PS5 Execs Questioned About Xbox 'Moving Away From Console' In Official Sony Interview

Sony doesn't innovate since the PS4 that's why I jumped to Xbox.

@Lup since PS2 imo

They don't really need to change much. They're a global powerhouse and Xbox is a regional competitor in a select few countries.

Heavily agree with @Lup though, this generation has not been the Sony we saw in the PS4 era, they're just hanging onto the coattails of last gen. Xbox might not have produced many critical darlings, but the variety has me hooked. Currently on South of Midnight and the writing, music and visuals are exceptional

Whatever Microsoft does I’m down for it. Innovation is key and developer relationship is vital. Ease of use to develop games using current technologies. (Tired of seeing studio closures) whatever it is keep that quick resume.

There’s a direct correlation between Xbox migrating away from a failing business model toward other revenue streams and Sony getting lazier and more complacent. When Sony is firing on all cylinders, no one can touch them. They shot themselves in the foot right out of the gate during the PS360 era, but managed to sprint ahead during the home stretch anyway (and keep on going throughout the next gen). Even Nintendo had to think outside the box to rebound from the slaughter of the PS2-GameCube era with the Wii. Sadly, lazy complacent Sony is a gamer’s worst nightmare. Bland, same-y games and absurd price gouging. Every hardcore gamer should want nothing more than for Sony to be backed into a corner, since that’s when we receive the best this hobby has to offer. Xbox removing itself from competition is good for no one.

There probably wont even be a next Xbox made by Microsoft, they seem to be going all in on software and services, Sony has an easy victory no matter what and that is Microsoft's own doing

@Balaam_ First time I completely agree with you

And for the people saying exclusives don't provide competition, that is nonsense. I brought this up in an earlier comment of mine, but Demon Souls only exists because Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion was a timed Xbox exclusive. Sony panicked when they saw Microsoft secure such a big game as an exclusive, so they went to FromSoftware to give them a Western-style RPG. That RPG, of course, became Demon's Souls. Sony was upset that Demon's Souls was nothing like Oblivion, but still. The game got funding because Oblivion wasn't on PlayStation at the time.

If Elder Scrolls 6 was an Xbox exclusive like Morrowind and Oblivion were back in the day, it would have likely pushed Sony to innovate and make a move in the Western RPG market again.

Their « current strategy » has been the same since the very first PS : third party locks and arrogance.

@Balaam_ i was going to write something along the same lines, albeit not a well worded. Im a Sony pony (that likes to keep up with gaming news from all sides) and even im bored of Sony this gen. Pouring money in to the live service genre trying to capture that "lightning in a bottle" game like Fortnite and blowing cash out of their assho**s on trash like Concord. I just dont find their games fun anymore. No new Sly, Jak, Ape escape etc. No soul, no innovation, lackluster release schedule and completely complacent. Im thinking about retiring from gaming after this gen and just continuing to play what ive got which is sad as ive been gaming since i was 5 and im 42 now.

From https://companiesmarketcap.com

Microsoft market cap $3.535 T vs sony with $156.98 B lol. Also if you don't know Xbox have "play anywhere" buy 1 time and play on pc or console how sony answer for this:"payers must have option to buy our game on pc second time"

I highly highly doubt Xbox will ever fully leave the console business. I feel like many don’t understand the repercussions of this if it were to actually happen.

PlayStation would be the only next gen console; therefore, they could dictate pricing of games and set their console at any price point they choose. So gamers would have to choose PC or PlayStation. Next gamepass would be diminished if it’s only available on pc. So they would have to expand to ps5, and PlayStation could again dictate a percentage they get from active subscriptions. And if Xbox is launching games day one still, PlayStation would demand a significant percentage to cope with losses from people not buying games directly from their store. Lastly, the current climate in the video game industry is dwindling. Studio layoffs and closures, would force Xbox into making strategic games, which would revolve around micro transactions , and very few gambles on new IP.

Best guess is that Xbox will create one more console for the market to keep it competitive, and it would mostly be a made to order product. They will have very limited availability in stores and make more as needed to reduce manufacturing costs. But they certainly won’t mass produce their next console.

@Balaam_ 10/10 comment, people in the industry couldn't have articulated that any better.

@Kidfunkadelic83 I'd love Sony to come back to the likes of sly and jak (my profile picture might give away my favourite franchise of all time.)

I started to get disillusioned around the latter half of the PS4 lifecycle when everything was serious and/or intense. Then they do something amazing like astro bot to give us false hope!

@Kaelliellie Most gamers don't care about Play Anywhere, that has been around since 2016 and isn't widely used. Most people are either console or PC, not both.
Microsoft panicked and changed strategies again and again and again and now people don't trust them

@bjs5667 Why would any developers bother with such a limited install base for a console? That's the big problem.

