Early last year,Xboxannounced that select games from its first-party catalogue would be making the move over to PlayStation 5, challenging years of convention.
To observers, this seemed like an admission on Xbox’s part that the console wars had ended; PlayStation had triumphed. Sony has certainly been winning since the release of the PlayStation 4, but there was always a feeling that Microsoft had the financial resources to continue competing with Sony indefinitely, regardless of commercial performance.
Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves and Pentiment were among the first Xbox games to release on PlayStation 5. Other first-party titles such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle andForza Horizon 5have since joined those ranks.
The August 26 release of Helldivers 2 on Xbox Series X/S will be the first example of a PlayStation exclusive coming to Xbox, though Arrowhead isn’t wholly owned by PlayStation.
Zooming Up The Sales Charts
The latter game, which released on PlayStation 5 in April, has since become the console’s best-selling game of 2025 so far, according toAlinea Analytics.
With 3 million copies sold, Forza Horizon 5 has outperformed Monster Hunter Wilds (2.9 million), Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2 million) and Elden Ring Nightreign (1.4 million).
Sea of Thieves has also reportedly sold over a million copies on PlayStation 5 since being released on the platform.
The resounding success of Xbox’s first-party titles on PlayStation 5 will likely affirm Xbox’s shift in strategy. Xbox may have been bested in console market share by PlayStation and Nintendo, but the company still possesses a wealth of IPs and studios, especially since the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
In all likelihood, Xbox will focus on producing high-quality, popular games with Xbox Game Studios, and release them on multiple platforms to maximise sales. An ongoing tumultuous period has resulted in project cancellations anda studio closure, which could also be indicative of a change in how Xbox will manage its first-party studios going forward.
There appears to be less patience for projects that have been in development for a long period, such asRare’s Everwild. However, studios that have released prolifically over the last few years, like Obsidian, seem to be unaffected by layoffs, meaning output might now be a more significant factor in Xbox’s decision-making.
All in all, times are a-changin' at Xbox, and we’ll have to wait and see if this change in strategy is an astute one.
