2025 saw game developers scrambling to avoid heavy hitters like Grand Theft Auto 6 and Hollow Knight: Silksong

Once upon a time, choosing when to release your videogame was simple. If you were a major publisher, you put your game on shelves between one and three months before Christmas. If you were a midsize or indie developer, by contrast, you released your game anywhere that wasn't the holiday season. Anywhere except for summer, that is. Nobody released games in the summer, because received wisdom suggested that everyone would be outside.

Around 10 years ago, however, things started to change....