Microsoft courted controversy earlier this year when it announced it would start bringing formerly Xbox console-exclusive titles to PlayStation, but if the current PSN charts are anything to go by, the strategy seems to be working.
A look at the PSN chart for the top 25 best-selling games on PlayStation 5 today revealed that seven of the 25 games were owned by Microsoft. Those games, unsurprisingly, include giants like Call of Duty and Minecraft, which have long been available on Sony platforms, but also two of the four games that Microsoft recently announced would make the jump to Sony’s platforms: Grounded and Sea of Thieves. Grounded released earlier this week, while Sea of Thieves launches on PlayStation April 30.
The now-Microsoft-owned Overwatch 2, which recently released its 10th season, also made the cut. Rounding out Microsoft’s heavy-hitters are Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, both of which are currently on sale and no doubt have seen a boost in interest thanks to Amazon Prime’s Fallout TV show, which was just renewed for a second season.
That’s compared to five games from Sony on the list, three of which–Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, and Helldivers 2–were not developed internally by a PlayStation-owned studio but instead published by Sony. The remaining two games are MLB The Show 24 and Destiny 2.
It’s a little unclear what data points all go into calculating the top 25 best-seller list on PSN, and it’s worth noting that the list changes depending on region and includes free-to-play titles. But even without concrete sales numbers, it’s clear that Microsoft has become a major publisher on its competitor’s platform.
Meanwhile, of Sony’s games, only MLB The Show 24 and Destiny 2 are available on Xbox. MLB The Show 24 at time of writing hadn’t cracked the top paid games list on the Xbox Store, but was among the top 20 most-played games, likely due to it being available on Xbox Game Pass. Destiny 2 is also among the top-played games on Xbox, and additionally appears towards the top of its most popular free-to-play games list. It’s worth noting that only one Microsoft-owned game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, cracked PSN’s March 2024 top 20 most-downloaded PS5 games list for the US and Canada.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said previously that he believes Xbox has already lost the console war against Sony. Recent sales estimates do back that up, suggesting that PS5 console sales are double that of the Xbox Series X|S. But if Microsoft can still make money by selling its games directly to PlayStation players, without needing them to buy an Xbox, it seems Microsoft can have its cake and eat it too.
When asked if more more Microsoft-owned games could come to the PS5 in the future, Spencer has said it’s a possibility, telling The Verge, “I don’t think we should as an industry ever rule out a game going to any other platform.” He also said that Microsoft “wants to make sure that the return makes sense” when it comes to deciding to port titles to PlayStation and ensure that “the audience that’s there has an appetite” for future Xbox releases.
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