Xbox Doesn't Need To Win The Console Wars, It's Already Dominating PS5

Summary Microsoft outpaces Sony on PlayStation store with more top-selling titles, signaling success for multi-platform strategy.

Xbox's major acquisitions like Bethesda and Activision have made it one of the biggest publishers on PlayStation.

Controversy surrounded Xbox exclusives moving to other platforms, but Microsoft's savvy move has opened up its gaming audience.

The current state of the PlayStation store suggests that Xbox doesn't need to worry about winning the console wars. On February 15, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, Xbox President Sarah Bond, and Head of Microsoft Studios Matt Booty announced some of its Xbox exclusive titles would be coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch during an Xbox podcast, something that was welcomed by players on the other platforms, with titles such as Sea of Thieves being hugely successful on PlayStation, but was initially controversial with Xbox players.

As spotted by TweakTown, this move is clearly paying off, as Microsoft currently has more titles than Sony on the top 25 best-sellers list on the PlayStation Store. Due to the Fallout series having a resurgence thanks to the success of Amazon Prime's live-action adaptation, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 are both on there, alongside Call of Duty, which is always popular on PlayStation, Overwatch 2, Minecraft, and recent additions Sea of Thieves and Grounded. Meanwhile, Sony has Helldivers 2, MLB The Show 24, Destiny, Rise of the Ronin, and Stellar Blade. This makes the final score 7 for Microsoft against Sony's 5, with the rest being made up of ever-popular third-party titles like EA's sports games and GTA V.

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Microsoft's Acquisitions Have Made It One Of The Biggest Publishers On PlayStation

Bethesda And Activision Games Were Already Successful On PlayStation

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At the time of announcing the company's multi-platform strategy, Spencer pointed out that Microsoft was already "one of the largest game publishers on PlayStation... and Nintendo Switch" before it opted to release Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Pentiment, and Grounded on other platforms. This has largely been through its acquisitions of major studios over the years.

Last year, Microsoft acquired Activision-Blizzard-King after a long legal battle to determine whether there would be a major monopoly due to the sheer size and popularity of its games catalog. Ultimately, this gave Microsoft control over the likes of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, Overwatch, and other successful franchises. Before this, Microsoft acquired Zenimax, the owners of Bethesda, who have produced popular RPG titles such as the recent Fallout titles and The Elder Scrolls, with this deal being one of the major reasons the studio's latest title, Starfield, was released as an Xbox exclusive last year.

The major point of controversy with the Activision-Blizzard-King deal came down to whether titles such as Call of Duty would become Xbox exclusives as well, to which a separate agreement seemed to be made to keep the shooter franchise on PlayStation going forward. While players on Xbox may have felt shafted by the idea of moving Xbox exclusives to other platforms, it's clear that from a business perspective, this was an extremely savvy move for Microsoft, as it's opened up its gaming audience significantly rather than limiting it to one device, and it's highly likely that given the success so far, more Microsoft-owned franchises will follow the multi-platform model.

Source: TweakTown