The must-play sports games of 2025 shortlist sees some blockbuster names suffer defeat at the quarter-final stages. Football Manager 2026 made its long-awaited return, long considered one of the best football games of all-time, but endured a challenging launch, and therefore misses out here. Puck-pusher NHL 26 and race sim F1 26 were stellar, yet same-y. Madden 26 improved, but was outplayed by its collegiate sibling. EA FC 26 was much, much better than social media will have you believe – but has its spot among the elite stolen by a fresh-faced youth teamer called Rematch.
It's a list that evolved as the year went by, and not just based on release dates. Indeed, Rematch continues to reinvent itself on a foundational level even next to the best sports games that came before, with new keeper animations introduced as this feature was being written. At the other end of the table, WWE 2K25 looked like it was having the series' greatest year ever – but slid down the charts for reasons we're about to delve into. It's certainly been an eventful 12 months for a genre which was beginning to look stale, and you can relive it all with our look at the best sports games of 2025.
