since Mafia 3 was released, and the series was struggling even back then. Mafia 3 didn’t really help all that much either, receiving mixed reviews from both critics and players. It apparently had good music, interesting characters and a decent story, but it was hampered by basic mission design and dull gameplay. This is all to say that interest in the series is probably pretty weak at this point, so Mafia 4 will either make it or break it. The name does still carry some weight, so Take Two can show people how much better it is than Mafia 3, it might yet have a hit on its hands.

Finally, there is JUDAS, the one and only new IP Take Two is bringing out next year. The game’s announcement and story trailers both successfully generated a lot of buzz and interest, and the game has drawn favorable comparisons to the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 (in terms of aesthetics) and BioShock (for themes and potential gameplay). All that’s needed now are a couple of meaty gameplay trailers and this one could absolutely be a best-seller. I for one am keeping a close eye on it. How about you?

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Are you excited for any of these? What’s got you the most psyched?

Image from the Steam page, video from YouTube channel: PlayStation