Xbox Going Full Publisher, Who Does It Favor? Here’s What I Think

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Abdullah Waseem

At T4G, my task is to cover the latest news around the gaming globe ASAP and with the utmost precision. I adore all the games and respect all the devs behind the amazing games that we get all year. So, whether it’s a PC or a Console game, I got it all covered. 

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Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo have been the primary console platforms for a long time. These remarkable consoles we’ve had over the years put a lot of people toward gaming, me included.

However, while the home console category was a head-to-head competition between Xbox and PlayStation, the tides have now turned. Xbox sales have gone so downhill, leading to Microsoft thinking about its future strategy. 

The situation has become so worse that Microsft is now going more of a publisher than a console marker. Although gaming has confirmed that it won’t be exiting the hardware market, publishing would be its primary focus. 

But, with this shift in strategy, who does it really benefit? Will Microsoft take the cake, or will Sony be the ultimate benefactor from this? I’ll delve into the details of what I think will happen in the future. 

Why It Matters: I think this could be great for both companies, as PlayStation would have an even wider library of games, and Microsoft would be able to sell more games as their primary sales are already on PlayStation, with the hardware sales failing.

A Win-Win Situation For Both The Companies 

It is no secret that Microsoft has lost the console wars. Xbox One had decent sales figures, but even that couldn’t dethrone the PS4 sales. With the PS5, the numbers have become so distant that there isn’t even any competition left. 

This lack of competition even led Sony to release the PlayStation 5 for a ridiculously high $700 price tag. But that is a topic for another day. With the fall in hardware sales, Microsoft could benefit a lot from its multiplatform strategy. 

The last Xbox Games Showcase was unarguably one of the best presentations we have seen in years. Now, rumors suggest that most of those games are coming to PlayStation as well, so you may be able to play the likes of Gears or Doom on the PS5 soon. 

Microsoft also announced that its upcoming flagship, Indiana Jones, will be coming to PS5 soon. An important point to note here is that most of the popular and best-selling games on PS5 are Xbox-owned titles. 

This means that if more of the popular IPs launch on PlayStation, Xbox could be looking at a huge flux of sales from the platform. With low hardware sales but higher game sales, Microsoft could be looking at a profitable future ahead. 

Hardware sales aren’t always the primary source of revenue for a company. In fact, at launch, consoles are sold at a loss and the margin is covered by software sales. So, the move towards publishing could be a blessing in disguise. 

For PlayStation, the story is a little different. Even though PS5 sales have somewhat fallen in the last few months, the overall sales numbers are still solid. Despite PlayStation becoming the primary console for many, it doesn’t have many games for now. 

Popular Xbox names will be introduced on PS5, which will boost console sales further. So, PlayStation would be the ideal console for those who want to access all the releases. These include the already present PlayStation exclusives as well as Xbox-published games. 

Gamers Will Benefit The Most 

This ultimately comes down to gamers, who will undoubtedly have a lot more options. Xbox’s move to publishing will eventually increase the competition in the industry, which can lead to more innovation and creative games. 

Since PC and PlayStation are the primary gaming hardware these days, both platforms will have excellent choices. Especially for PC gamers, as Sony now eventually releases its games on PC after a limited period of exclusivity. 

But the industry is in a very strange sport right now. With Sony’s inflated PS5 Pro not getting many sales and Microsoft second-guessing its every move, the future of the industry is very uncertain. 

Nonetheless, Xbox’s shift towards a full publisher will certainly be interesting to see. All these were personal opinions, but the true results will be seen as soon as Xbox-published games start arriving on the PS5. 

But for context, the games released so far, including Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves, did incredibly well on the PS5. This indicates a similar fate for the upcoming ports as well. 

Abdullah Waseem

News Reporter

Abdullah is an avid gamer who primarily plays single-player titles. If you can’t find him anywhere, he’ll probably be at his desk playing The Witcher 3 for the millionth time. When he isn’t playing games, he’s either reading or writing about them.