Entertainment
Microsoft has more games in the PlayStation Store top 20 than Sony-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro
Following a number of acquisitions and a multiplatform pivot, Microsoft’s grip on the games industry has been laid bare through sales charts on the PlayStation Store.
Sea Of Thieves hits PS5 this month (Picture: Microsoft/Rare)
Following a number of acquisitions and a multiplatform pivot, Microsoft’s new grip on the games industry has been laid bare through sales charts on the PlayStation Store.
While Microsoft’s long-term plans for the games hardware business remain unclear, it seems the company’s efforts to become an all-encompassing multiformat publisher are already paying off.
The company has acquired a number of studios in recent years, from DoubleFine to Ninja Theory, but they upped the ante by buying Bethesda in 2021 and then Activision Blizzard last year – the largest acquisition in video game, and Microsoft’s, history.
Although the initial plan seems to have been to make Bethesda games Xbox exclusives the changing economics of the industry has since convinced them to make many exclusive Xbox games multiplatform, with recent months seeing Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush arriving on rival consoles.
The effects of Microsoft’s decision-making over recent years, and the slow erosion of the walled gardens between each hardware platform, are illustrated perfectly by the current list of the best-selling games on the PlayStation Store – with Microsoft owned games taking up a significant majority of the top 25.
As noticed by TweakTown, listings on the PlayStation Store on Thursday April 18 in the US show Microsoft has seven games in the top 25: Call Of Duty, Overwatch 2, Sea Of Thieves (through pre-orders), Fallout 4, Minecraft, Fallout 76, and Grounded.
Sony, meanwhile, has five games in the top 25, with MLB The Show 24, Helldivers 2, Destiny 2, Stellar Blade (also a pre-order), and Rise Of The Ronin. The rest of the best-sellers come from Take-Two, EA, Capcom, and others.
A look at the best-selling games on the PlayStation Store in the UK on April 19
It’s a similar picture when you look at the PlayStation Store best-sellers in the UK. At the time of writing (April 19), Microsoft has seven games in the top 20, while Sony only has two, with Helldivers 2 and Destiny 2.
There’s some caveats to all this, with the best-sellers chart including free-to-play games like Fortnite and Overwatch 2, while Fallout has seen a significant boost thanks to the TV show adaptation. Regardless, it’s still an interesting glimpse at how the rivalry between gaming companies is moving away from being purely hardware based.
Microsoft does have plans for new consoles though. Earlier this year, the company said it was ‘invested in the next generation roadmap’ and promised ‘the largest technical leap you’ve ever seen in a hardware generation’ – a bold claim, that is believed to be related to AI in some way.
Rumours suggest a new Xbox console could arrive in 2026, which might include a hybrid handheld device, which Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has alluded to on several occasions.
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What’s interesting about the current situation is that much of it seems to be the result of a sudden but successful pivot, with both Microsoft and Sony panicking after lower than expected sales for Christmas 2023.
It’s clear from evidence presented in the Activision Blizzard court case that Microsoft initially intended to make all Bethesda games exclusive, and that they were likely being disingenuous about wanting to keep Call Of Duty multiformat.
However, current events have made multiformat publishing seem much more desirable and examples such of this are likely to see Microsoft embrace the concept more enthusiastically, rather than merely as an affection to placate monopoly investigators.
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