PlayStation forced Microsoft to give up Xbox exclusives — now it wants to destroy Xbox at cloud gaming and Xbox Play Anywhere cross-buy as well

by

Xbox has fully capitulated to PlayStation.

This year, the game Halo will be available on PlayStation consoles, even though Sony isn’t offering the same access to its own games on Xbox. This means PlayStation players will have more game options overall, but Xbox still stands out thanks to its special features and unique platform capabilities.

Xbox offers cross-buy functionality with PC, allowing you to play your games on both platforms. It also boasts Xbox Cloud Gaming, a top-tier service that lets you stream games, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – a subscription that includes access to all new first-party games, like Call of Duty, the moment they’re released (though it can be quite pricey).

But what if that differentiation was about to evaporate?

PlayStation surprised gamers today by announcing that its handheld PlayStation Portal device can now stream thousands of games directly from the cloud – meaning you don’t even need a PlayStation console to play. This is a significant upgrade over Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming, which currently offers around a thousand games.

PlayStation beat Xbox on console, now it wants to beat Microsoft at cloud and PC too

As a researcher following the gaming industry, I’ve noticed a really interesting dynamic. While Microsoft’s CEO is concerned about TikTok potentially affecting Xbox, PlayStation seems to be aggressively pursuing strategies to essentially eliminate what makes Xbox special – and they’re making significant moves to do so.

A major update rolling out today brings a lot of new features to the PlayStation Portal, as announced on the PlayStation Blog.

When the PlayStation Portal first came out, I was honestly a little confused. It was a $200 device, but it only let you stream games from your PS5 – you couldn’t use apps or play games directly on it. But Sony has been really working on improving it since then, and now, with the latest update, it’s a game-changer! You don’t even *need* a PlayStation to use it anymore, which is amazing.

PlayStation now lets you buy digital PS5 games and stream them directly from their servers. As of November 5, 2025, PlayStation Plus offers a library of 2,845 games, exceeding the 2,107 available on Xbox Cloud Gaming. Plus, you can now stream the games you own on the PlayStation Plus PC app – you don’t even need a PlayStation Portal device.

I’ve been testing PlayStation’s cloud gaming on PC, and while it performs reliably, it doesn’t quite match the quality I’ve seen with Xbox Cloud Gaming or NVIDIA GeForce Now. The user interface also needs improvement – when I last checked, it didn’t even offer a full-screen mode. However, PlayStation has a significant advantage with its exclusive games, like Bloodborne, which you can’t stream anywhere else. And it looks like they’re planning to add even more exclusives, focusing on building up their own gaming platform.

Unlike Xbox, which has stopped making games exclusive to its platform to meet financial goals, potentially harming its overall appeal. While this might offer some immediate benefits, it could lead to problems down the road as players find more content available on Steam or PlayStation, making Xbox’s game selection seem limited.

But Xbox has other differentiators right? Well, perhaps not for long.

A recent data mine by @yAmethxst on X suggests Sony might be planning to compete with Xbox’s Play Anywhere feature. Insider-Gaming reported that the data, found within PlayStation’s systems, hints at this possibility if it’s accurate.

PlayStation appears to be testing a system similar to Xbox’s Play Anywhere, where buying a game on PlayStation grants you access to it on both PS5 and PC. Evidence of this comes from tags like “Cross Buy” and “PS5 / PC” being added to games on the PlayStation Store.

I’m hearing that the next Xbox is likely to run a full version of Windows, meaning it’ll support apps like Steam and other PC games. This has me thinking PlayStation might be considering creating its own PC game store. Steam currently takes a 30% cut of all sales, so it would really benefit Sony if they could offer a way for Xbox users – and potentially others – to buy games directly, cutting out Steam and keeping all the profits for themselves.

Sony making its games available on Xbox would be a very strategic move. Since people are increasingly used to specific devices and online services, it makes sense to offer content where players already are. We’ve already seen Sony test this with Helldivers 2, and they’ll likely expand this approach to other ongoing games like Marathon. However, with so many ways to play Sony games now, why directly support the Xbox platform?

While Xbox cozies up to PlayStation, Sony is gunning for a total rout

Xbox is shifting away from exclusive games. Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, calls the idea of exclusives outdated, and CEO Satya Nadella wants Xbox to operate more like Microsoft Office – meaning games will be available on multiple platforms. This is a change from just a few years ago, when Xbox CEO Phil Spencer emphasized that acquiring companies like Bethesda was intended to create games only for Xbox.

Since the pandemic, short-form videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels have become incredibly popular, attracting billions of users. There’s even a report that Netflix is advising its writers to simplify storylines, assuming viewers are more distracted by their phones than by the show itself. While it’s easy to watch Netflix *on* your phone, you can’t exactly do that while also holding a game controller.

The current upheaval is causing widespread anxiety among businesses. Many major publishing companies are reporting losses and conducting layoffs, and some are even shutting down completely. The economy is also unstable, with decreased consumer spending and growing fears of a potential recession.

For a long time, I’ve felt that Xbox is trying to do too much at once, and that problem might continue. Sony is building its new system from scratch, giving them a clean start. Xbox, however, is hampered by years of complicated existing code and internal red tape. Just today, I spoke with an indie game developer who’s having trouble getting their game to appear on the Xbox PC app because of a problem with the Microsoft Store.

The Xbox Series handheld is essentially a testing ground for the next Xbox console, and it shows how quickly Microsoft is working to compete with Steam and PlayStation. Microsoft aims to be open and share its games with competitors, but it’s clear that Steam and PlayStation aren’t likely to reciprocate.

With Xbox losing what makes it unique – like its cloud gaming and the ability to buy games across devices – wouldn’t you prefer a similar system that also offers exclusive games? It’s hard to tell if many people outside of online discussions really notice these differences, but we’ll have a clearer picture in the next few years.

Read More

2025-11-05 22:11