@TapeLoader

Yeah, not saying otherwise. They don't need to, that's the sad part.
I was just talking about myself.

@TheGameThrifter that’s the biggest question…I don’t know at what point developers decide the cost/benefit doesn’t favor them. But, I would think the developers would want competition in the console space. Otherwise PlayStation could claim an even larger chunk of game sales and mtx. They could simply tell devs we want more, or you cannot sell your game here.

@bjs5667 Sony could easily screw over Microsoft in the future by demanding a 40% or even 50% cut out of all third-party game sales on PlayStation going forward. Microsoft, of course, isn't taking that into account as they kill their own platform. It's the same mistake they made with Windows Phone, and it's why Microsoft is unable to launch an Xbox mobile store.

Wow, that was certainly an answer. Not sure what people expect from these investor events. The entire goal is boost confidence in the stock. They're going to spin every answer to say as little as possible while also sounding like a positive. This is true of every publicly traded company. We see it from Microsoft. No one's going to reveal their secret plans or say "yeah, we we're terrified of the future". They want money lol.

@Questionable_Duck wdym? Microsoft has only been expanding their first party ecosystem across console, windows PC, and cloud. This isn't remotely like the windows phone because the Windows Phone never took off. The problem was that Google and Apple already controlled the market and Microsoft COULDN'T convince enough developers to make native apps for the Windows Phone. The Windows Phone would be more like if Microsoft's FIRST Xbox was the Series X and S. And they struggled to build an audience because they didn't have the developer support and then they just gave up because it was bleeding money. That's the exact opposite of what's happening now. Xbox has more third party developer and publisher support than ever, it has more games available on the console than ever, and the entire platform is expanding into first party efforts in cloud an improved PC efforts with more support than ever. We just saw a show for where every game was Xbox Play Anywhere. We just got Space Marine remastered (a former Xbox 360 game) launch Xbox Play Anywhere with Xbox Cloud gaming support. Then there's Microsoft first party games which have just become massive in breadth. There's so many games releasing from COD to Keeper than Microsoft can guarantee is Xbox Play Anywhere with cloud gaming from launch.

Microsoft isn't at all killing their own platform. Rather they see the console business as mature and have chosen to expand into more gaming businesses to continue to grow. Even then the console isn't being left behind. It's Microsoft's biggest gaming money maker by a large margin and will continue to be even with users being flat due to that 30% cut. And Microsoft is doing as much as they can to bring more games than ever to the platform. Then on top of that they are building up first party platforms outside of just the console, and they are pushing for a ubiquitous system where they all lift each other up. Sony can do whatever they want and Xbox will continue to grow. If Sony decides they don't want multiplatform games (like they make it too expensive for Microsoft to publish on PS), then Xbox will scaleback releases on PS platforms. They won't be FORCED to kneel to Sony because they'll still have their own console and PC gaming and cloud gaming. Just like Xbox first party games release day and date on Steam, and yet we're seeing Microsoft do more in decades to improve their first party windows gaming store & launcher (and that is a case more like the windows phone as the Xbox App came on the scene bare bones when Steam was already the by far dominant storefront).

Microsoft has not pulled back support for consoles. Older consoles are hanging on longer than ever. And In fact they continue to push harder which has led to the current reality of more Xbox games on Xbox consoles than ever. Backwards compatibility and improving the partnership with Square has led to Xbox being a more complete place to play final fantasy than any other console. Xbox hardware sales is a very different discussion and one where we'd talk about every factor affecting sales (the market being fixed, last Gen still getting new releases (it's still getting the next COD), a god awful economy, poor marketing from Microsoft as always, no proper mid gen upgrade, and a lot of trends that can't be controlled). Even then, really I'd say the Series consoles selling as well as they have (30 million in 5 years is NOT bad) despite Xbox expanding so much behind the single box is impressive and proves that the console will always have a fixed user base. Trends have also shown that user base spending more than ever within games. Microsoft still has surface hardware and they make far, far less money from it. The current situation is akin to Microsoft and Apple both making native apps for MacOS and Windows respectively. Neither will ever abandon their own OS, but both also understand that the market is pretty mature and they aren't converting users with exclusive software applications anymore. Sony is seeing similar data and acting accordingly. Anyone who thinks they're playing that different of a game is a blind. Sony is releasing first party games on PC with increasingly smaller windows. They're also now releasing on Nintendo Switch. They even have been growing their live service games (or trying to 😅) which support at minimum PC and PS at launch. Really Sony right now is just Microsoft in 2015. Except the big elephant in the room is that Sony doesn't own windows and they aren't a huge cloud company. They can build up in both those areas (release on steam and epic games store or even make their own launcher/storefront, and they can build their own cloud infrastructure or more likely partner with other companies (which they have) along with putting in their own efforts). But even then Sony isn't in a position like where Microsoft is right now. Like no matter what storefront is most popular on Windows, every game release on Windows PCs makes the OS more valuable and helps sell licenses and windows hardware. You don't have to buy specifically Microsoft first party games or buy through the Xbox storefront. Windows is a first party platform for Microsoft and they have a plethora of ways to make money from it. For Sony the console is pretty much all they have. Like in terms of making money outside of pure game sales. Sony is slower to grow, because growth (at least for now) has a much more limited idea. To me Sony is an interesting spot. They have the same data as everyone else in the industry. Exclusives are dying because their margins are increasingly thin and the console market is largely mature with users being fixed. Growth for new users is expected to be on PC, mobile, and cloud. Sony had plans to try and benefit from this with like a dozen mobile games and live service games launching across PS and PC. So much of that strategy has been money down a pit though. Their console business is strong, but it's really not that much "stronger". We know the peak and they know the peak.

