Xbox Is Absolutely Dominating PS5's Pre-Order Charts

No one should be surprised by this as one reason Playstation had such growth was from former Xbox gamers jumping ship from the botched X1 and very little incentive to return with Microsoft essentially becoming a third-party publisher who happens to make gaming hardware.

The desire for the games is strong, but not strong enough to fork over cash for another console

There are not a lot of huge April releases plus it’s right around the corner. This isn’t a huge shock tbh because they are both highly recognizable brands.

Why would anyone preorder a digital game?

Let's see when the time will come bloggers getting tired of that "xbox on ps hihihi" joke

I can't wait for the Halo 😎😎

It's no surprise when you realize the number of times you'd read/hear "Man, if (insert XBOX exclusive here) were on PS5 I'd scoop it up in a heartbeat." MS finally listened.

@Chupa_loyzer maybe they have the money now and aren't sure they'll have it when the game releases? Maybe they have time to do it now so they just go ahead and do it since they're gonna do it later anyway? I mean, there could be any number of reasons.

So games that had previously came to Ps and sold very well are bringing new games that are selling very well.
And big name titles being brought to a new audience are selling well? Odd aint it

Not surprised by this. Indiana Jones will probably sell triple what it did on Xbox. With how well these are going to sell it's just a matter of time before everything is day and date. It wouldn't shock me if everything MS shows at there showcase in June has the PS5 logo at the end of the trailers.

@Ken_Kaniff You're so right! And I have a bunch of friends who will certainly take this happening to heart. A good amount of my friend group favors XBOX to PS.

@Ken_Kaniff Only triple?

I'd bet that most Indy players did so via Gamepass, and that many more than triple of its actual unit sales will be PlayStation.

Heck, I've even heard of people signing up to Gamepass for a month to play Indy, cancelling their sub once they finished the game, and receiving a full refund from Microsoft. What an incredible business model. No wonder Nadella and the other Microsoft big-wigs took Phil Spencer to one side and told him that Xbox was effectively going to become a third party publisher.

Can't wait for ES6

This is more of a win for Sony than it is MS. People now know they don't need to buy an Xbox anyone, and Sony can make bank of their 30% cut

It's good xbox has great games not as many as playstation or nintendo but they are there forza horizon 5 indianna jones the halo series the gears of war series etc I'm honestly not suprised about this my hope avowed south of midnight and hellblade 2 come this year

It will be interesting to see how these things go when a Sony first party game is up for pre-order against an Xbox game.

Although I'm really not sure when the next Sony first party game is due for release.

This is a win-win for everyone though. More people playing these games. Microsoft and Sony both getting new revenue streams.

@Ken_Kaniff The Game Pass model automatically eats into purchases so why would this be news to anyone?

Personally, I try games on Game Pass and then buy them if I like them. I've made loads of purchases off the back of trying them this way.

I currently have around 800 Xbox games and there are so many I would never have even thought of buying if I hadn't played them on Game Pass first.

This is like the Dreamcast and SEGA going third party except with more steps.

@Chupa_loyzer I agree but there are often discounts for early preordering on psn and presumably elsewhere

@Chupa_loyzer Because some people want a digital they can play as soon as a game releases. I would not do that but there is nothing wrong with the people that do it.

@Chupa_loyzer There's more reason to pre-order a digital game than a physical one, really. Assuming you're saying it's justified to pre-order physical because you're reserving your copy, I've never found a new game to be out of stock when I've gone to buy it. However if you pre-order a digital game you can preload it. Once you've paid, the game will typically auto preload a few days before launch. Then you just turn on the PS5 on launch day (even the second it becomes launch day if you're really eager) and start playing. Then also add in pre-order bonuses, the same as with physical.

@Kumatz Me too! That’s the one series I shed a tear for when I switched back to Sony. Although it sounds like I haven’t missed much post Bungie (I did play Halo 4 and it was pretty mediocre).

Risk free preorders. Fully patched games. The delayed releases are sounding like a blessing if you don’t mind paying full price.

I mean everyone is making money and more people get to play games seems like a win win

Whilst the next few months may have quite a few Releases from Microsoft on Playstation, Microsoft are also releasing (or have released) a few 'big' games for their own platform too.

Doom of course is common to both Consoles in terms of release date, but whilst Sony maybe getting FH5, Indy, AoE2 etc, Xbox have Avowed, South of Midnight, Towerborne etc to play.

No doubt Indiana will sell well on PS. It has more than 2x the Console sales so 'should' sell at least twice as many copies, but whether it has the same 'reach', same player numbers as Xbox (and PC) gamers didn't need to buy to play. They may have paid for Game Pass (even just 1 month worth) but that is Consumer choice.

Sales 'revenue' is just one option - but Game Pass is another 'revenue' stream too - 30m paying at least £10 'every' month is £300m a month - before any 'sales' revenue starts coming back in. Theses games may sell 1-2m in the first few months - that's not even close to the revenue coming in from Game Pass. You could also argue, that '£300m+' per month is what paid for those games to be made in the first place - that revenue is paying Devs, paying studios etc to make the game so ANY sales on top is 'pure' profit. They haven't spent £100m developing a product that needs to sell to get that £100m investment back. Game Pass subs have paid that £100m it cost to develop and now get to play 'free' and ANY sale is pure profit.

