Microsoft started by developing console games, then opened up to the PC market, and is now opening up to competing consoles from Nintendo and Sony. A new target which allows Xbox to place some of its games in the top 25 of the PlayStation Store.
Xbox and PlayStation, hand in hand
The arrival of Xbox games on PlayStation consoles caused a lot of noise and even if Phil Spencer officially mentions a test from which the brand will learn to know if it goes further or not, we know that this is not a trivial approach and that it is part of Microsoft's overall desire to reach more players. Logically, other games developed by Xbox should therefore land on PlayStation and Nintendo.
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So far, only four Xbox games have been announced for competing consoles.
- Grounded – available
- Penment – available
- Hi-Fi RUSH – available
- Sea of Thieves – April 30 on PS5 and Nintendo Switch
While the battle between Sony and Microsoft played out in the context of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, we discovered through the documents that Sony's success depended a lot on the Call of Duty license. The two rivals are in reality much more linked than we think and many Xbox games are today available on PlayStation with the acquisitions of Bethesda as well as that of Activision, Blizzard and King.
The number of Xbox games in PlayStation's top 25 exceeds Sony's!
This may seem improbable, but the data recovered by Tweaktown show that Xbox has more games than Sony in the top 25 PS Store bestsellers than Sony itself!
In reality, there are 7 Microsoft games in the top 25 compared to 5 Sony games. Of course, the ranking can evolve over time, but it nevertheless represents the real strength of Microsoft today which manages to place several games in the top sales of its competing console, and therefore to generate additional revenue. .
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The Fallout TV series certainly played a part in the equation since we find Fallout 4 in 16th place and Fallout 76 in 20th place in the ranking. Call of Duty takes 2nd place, Overwatch 2 takes 7th place, Minecraft takes 19th place, and two newer games that are no longer Xbox exclusives: Sea of Thieves in 12th place and Grounded in 23rd.
Sony, for its part, placed 5 games in the bestseller list, two of which are not technically so-called games. first party, i.e. published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Indeed, Helldivers II was developed by Arrowhead Studios, and Stellar Blade by Shift Up.
We have already detailed the advantages of releasing Xbox games on PlayStation for Microsoft and given the ranking of Grounded and Sea of Thieves which is officially released on April 30 on PS5, we can say that Xbox games seem to interest the PlayStation community. The long-term impact of such a strategy on the Xbox brand image remains to be seen.