Top 10 Video Game Controversies of 2025

Is it just me, or does it feel like the end times described in the Holy Bible are closer than they've ever felt? Well, with this year's controversies, it certainly looks that way. So let's dive into the biggest controversies of the year 2025, and feel free to add your own. And maybe start praying.

The Top Ten

  1. Nintendo Used Patent Application! It's Not Very Effective... - Palworld vs. Pokémon

    Probably the biggest controversy is the rivalry between Nintendo and Pocketpair as they battle in the courtrooms. Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Pocketpair in 2024, which threatened independent development of video games. However, Nintendo sank to a new low this year when they tried to file a patent for video games that use the ability to capture and control animals.

    The patent office rejected it. So now what can Nintendo do to redeem itself? I know. Make a Pokémon game that people actually enjoy playing.

  2. Game Key Cards - Nintendo Switch 2

    The Switch 2 isn't doing so well. There were quite a few things wrong with it, but if there's one issue that stands above the rest, it's the Game Key Cards. These things work by acting like a license to download the game directly onto your Switch 2's storage rather than containing the whole game itself. This, of course, requires an internet connection, so if your Switch 2 can't connect to the internet or the servers go on the fritz, you're essentially holding a useless piece of plastic.

    Nintendo tried to justify this by saying that some games are too big for the Switch 2's game card size. Nonsense. CD Projekt Red was able to port Cyberpunk 2077 onto a physical card. It's not just the base game, but the Phantom Liberty DLC as well. I've heard word that Nintendo is changing its mind on the whole Game Key Card thing by offering different capacity options, and even though it's bound to be more expensive, I've seen comments on YouTube stating how consumers will gladly pay extra to ensure that they have the whole enchilada in physical form.

  3. A Rivalry Is Revived - Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

    When Mario Kart World was released with the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 5th, 2025, it was originally met with glowing reviews. However, players didn't enjoy having to wander around the empty open world looking for new races, so they chose the random race option. But Nintendo was like "You play our way, or don't play at all" and released an update that removed this feature.

    Enter Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, a game that gives players what they've been asking for: a traditional kart racer that actually succeeds in almost every way Mario Kart World failed. That's because Sega had an open-beta testing where they actually listened to players. And Sega really stuck it to Nintendo with a commercial that was a perfect recreation of an old 1990s ad that compared the Sega Genesis to the Super Nintendo. Although Mario Kart World has sold more copies than Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, that's only because the former was released a few months before.

  4. Why Couldn't Bethesda Leave Well Enough Alone? - Fallout 4

    Back in the 2010s, Bethesda was one of the biggest names in video games. When I made my list of Top 10 Video Games from the 2010s We're Still Playing in the 2020s, I initially ranked The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and Fallout 4 #2 and #5 respectively. Even though the game is ten years old at the time of this listing, there's still much to enjoy for newcomers and veterans alike.

    However, Bethesda decided to re-release it as an anniversary edition to celebrate its 10th birthday, which includes all official expansions and over 150 Creation Club items. What's wrong with this is that Bethesda somehow made it even more buggy and broken than it already was. And it's ridiculously priced at $60 US. The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim turns 15 next year, but I'll pass if Bethesda decides to rerelease it for about the 1,000,000,000th time.

  5. PC Release Leaves Journalists Fuming - Stellar Blade

    I know I covered this in my last list of yearly controversies, but it seems that gaming journalists won't learn their lesson that gamers want sexy protagonists. What upset them is that the PC Steam version of Stellar Blade sold over 1,000,000 copies in only 72 hours and the number continues to climb. And we all know why: the sexy protagonist, Eve.

    Now that the game is on PC, the modding community is hard at work giving Eve all kinds of racy outfits, and there are even mods where you can enlarge her breasts and hips. It seems that no matter how well these games perform financially, these haters aren't going to stop hating.

