If you ever doubted nan “console wars” were over, here’s a caller portion of information to consider: Helldivers 2, formerly console exclusive to Sony’s PS5, is presently the best-selling title connected Xbox. In fact, it’s nan first and third best-selling game, if you count its much premium edition, and it’s presently nan ninth-most played crippled connected nan level — mostly beaten by free-to-play games for illustration Fortnite and Roblox but besides Minecraft and GTA V.
It doesn’t astonishment maine that Helldivers 2 is celebrated connected Xbox, because it was a immense deed connected PS5 and PC. Last May, Sony revealed that Helldivers 2 had become PlayStation’s fastest-selling crippled of each time pinch 12 cardinal copies sold successful 12 weeks, and it may person now crossed 18 million aft reportedly racking up nearly a cardinal connected Xbox successful its first week connected sale.
No, what’s astonishing is that we now unrecorded successful an era wherever companies for illustration Sony and Microsoft nary longer wholly spot their deed games arsenic a measurement to get players to bargain their ain consoles, and alternatively conscionable want to waste arsenic galore copies of these games arsenic they can. Back successful May, we wrote astir really the apical 3 games connected PlayStation came from Microsoft, and now it’s reciprocal!
Sony has travel astir to this position slowly, but by 2022, it planned for roughly half of its games to travel retired connected PC aliases mobile alternatively of conscionable console, and though PlayStation crippled leader Hermen Hulst suggested successful 2024 that immoderate of Sony’s large single-player games mightiness beryllium held successful reserve, nan institution revealed this August that it’s gradually “moving distant from a hardware centric business model.” It’s astir trading games, not consoles.
Here’s wherever immoderate of you will nary uncertainty constituent out: is Helldivers 2 really a PlayStation game? Since PlayStation is simply nan patient and doesn’t ain its developer Arrowhead Game Studios, is it really specified a large deal?
I would opportunity yes, because Sony has been nan 1 successful control, nan 1 making nan strategical decisions complete erstwhile and wherever and really overmuch PlayStation goodness to share. When players balked astatine really Helldivers 2 primitively required you to log successful pinch a PlayStation relationship connected PC, it was retired of Arrowhead’s hands. When players wanted an Xbox version, Arrowhead said it was wholly up to Sony.
Microsoft doesn’t person to trim specified publishing deals to bring Xbox’s biggest games to PlayStation, though. When it chose to bring Indiana Jones and Hellblade 2 to PS5, it could do truthful because it owns some elephantine patient / developer Bethesda and developer Ninja Theory itself.
What is an Xbox, and what is simply a PlayStation, if not the spot to play circumstantial games? Is it a launcher and a group of acquainted controls? Is it a feeling? That’s nan situation facing Microsoft and Sony if they proceed down this road.
3 months ago
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