playstation fans need xbox; without xbox, there’s even more incentive for $ony not to give a damn. PS5 is the worst playstation generation ever.

@Questionable_Duck yea i’ve made that point before about Sony being able to increase their share of a game sale. Microsoft is putting itself in a position where it has relinquished control.

Having a console on the market surely is such an advantageous position in the industry EVEN if you are in third place. You can help steer the industry in whichever way you like.

But they would rather be at Sony’s mercy.

I think they are moving away from console. I was sceptical of the Steam rumours on XSX successor at first, but the showcase last weekend convinced me that those rumours are the real deal. They were focused almost entirely on PC throughout that show. Writing is on the wall. Console is dead. That would entirely explain their recent multi platform pivot too with no need for platform exclusives anymore. The great thing is though that unlike Sega, Microsoft have the ability to seamlessly transition all their console customers over to PC. That’s what they need to do. If the successor to XSX is a PC running this optimised gaming Windows UI then that’s genuinely great, but it absolutely needs full backwards compatibility to be a success. Our digital libraries need to carry forward to PC once this transition is complete, no ifs no buts - no Play Anywhere only caveats. We just have to hope that Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond are aware just how important a seamless transition is for existing Xbox customers.

@nomither6

playstation fans need xbox

I keep seeing comments like yours and I’m in no way trying to be dismissive of the points it’s raises. But then I see the gleeful reactions on sites like PushSquare (and other gaming sites) about how great it is that Microsoft might leave the (Xbox) hardware business altogether and how all they need it’s a PlayStation, etc, etc.

Perhaps people don’t much mind, a none-incentivised Sony or a £1000 PS6 price tag after all 😅…

@Titntin oh I fully agree the current Play Anywhere system is entirely insufficient. I just hope it’s merely a stopgap solution before they roll out full backwards compatibility for all Xbox games on the XSX successor PC. If their plan is to rely on the current implementation of Play Anywhere only then I don’t think that’s acceptable for long time Xbox customers.

The PS5 is the worst PlayStation generation in my opinion. Unimpressive and overpriced hardware/accessories, terrible first party support and a very poor subscription service.

PS3 was the best console from Sony. Mainly because they were forced to do better. The Xbox 360 and Wii were dominating and they actually had to try.

@Titntin XSX runs a modified Windows already, not sure how that affects the licensing side of things but if any company can solve this issue it’s Microsoft. They have enough resources to throw at the problem!

@Sol4ris i just tune them out. i don’t get the fanboyism in 2025 honestly. i like video game consoles, i like video games.

I'd miss it if Xbox did as to me their place of competition is nice to have. What they do with consoles (even if the OS sucks more these days then ever has but so does Windows 11 as well). They have so much reach and yet I don't want to play any of their games at all anyway as they are just 3rd party design in every way, not just because of ABK/Bethesda but everything else as well as so boring. Variety sure because of what each dev does offer, but exciting, any of it, no.

To me PS4 gen had fair PS3 like IPs game design appeal or gimmicks, then just boring from then on to me only enjoying the niche IPs, let alone VR/Playlink was more fun to play with then the regular games were boring.

Those niche games went, so I went to Switch niche 1st party IPs (big ones after lifecycle like did Wii U/3DS) and keep my PS4/Xbox One around for odd titles aka PS4 'can be' a 1st console in mind for odd third parties or eshop but otherwise it is becoming my 2nd console (Xbox my 2nd/3rd then PS4/Switch tied or Switch not as used until enough I found use for of Vita ports or other things) due to well gens have moved on (that's totally fine for them to move on to PS5/Series, I don't want to upgrade to PS5/Series anyway, I have access to them in the house, I don't use them, family can all they want I will not play them the garbage games and hardware use cases suck).

But most times are more my DVD/Blu-ray players, YT/Soundcloud watching/listening app experiences (besides phone) then gaming machines. Because the games suck, take too long or are game design boring due to priority changes of audiences they focus on or what gamers want doesn't really suit what I want (fine to have different tastes of course) but yeah just made me move to retro or Switch and I don't like Switch much either it has it's own problems (not for how weak the hardware is, but game design, gimmick use and more).

