From 'GTA 6' to 'Battlefield 6': 7 games that everyone Googled in 2025

Google recently released its Year in Search 2025 for gaming, among other topics, offering valuable insights into what games players were most interested in this year.

This year presented a number of surprise entries that saw much higher search volumes than games that are/were the talk of the town.

From a mix of shooters and RPGs to the perennial buzz around Grand Theft Auto VI, here are seven games that dominated Google search queries in 2025:

1) ARC Raiders

Despite winning just one Game Award 2025 this year, this third-person extraction shooter from Embark Studios was definitely on people's minds—perhaps even more than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which won nine awards.

Set in a dystopian future ravaged by a mysterious threat known simply as the ARC, you play as a Raider trying to survive—a typical extraction shooter premise that the game has reportedly perfected.

2) Battlefield 6

The latest instalment in the expansive Battlefield franchise of first-person shooters—developed by Battlefield Studios and published under EA—won one Game Award this year, and was nominated for two others.

Set in the near future, the game is centred on NATO's revenge against Pax Armata—a formidable fictional force operating out of the shadows—over an ambush and a later assassination that threatened the global order.

3) Strands

This is not a shooter—far from it, actually. 'Strands' is the latest puzzle from the New York Times's Games team: the genius minds behind 'Wordle' and 'Connections'.

Unlike traditional word search games, however, every letter in the 6x8 grid can (and must) be used only once. All correct words will also be connected by an overarching theme.

4) Split Fiction

As enchanting as it is fast, this smash-hit co-op title won four nominations at The Game Awards 2025.

'Split Fiction' never quite sticks to a particular genre, giving you the best of all genres. 

It deals with two young authors who arrive at a mysterious tech company, hoping it would end their publishing woes, only to find themselves trapped in what seems to be the craziest of adventures.

5) Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Coming painfully late in this list is this year's runaway hit from debutante French indie game developer Sandfall Interactive, which won nine of the 12 Game Awards it was nominated for.

You lead a suicide squad against The Paintress—a godlike figure whose harrowing presence has loomed over Lumiere for ages—in this dazzling RPG where turn-based combat meets real-time timing mechanics.

6) Path of Exile 2

Released as a paid early-access title, this next-generation multiplayer co-op RPG from Grinding Gear Games is set to release fully in 2026.

Set years after the 2013 game, this one brings you back to the dark world of Wraeclast, in a bid to end the corruption that is spreading at a rampant pace.

7) Grand Theft Auto VI

Rockstar Games's most-awaited title was bound to show up on this list, sooner or later.

Delayed (and postponed multiple times) for over a decade since the release of Grand Theft Auto V in 2013, GTA 6 brings Jason and the franchise's first female lead, Lucia—two new characters in a Florida spoof called Leonida, that also has Vice City at its centre.

Rockstar has promised that this will be the “biggest, most immersive evolution of the Grand Theft Auto series yet”, suggesting a massive and detailed open world for players to explore.