  6. Casting Leaves LGBTQ Community Fuming - The Legend of Zelda

    For many years, fans have wondered what a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda would look like, and now we'll get to see it in 2027. Whether it's any good remains to be seen. Nintendo has made a smart move with the casting of Bo Bragason as the titular princess of Hyrule and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Link, as confirmed by Shigeru Miyamoto via Nintendo of Japan's official X account.

    While fans consider this a step in the right direction, the transgender community were praying like holy hell that Hunter Schafer would be cast as Zelda instead. With those hopes squished like a bug, they were throwing massive temper tantrums online, even going so far as to wish for Miyamoto's death. Even if the film is a box-office success, it's unlikely to win die-hard fans of Hunter Schafer over.

  7. Almost Borderline Unplayable - Borderlands 4

    The Borderlands series has definitely been struggling over the past few years. First, there was the third installment, which was good but didn't quite match the brilliance of the second game. Then, there was New Tales from the Borderlands, which received very mixed reviews. In 2024, we got the horrendous live-action movie starring Cate Blanchett and Jamie Lee Curtis. And now, we've got Borderlands 4, which received mixed reviews.

    One controversy surrounding this game is that it was planned to be more expensive than standard titles and even at regular retail price, people are still waiting for a discount. But the big issue is that Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford lashed out at customers for performance issues, especially on consoles where framerate can take a major dip during long play sessions. This is a problem even on the best gaming hardware, so you know there's a problem. Randy suggests resetting the game every hour until the team is able to roll out the needed patches. When is that going to happen, Randy?

  8. AAA Developers Cry Foul as $20 Game Crashes Servers - Hollow Knight: Silksong

    It seems that AAA developers have stopped caring about the effort they put into their games and still expect players to pay out the yin-yang for their slop. And nowhere is this more blatant than the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong.

    When the original was released all the way back in 2017, it showed the world how indie studios could go toe-to-toe with the best AAA studios. Instead of admitting their mistakes and trying to fix them, they're playing the blame game. Even pirates are encouraging people to buy this game, so that says a lot.

  9. More Like Persona 5: The License to Print Money Edition - Persona 5: The Phantom X

    Persona 5 was one of the best games of the last decade, and the Royal rerelease made an already great game even better. But even the most diehard fans of the series are being advised to give the latest installment, The Phantom X, a hard pass. It's really nothing more than the game released in 2016 redone with gacha elements, and that isn't something a lot of fans were looking forward to even years ago when development was first announced.

    When you consider that this game was developed by Black Wings Game Studio in China, it's not surprising. Even though a few original staff members from Persona 5 worked on this game, it still pales in comparison to the game that brought the Persona series into mainstream success. What's sad is that if this game were created without any of the insipid gacha elements, it would serve as an awesome alternate take on Persona 5.

  10. Microsoft's Increase in Game Pass Causes the Subscription Cancellation Website to Crash - Xbox Series X

    Raising the prices of subscriptions is never a good idea, especially in this period in history where people's paychecks don't stretch the way they used to. But Microsoft made a foolish mistake by increasing the Game Pass subscription from $19.99/month to $29.99/month, a 50% increase.

    People have gotten so angry that they're trying to cancel their subscriptions, only to be unable to do so because the website needed to cancel subscriptions couldn't handle all the traffic. Yikes! Increasing the prices of your consoles is one thing, but when a cancellation website isn't able to function due to too much traffic, you know you've messed up.

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Disqualified from GOTY Awards due to AI Usage - Clair Obscur Expedition 33

    When this game was released all the way back on April 24th, 2025, people have lauded it for its art direction, world design and unique gameplay. It was one of the best games of 2025. However, shortly after winning the Indie Game GOTY award, allegations have surfaced that the team used Gen A.I. in development. Regardless of whether or not the allegations are true, this shows how developers are becoming lazier in developing games.

  12. ?

    Poor Optimization, Frame Drops, and Visual Glitches - Monster Hunter Wilds

    13. The Contenders

  13. Poor Quality and Blurry Art - Call of Duty: Black Ops 7

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