There’s been a spate of stories coming out of Xbox this week – an overwhelming amount, if you will.
Despite not everything being directly related, Microsoft is increasingly involved with the PlayStation 5. Even though they brought back two games previously exclusive to Xbox, last week’s Xbox Showcase revealed several new games coming to PlayStation, including Senua and State of Decay 3.
After an internal memo from new CEO Asha Sharma detailed a 3% shortfall in the division’s performance and announced upcoming layoffs, more details have emerged about the company’s struggles with its own products.
Even with games now available on PlayStation 5, most titles haven’t performed well, showing low sales numbers and limited player engagement on Xbox Game Pass.
According to Windows Central, several Xbox and PC games haven‘t performed as well as hoped. This includes titles like Avowed, Keeper, Kiln, South of Midnight, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Forza Motorsport, The Outer Worlds 2, Minecraft Legends, Ninja Gaiden 4, Bleeding Edge, Battletoads, and Towerborne. It’s been a somewhat chaotic situation internally, with many projects falling short of their goals.
Not all of these games launched on PS5, of course, but many of them did – some at a later date.
According to Windows Central, Microsoft has had several successful games recently, including Forza Horizon 5, which has sold over five million copies on PlayStation 5.
While games like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and the remastered The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion performed as predicted, most games haven’t. They are the rare successes.
Microsoft also made significant investments in projects like Perfect Dark, but ultimately cancelled them. They also ended partnerships with several outside developers, including Avalanche’s Contraband, which had been revealed a few years prior.
I’ve repeatedly said, both in private discussions with the Push Square team and publicly, that Xbox seems to be releasing a lot of games without much hype. Many of these games didn’t get a lot of advertising or marketing, so it’s no surprise they didn’t generate much interest.
It’s also worth looking at recent sales estimates from Alinea Analytics for Sony’s games. While Ghost of Yotei is performing very strongly on the PlayStation 5, it seems that smaller titles like Saros aren’t seeing the same level of success.
Look, I get why PlayStation fans are talking about Sony focusing on big-name games, but I’m starting to see their point. A game like Wolverine is almost guaranteed to sell like crazy – we’re probably looking at 20 million copies! But honestly, it’s just hard for smaller, “AA” games to get noticed when there are so many options out there. It’s a tough market, and those big titles are a safer bet.
While there have been a few standout examples, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, those kinds of projects are becoming less common.
Fans might not like it, but I expect big publishers to likely fund fewer projects overall and concentrate their resources on their biggest, most reliable titles.
We’re seeing a lot of new content and software everywhere, but people are busy and may not have the time or interest to keep up with it all. Eventually, something will have to change.
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2026-06-12 16:38