So, here’s something wild: Microsoft is actually the biggest publisher on PS5 right now, owning more than half of the top 10 best-selling games over the past few months. Yeah, you read that right. Forza Horizon 5 and Oblivion Remastered are leading the charge, showing Xbox titles aren’t just sticking to their own turf.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently talked about Microsoft’s success, even though they’ve had layoffs. A big part of this comes from Xbox games going third-party on PlayStation. Titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Grounded were early arrivals, and since then, nearly every Xbox game has hit PS5. For example, Doom: The Dark Ages launched on PS5, and Oblivion Remastered is also there. Plus, The Outer Worlds 2 will come out day one on PS5. Clearly, this strategy is paying off for Microsoft.
Pulling together our huge Q2 Games Market Dynamics report, which includes this chart (among, like, frankly too many others) and just kinda stared at this one for a bit. Wild times in the console market these days. Imagine showing this list to someone in 2015.
Industry analyst Mat Piscatella shared a list of the top 10 best-selling PS5 games from April 6 to July 5 this year. Out of those, six were published by Microsoft. Forza Horizon 5 and Oblivion Remastered topped the list, while Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Doom: The Dark Ages were the only other fresh new entries, and both Xbox titles.
Then there are the usual suspects like Minecraft and Call of Duty, which have always been popular on PS5, so no shock there. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, GTA 5, and WWE 2K25 made up the rest of the list. The only PlayStation game? MLB: The Show 25, which slipped one spot to third place.
What’s kinda crazy is that most of these Microsoft titles come from Bethesda, which they recently acquired. Forza Horizon 5 is the only Xbox Game Studios original on the list, and it’s killing it without a huge pre-existing fanbase on PS5. Wow.
So, what does this all mean? Microsoft’s strategy of bringing Xbox games to PlayStation is working better than anyone might have guessed. Will PlayStation fans keep buying these games? Seems like they already are, but how long can this last? It’s kinda wild to think about.
What’s your take on Microsoft’s dominance on PS5? Speak for yourself in the comments below.
