My Top 10 Anticipated Trailers of 2025 - Delayed Input

Let me ask you this,

if video games are not art,

why do they make me cry?

KYLE: We don't have a lot of annual
traditions here at Delayed Input

but for the last 2 years running,

I have been making a list of my
Top 10 Most Anticipated Trailers.

I figure we should keep it running tonight.

A couple of things to cover
before we get into the list itself.

Firstly, I believe that a good video game
trailer doesn't necessarily have to

present a good video game
to be entertaining.

If the trailer's an absolute mess, it hasn't
necessarily wasted your time if you had fun.

And, along those lines,
I feel like it's hard to anticipate

a trailer for a game that you have
a pretty good understanding of.

I think an anticipated trailer needs a
certain level of mystery and dangerousness.

Danger.

Let's begin my:

Now I know that's a basic pick.
That's why it's #10.

But looking back at 2023's GTA VI trailer,
it racked up a lot of views,

got a lot of attention.
It's frankly-- It's a nice edit.

But do you know what was missing?

Moments.

And not like this.
Not a moment like that.

I'm talking about a moment where you,
the player, are playing the video game,

apparently doing something.

A moment where a player
is doing something,

preferably a thing that hasn't been
in a GTA game prior to this one.

This was a teaser.
GTA VI has barely begun trailering.

I think the next one is gonna go wild.

And on top of that,
you get the additional benefit

of new anime games trying to look
like the new GTA VI trailers.

So this one almost counts for 2.

Hades II is facing a sort of
marketing conundrum

because the game's out.
It's in Early Access.

I think that was right call
for the video game itself

but it does kind of feel like it's
been around for a while at this point.

I wonder what a trailer has to do to
get people excited about version 1.0.

We're already seen the cinematic reveal
of the new characters.

New gameplay features will
probably already be well understood.

And so it kinda seems like
they're low on opportunities left

to surprise and excite anybody
who hasn't bought in on this game yet.

I feel like one, the easiest
possible thing to do is wait,

wait, wait, wait.
Hold up, hold up

until the release date is really soon.
I think that would be a real exciting thing.

"Here's the version 1.0 trailer

and it's out next week."
You know, that kind of thing.

But also, I think, like,
the strategy to use is, like,

when you see a kind of compelling trailer
(or commercial, I mean)

for a TV show
that you don't normally care about.

You know, when it's like, "This Thursday,
The Rookie witnesses a new crime."

You don't care.
But, "This Thursday,

The Rookie might get murdered
by his daughter because of what he said

at Bath & Body Works."

Suddenly, I got plans for Thursday.

Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it.
EA is in the dumps.

Dragon Age Veilguard whiffed
and even worse,

people aren't buying ultimate team cards
for sports games like they used to.

There's immense pressure on
the Battlefield franchise to perform.

Like, it's now or never, right?

But there's also immense pressure
on this trailer.

All they've shown so far
is this piece of concept art.

You can already--
You can hear this. Sound like

[Kyle makes intense SFX]

The Battlefield trailer itself is
going to have to quickly demonstrate

a good time.

I feel like that's the biggest difference
between the marketing of

Call of Duty games and Battlefield games.

It's like, Battlefield seems dead set
on conveying epic seriousness.

But if their intent is actually, actually
to get back to basics,

I'd love to see a trailer where

it shows you throwing C4
onto your team's parked airplane

and somebody gets in it
and then you explode it

and then they blow up.

Like, that's part of Battlefield.

I sense doubt from you.

There was a time, to be fair,

where Square Enix would announce
video games way too early.

But without any evidence,
I'm here