"Xbox Games Outsell PS5: Oblivion, Minecraft, Forza Lead"

Microsoft's multiplatform strategy is clearly reaping rewards, as evidenced by its successful launches across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Sony's PlayStation blog post for April 2025 highlighted the top-selling games on the PlayStation Store, showcasing Microsoft's dominance in both the U.S./Canada and Europe.

In the U.S. and Canada, Microsoft games claimed the top three spots on PS5's non-free-to-play download chart: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, Minecraft, and Forza Horizon 5. Europe mirrored this success, with Forza Horizon 5 leading, followed by The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered and Minecraft.

This trend underscores a simple truth: high-quality games, regardless of their origin, will top sales charts. It's no surprise that these titles are performing well on PlayStation, given the anticipation for games like Forza Horizon 5, which filled a gap in the PS5's racing game lineup. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered caters to fans of Bethesda's RPGs, and Minecraft continues to soar in popularity, boosted by the viral success of the Minecraft movie.

Last year, Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer emphasized that there were no “red lines” in Microsoft's first-party lineup regarding multiplatform releases, including Halo. In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer stated that every Xbox game could potentially go multiplatform. “I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say ‘thou must not,’ ” he remarked.

Spencer has indicated that Xbox’s multiplatform strategy is partly driven by the need to generate more revenue for Microsoft’s gaming business, especially after the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “We run a business,” Spencer said in August. “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.”

He further elaborated, “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.”

Xbox Games Series Tier List

Former Xbox executive Peter Moore told IGN that discussions about bringing Halo to PlayStation have likely been ongoing at Microsoft. “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?” Moore explained.

He added, “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?”

Moore acknowledged Halo's significance to Xbox, saying, “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 the console's value is being diluted by a lack of exclusives and Microsoft’s marketing strategy. The prospect of Halo moving to PlayStation might provoke further discontent, but Moore believes Microsoft will prioritize business decisions that benefit its future and the gaming industry as a whole.

“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?” Moore pondered. “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.”