But the software features of Quick Resume are cool. I don't do digital on Xbox but it's still cool. Sony to me has some ok peripherals but even then they barely get used. From Eye Toy to 3D/VR, or Sixaxis that gets used on and off, to Playlink and more they give up too easily and it's really annoying.

Nintendo as well, the game design is hit and miss and the gimmicks as well get half used half not for things or ideas I have that will never happen come to mind.

To me game design is so boring and consoles are just so 'there' and I am just so uninterested in them because game design sucks and the gimmicks are barely used in interesting ways. I didn't want a console for being a halfway between PC I bought them to have fun and have an experience many have shown that PCs won't do as the era of those experiments has gone for PC, or others catch on. But for consoles they can still be more than a boring box playing boring games by boring devs and funded by boring audiences, for consistency sake and boring game design continues. How boring.

Xbox doesn't have as many gimmicks but even still. I don't always expect them to even if I'd like them to but they have kept Impulse triggers so that's nice for the Ally to have them.

Sony has used anti-competitive methods to ensnare rival companies since the PlayStation 2 era. Peter Moore testified that Sega's Dreamcast suffered from thorough FUD "Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt". In the PlayStation 3 and XBOX 360 era, a mysterious phenomenon began in which third-party games were blocked on the XBOX 360. Capcom's "Dungeons & Dragons Chronicles" was released on PS3 and XBOX 360, but for some reason it was never released "only in Japan". While PS3 users could easily play D&D at low cost, Japanese XBOX 360 users had no choice but to purchase the expensive overseas version or to obtain a North American account, purchase the North American version of Microsoft Points, and purchase it at the North American store. Capcom's "Monster Hunter World" was also not released only in Japan on XBOX ONE. However, if you change the console settings from Japan to North America, you can purchase "Monster Hunter World" from the North American store, and the language settings include "Japanese". What we can infer from this is that Capcom developed games for both hardware platforms, but in Japan they decided not to release physical media that would be more accessible to many consumers, and instead only sold downloadable versions that appealed to a smaller set of users.
During the course of the FTC trial, it was revealed that Sony and several development companies had entered into anti-competitive agreements.

@yamaokasiro Nothing says anti-competitive more than buying up publishers and making all their games exclusive to your platform (only for it to backfire and have to revert their decision)

@Sindayl So the exact same as Microsoft then

@BanChatum Sony are objectively less anti-consumer than both microsoft and nintendo.

@crackeastwood congrats on naming one of the extremely few games Sony released this generation that wasn't a sequel, remaster or remaster of a remaster 👏 SoM was excellent, Returnal looks trash

@crackeastwood yeah gutted I missed out on another over serious 3rd person action game 🥱 wake me up when Sony starts innovating again

@Coletrain Microsoft's definition of innovation is simply buying out 3rd party developers and publishers

@crackeastwood PlayStation entered the gaming market 30 years ago with literally no first-party studios. They relied almost entirely on third party exclusivity deals and studio acquisitions over time. That’s not innovation, that’s just cutting checks.

Microsoft is objectively more pro-consumer than both Sony and Nintendo. Clearly, you’re not an Xbox player.

Nothing screams « anti-competitive » louder than aggressive third-party locking and studio buyouts, exactly what Sony has been doing since 1995. Let’s not forget that this kind of strategy is part of what helped kill SEGA, who didn’t expect a non gaming company to bulldoze its way into the industry with such ruthless tactics.

But sure... You clearly don’t know much. « Your opinions are trash » random internet fanboy/gurl

I won’t bother reading your « replies », we know how it goes with your kind of people.

@Sindayl "Nothing screams « anti-competitive » louder than aggressive third-party locking and studio buyouts, exactly what Sony has been doing since 1995."

It's also what microsoft has been doing since 2001 (i.e Rare, Lionhead, Obsidian, Inxile, Ninja Theory, Double Fine, Bethesda, Activision Blizzard)

But of course it's only bad when Sony does it, right?

@SMJ "The Xbox Series X is the worst Xbox generation in my opinion. Unimpressive and overpriced hardware/accessories, terrible first party support and a very poor subscription service."

Fixed it for you 👍

@nomither6 and Series X is the worst xbox generation ever

@crackeastwood2

Yes yes. I'm a fanboy, you're not.

You need to innovate more. Just like Sony.

@crackeastwood2 <- The guy just logged back into his alt account, saw all the old reply notifications and now feels compelled to answer them all with the rage of a fanboy with a second account 😂
Claiming you’re right doesn’t make you right. Sorry gurl.

Nobody cares. Muted without even reading more than 2 rage replies 😂

Can’t wait for your third account honey.