The Game Awards is simultaneously an awards show and a trailer extravaganza in which game studios and publishers show off their upcoming slates. Some of these trailers are for games that have already been announced; others are what TGA host Geoff Keighley calls “world premieres.” We already know from official announcements about what’s confirmed to show up, but we also have some informed guesses as to what titles and franchises could get trailers, release date reveals, or other updates — plus some far-flung wishes about what should appear.

What we know: Mecha Break will get “a special announcement.” Bandai Namco will reveal a new fighter for Tekken 8. Borderlands 4 will get its first actual trailer, along with Mafia: The Old Country. Plus, there’s some sort of update coming on Warframe: 1999.

Now,it’s time for some educated guesses and some slightly less likely hopes and dreams. Share your own predictions in the comments.

Hideo Kojima will appear with stuff to actually show

We knew Kojima would show up even before The Game Awards confirmation last week. Kojima will always show up. The only remaining question is which of Kojima’s three projects seem most likely to get a big splashy showcase this year. There are Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and OD, but there’s also Physint, described as a spiritual successor to Metal Gear. I’m guessing that Death Stranding 2 will be the main event here, since it needs an actual release date besides just “2025.” Why not reveal that date at TGAs? —Maddy Myers

Upcoming 2025 games

They won’t be “world premieres,” but it’s likely we’ll see upcoming 2025 games at the show — especially the February 2025 lineup, which includes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Civilization 7, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Avowed, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Monster Hunter Wilds. With all of those release dates fast approaching, these games will probably get some final trailers so people remember to play them in two months. —MM

Max Payne 1 and 2 remakes

Remedy Entertainment has had a solid year, all in all. In 2024, Alan Wake 2 became the fastest-selling game in the company’s history; the physical Deluxe Edition of the game launched in October alongside the game’s second and final expansion; and in between all of that excitement, Remedy announced FBC: Firebreak, the company’s first multiplayer game set in the universe of Control.

But there’s still one more elephant in the room. In 2022, Remedy announced it was remaking Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne as a combined experience in partnership with Rockstar Games. We haven’t heard much about the project since, aside from a brief mention in the company’s business review earlier this year that the game was about as far along in development as Codename Condor — which turned out to be FBC: Firebreak.

A Max Payne remake trailer debut at The Game Awards would be a major coup for the company and an excellent way to round an altogether successful year. It would also likely be a very emotional moment, too, as James McCaffrey, the voice of Max Payne and a longtime friend and collaborator of the studio, died in December 2023. —Toussaint Egan

Dawnwalker

Stealthily announced on social media in January 2024, Dawnwalker is a “AAA action-RPG set in medieval Europe” developed by Rebel Wolves, the studio co-founded in 2022 by Konrad Tomaszkiewicz, the director of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. 

In October, Bandai Namco released a statement announcing that the company had agreed to a deal with Rebel Wolves to publish the game, which is expected to be the first of a series of titles set in what is described as the “Dawnwalker Saga.” Not much else is known about the title, aside from the fact that the game is being built with Unreal Engine 5 and that the company is expected to reveal more information about the project “in the coming months.” Sounds like prime TGA announcement material to me. –TE

Project 007

It’s been four years since IO Entertainment announced that it was working on a standalone 007 game in partnership with MGM. Since then, we’ve heard neither a peep nor a squeak from the developer as to the game’s progress… That is, until October, when CEO Hakan Abrak spoke briefly but enthusiastically about Project 007’s development with IGN. It’s not much to go off of, but c’mon: Developers don’t typically talk publicly about in-development projects unless they have something to say or they’re preparing to say something. The floor’s all yours, IO Interactive. –TE

Everwild

After it was revealed in 2019 and fully rebooted in 2021, Rare’s Xbox exclusive Everwild was missing in action for years — until Phil Spencer visited the studio in October 2024 and confirmed in a post on Threads that the game actually exists (“Great day at Rare, hanging out with the developers at their desks and playing Everwild”). When the team said in 2021 that the game was getting a reboot, 2024 was the projected release date, but obviously, that didn’t happen. This seems like exactly the type of Game Awards surprise that could turn up, though. Seems more likely than Silksong. —MM