"Xbox Titles Outshine PS5 Sales: Oblivion Remastered, Minecraft, Forza Horizon 5 Lead"

Microsoft's multiplatform strategy is clearly bearing fruit, with successful launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. This approach has been validated by Sony's own data, as revealed in a recent PlayStation blog post highlighting the top-selling games on the PlayStation Store for April 2025.

In the U.S. and Canada, Microsoft's titles dominated the PS5 non-free-to-play download chart, with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Minecraft, and Forza Horizon 5 securing the top three spots. A similar trend was observed in Europe, where Forza Horizon 5 led the chart, followed by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and Minecraft.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, supported by Microsoft through a day-one Game Pass release and featured in Xbox showcase broadcasts, also ranked highly on both regional charts. Additionally, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 from Microsoft-owned Activision and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle from Microsoft-owned Bethesda also made significant appearances in the sales charts.

These results underscore a simple truth: quality games will always top the sales charts, regardless of their origin. It's no surprise to see these titles perform well on PlayStation. The PS5 community eagerly anticipated the launch of Forza Horizon 5, Playground's exceptional racing game. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered satisfies the demand for Bethesda's immersive worlds across both PC and console, while Minecraft continues to gain popularity, boosted by the viral success of its movie.

This trend is becoming the new norm for Microsoft, which recently announced Gears of War: Reloaded for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, set to release in August. It seems increasingly likely that Halo, once an Xbox exclusive, will also transition to multiplatform.

Last year, Microsoft's gaming chief Phil Spencer emphasized that there are no "red lines" in their first-party lineup regarding multiplatform releases, including Halo. In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer stated that every Xbox game is considered for a multiplatform release. He noted, "I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say 'thou must not,'" highlighting the strategic flexibility of Microsoft's gaming division.

Spencer has articulated that the push towards multiplatform releases is partly driven by the need to generate more revenue for Microsoft's gaming business, especially following the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. He remarked in August, "We run a business. It's definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company. Because we get a level of support from the company that's just amazing and what we're able to go do. So I look at this, how can we make our games as strong as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on console, on PC, and on cloud. It's just going to be a strategy that works for us."

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Former Xbox executive Peter Moore, in a conversation with IGN, suggested that discussions about bringing Halo to PlayStation have been ongoing at Microsoft. He explained, "Look, if Microsoft says, wait, we're doing $250 million on our own platforms, but if we then took Halo as, let's call it a third-party, we could do a billion… You got to think long and hard about that, right? I mean, you just got to go, yeah, should it be kept? It's a piece of intellectual property. It's bigger than just a game. And how do you leverage that? Those are the conversations that always happen with, how do you leverage it in everything that we would do? It's had its ups and downs, but look, Xbox wouldn't be what Xbox is without Halo. But yeah, I'm sure those conversations are happening. Whether they come to fruition, who knows? But they're definitely happening, I'm sure."

Microsoft faces potential backlash from hardcore Xbox fans who feel that the value of the Xbox console has been diminished due to the lack of exclusives and Microsoft's marketing strategy. The prospect of Halo becoming available on PlayStation could further provoke these fans. However, Moore emphasized that such reactions would not deter Microsoft from making strategic business decisions for the future of its gaming business. He noted, "The question would be, ultimately, is that reaction enough not to make a fundamental business decision for the future of not only Microsoft's business, but gaming in itself? Those hardcore are getting smaller in size and older in age. You've got to cater to the generations that are coming through, because they're going to drive the business over the next 10, 20 years."