Microsoft has been accused of throwing in the towel in the console wars, but a PlayStation blog post suggests Xbox is actually masterminding a coup.
Sony has published the most downloaded titles for the Sony PS5 and a significant number of the chart-bothering games are lining the coffers of a certain Microsoft Game Studios.
Be it through direct ownership of first-party studios, or those Microsoft has acquired in the last few years, Microsoft has five games in the top 11 downloaded titles on the PlayStation store in the United States.
They are:
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Virtuos / Bethesda)
- Minecraft (Mojang / Xbox Game Studios)
- Forza Horizon 5 (Playground / Xbox Game Studios)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Treyarch / Activision Blizzard)
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle (Machine Games / Bethesda)
“April saw a lot of action among the top spots. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and Forza Horizon 5 broke into the top three for the U.S. and EU PS5 charts,” Sony said in the blog post.
Microsoft is aggressively launching some of the best Xbox Series X/S games on PS5 right now and, in the case of Forza and Indy for the very first time on that platform.
Forza in particular was long considered an untouchable crown jewel of the Xbox platform and the idea of it appearing on PlayStation consoles seemed about as likely as Gran Turismo crossing the console divide.
Given Microsoft just announced that another longtime Xbox staple, Gears of War, is about to follow suit, we’d expect Microsoft’s hot run to continue.
Opinion
Xbox hardware might be dying a death – especially with last week’s price hike – but Microsoft’s Xbox Everywhere strategy is paying dividends.
The company might never get Game Pass Ultimate onto the PS5, but it is making a killing on the console by selling some of the most precious Xbox properties.
The console wars may be over, but Microsoft is absolutely sniping Sony on its own turf right now.
