Gaming has changed, and even the biggest players are feeling it.
A couple of years ago, Xbox revealed its plan to start putting its “exclusive” games onto PlayStation, and many wondered if that was Microsoft signalling its gaming death knell. Without exclusives, how would Microsoft sell consoles? Well, Xbox has more users than ever on console, according to legally-binding SEC statements to shareholders, suggesting that perhaps exclusives aren’t really necessary in 2025.
Indeed, players increasingly expect their content to be everywhere all at once. The rise of mobile gaming has had some hand in that, but also handhelds, cloud saves, and free-to-play service-type games that are available on multiple platforms. Youngsters who grew up as iPad gamers with Roblox are now at purchasing age, and they’re less interested in arbitrary hardware restrictions than ever. Microsoft noticed, and now Sony PlayStation too, has noticed.
Microsoft has dominated PlayStation’s store over the past few months, launching games like Forza Horizon and more into Sony’s ecosystem. That represents huge amounts of cash Microsoft can re-invest in growing its own ecosystem, which will also represent broader openness than ever before, too, allowing platforms like Steam to ship on an Xbox console for the first time. Increasingly, PlayStation seems to be following suit.
Sony is self-publishing Helldivers 2 onto Xbox next month, and is also publishing upcoming service game Marathon from Bungie as well. To that end, you have to wonder what other games Sony is likely exploring bringing across.
So, I thought as Xbox customers, why not send a signal to Sony to let them know which games we’d like to see?
Which PlayStation franchise is your FIRST choice to see hit Xbox?
Which PlayStation franchise would be your SECOND choice to see hit Xbox?
PlayStation has published dozens of great games into its ecosystem, and this is by no means an exhaustive list, partially due to current limitations in our quiz software, but also because some simply aren’t being supported anymore.
Xbox is getting Helldivers 2 most likely, at least in part, because Xbox is so shooter-oriented. The Halo audience is a clear overlap with Helldivers 2, which at least has some superficial similarities with Halo’s ODST drop troopers.
I think games like Days Gone, The Last of Us, and Returnal, also being shooters, would over-index on Xbox. Xbox might not have the broad install base of Sony, but it seems to punch above its weight with engagement, cornering a hardcore niche audience as it gave away the broader casual mass market to PlayStation and other platforms.
Undoubtedly, heavy-hitters like Marvel’s Spider-Man would hit well on Xbox too, and help offset some of the costs Sony has to pay to license holders. A lot of these games are very old and have probably sold all they can on PlayStation and PC at this point, so why not explore other potential markets too?
Some thoughts on which PlayStation franchises are we most likely to see in reality
In recent comments, Sony noted to investors that it is “moving away” from hardware centricity, echoing previous comments that the PlayStation firm should be judged on its active users, rather than its hardware sales.
In that universe, putting service games like FairGame$ and upcoming extraction shooter Marathon on Xbox, known for its Halo-coded shooter audience, is a bit of a no-brainer.
We have Helldivers 2 from PlayStation coming to Xbox already, and since we had Death Stranding 1, it stands to reason that we’ll get Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2 on Xbox — most likely published by PlayStation as well. But what can we realistically expect beyond that?
I think some of Sony’s “second-party” games are highly likely to come to Xbox, things like Helldivers 2, Death Stranding, and potentially Stellar Blade and other published games that were made by non-PlayStation studios.
For those teams, it’s extra money they’re arbitrarily being held back from, and there’s obviously increasing importance in expanding audiences to meet players where they are. Xbox fans still in the ecosystem right now are less likely than ever to shift platforms, especially if the next Xbox comes with Steam and Epic Games Store anyway.
On that note … if I’m PlayStation, what’s the point in holding back PlayStation games from Xbox in a universe where they’re going to end up on Xbox systems via Steam anyway?
In theory, Microsoft could offer PlayStation a better cut than Steam for an “Xbox” version of a game next-gen. Games that sell direct to PC players via the Microsoft Store on Windows 11 only take a 12% cut, over the typical 30% on Steam and on Xbox / PlayStation consoles. If Microsoft keeps this cut when its next-gen Xbox is a “PC,” then it would be better for Sony to simply cut out the middle man there.
Or perhaps even further, could Sony eventually make its own PlayStation PC store? PS Plus for PC, PlayStation Cloud for PC, as well as native PC game sales — Sony could cut both Microsoft and Steam out of the equation there, but it’s obviously not “free” to run your own game store. With support, compliance, cloud storage, and so on, it can actually get pretty pricy, munching into your margins.
There’s another factor.
If Xbox simply gets Steam next gen, would Sony really want to encourage Xbox console gamers to adopt Steam, and further erode the overall console install base in general? Handing Steam even more power might not be in Sony’s interests either. If Steam ever did end up with a monopoly over traditional video game distribution, that wouldn’t be ideal for Sony either, potentially.
So, perhaps there’s a universe where even more games hit Xbox natively from PlayStation Publishing LLC. I don’t think for a second that launching classics like God of War or The Last of Us on Xbox would hurt PlayStation. These titles have sold through all they can on PlayStation and PC, so why not dip into Xbox’s core? No serious PlayStation gamer is going to quit PlayStation simply because some old games went across the divide — besides the most dedicated fanboys.
What do you think? Hit the comments, let’s talk about it!
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