PlayStation The Dominant Force?

If you haven’t heard by now. It is seemingly likely that most Xbox games will be making their way to PlayStation. Nothing is confirmed as of yet, but there is a clear pathway with PS5 development kits being given to Microsoft.

There is a power struggle within Microsoft. You have Xbox, then you have Microsoft and it’s looking more and more likely that the direction of Xbox is going to change. But by how much? That is what everyone is asking right now. But it cannot be understated how big a shift this is in the industry and nobody could have foreseen it even though at times there were clear signs.

This leaves PlayStation pretty much in a position of great strength in the current environment of the gaming industry. But is Microsoft being forward thinking in the fact that maybe Xbox is just not enough on its own anymore? Expanding the reach of the Xbox brand into something more than hardware. That’s the approach that Microsoft is demanding. Of course, this leaves fans of Xbox in a position where they don’t know quite what the future holds for Xbox. There is a lot of doom-mongering out there.

The business update next week is going to signal a shift in focus. I don’t foresee Xbox as a brand leaving the gaming industry altogether. Going third-party partially, I’d agree with. Clawing back their revenue streams might be something they’re looking at. They won’t stop making hardware. Going fully digital and the extent of their cloud ambitions shows just where Microsoft wants Xbox. Xbox to me seems to be being redefined as a platform that will scale over many platforms.

Will this change greatly impact consumer confidence? I think it will and that it is. This is a culmination of failure for Game Pass. It’s clear that is a main part of Xbox’s future under a subscription model but that alone is not sustainable. It really seems to me that this seems to of now been accepted by the higher ups.

I don’t actually believe that PlayStation will be left to dominate. I think that’s a disservice to Nintendo and just how much they’re improving. They start a new generation with Nintendo Switch 2 this year and it’s notable that mobile chips are a lot better than they used to be technologically speaking. There is also the fact that Nintendo is doing remarkably well software wise as much as PlayStation is. So Sony will always have competition.

However, Microsoft would have had the final say on the direction of Xbox. Whatever it is that ends up being discussed next week. It’s not going to restore much faith in the brand and it’s seemingly opened up them to a lot of explaining if it turns out everything has come to be the way people are expecting.