It's just a different business model but because you have an alternative option on Xbox, Sales alone is meaningless. I'd expect Indiana Jones to sell a LOT more on Playstation, but I expect a higher percentage of Xbox gamers will have played at least the opening section. Would you rather have '2%' of gamers playing your game, but sell enough over time to be 'profitable' or Reach 50% of the gamers and maybe not get as 'much' per gamer for the 'initial' point of access, get more in revenue from DLC/MTX's and not worry about whether or not your game will eventually sell enough to cover the costs and bring in enough revenue to continue making games...

So, free money for Sony.

@BAMozzy and there was me thinking you’d lost your ambassador gig… old habits die hard eh 😉

@Chupa_loyzer you can play right away and some games even let you pre-load. and i guess for the pre-order bonus stuff.

@Sergo I kind of get what you're saying but, if these Xbox games sell as well as expected then surely that will mean that some players buying them will spend less on Sony first party games.

Sony will get 30% on these sales but potentially lose out on 100% of the revenue on games not sold.

One of the very few, but waiting for Starfield 👀

Xbox going to have a record breaking quarter and year for sales

@AndyKazama it's win for gamers

@RagnarLothbrok when was Forza on PS?

Sony will benefit from this and get 30% from sales in their Digital store - the only place to buy games Digitally on their platform. That's what they get as Platform holder, retailer etc.

All it means is that MS is no different to EA, Ubisoft or other 3rd Party Publishers on Sony's platform, just like Bethesda/ABK Published games were too before MS acquired them.

Sony 'could' release their games on Xbox and sell well too - but Microsoft would expect their '30%' too for games sold through their store etc too - which Sony 'refuse' to do - but will with Steam as they are a '3rd Party Publisher' on that platform - its not their's!

Where is the ONLY market that Microsoft Games (until recently) were not available on? That would be Sony/Nintendo Consoles - the ONLY place they can 'target' for revenue Growth, to get money from gamers they otherwise would not get money from - 70% is still better than nothing they were getting before. Console sales maybe down, but Game 'engagement and sales' are high because they are 'not' just limited to their 'small' (compared to Sony/Nintendo Console sales numbers) Console users to play - Steam sales numbers are Good and 'high' player numbers (yes most maybe because of Game Pass, not 'buying' the game) would indicate they are 'successful' and reviewed well too.

Therefore it makes sense to bring some of their Catalogue to Playstation as a 3rd Party Publisher - in the same way Sony does with Steam/PC. Its got comparable hardware to their Series X, already port and make games for Playstation (Minecraft, Call of Duty, Doom etc) and inherited/Acquired a LOT of Playstation titles - like Fallout 76, ESO, Overwatch, Deathloop etc) so opened the door. Its also the only platform 'currently' they can target for revenue growth as they already compete/offer something on EVERY other Gaming Platform currently.

@GamingFan4Lyf if they make hardware then they aint third party. If your new definition of third party is just putting games on other systems then is Sony and even Nintendo at one point

@Toot1st literally second half of my sentence, big popular games also franchise pillar to another ecosystem

I can't keep up - I paid full price for KCD2, BG3, Horizon FW, Cyberpunk 2077, but otherwise I have just played games from subscription or heavily discounted. Backlog and wishlist are gargantuan. When you are offered big replay value, I bite.

Currently LOVINGLY replaying Veilguard and I just love the game. I do a mission, explore and find secrets, return to base to catch up with team mates through clever content similar to Mass Effect's ship. The combat, as I tinker, just improves more and more.

There's so much nice to say even if I keep agreeing it isn't perfect and off-putting at first glance.

I really want Indiana, but I'll be dead before I get to it.

@lacerz There is always a chance that they botch the port to PS5 since the PS5's APIs are fairly different than XBox's despite their hardware being similar.

That said, Indiana Jones uses modified id Tech 7 engine, which is also used by Doom: Eternal which already has a good PS5 port.

Forza however, uses a proprietary engine which has presumably never been ported to a Sony platform, so that's less of a sure bet.

@Toot1st Okay…so Microsoft is a never before seen 4th party publisher.

For its own hardware, it’s first-party…but then it publishes to all other platforms as a third-party publisher.

1 + 3 = 4. 😁

But, in all seriousness, it is kind of a grey area now with Nintendo making mobile games (though it’s been winding most of them down) and Sony porting to PC pretty regularly.

Though, for Sony and Nintendo, the console is very much the main priority while Microsoft is just kind of providing a system for those who want to stay in its ecosystem (but isn’t required).

This is definitely more of a win for Sony than it is for Xbox. Sony will be getting a 30% cut from games that they never expected to come to their console so it's free money for them, but not only that they also get more console sales as more and more people will ditch Xbox going forward and go with Playstation where they can play all games. And for Microsoft they may be getting 70% but they are seriously hurting their console sales and brand image, so that 70% is covering for loss of console sales and potential game sales and extra gamepass subs.

The Indiana Jones premium edition at number one spot, this is why companies can charge such high prices. People complain but still just purchase anyway.
Besides the Premium will drop in price 2x days after release, since there is no early access benefit afterwards.
I really want the Indiana Jones game, but will possibly just wait for a sale. It's not like I don't have anything else to play, my backlog is getting rather full.

@Chupa_loyzer I guess for the automated download? but yeah, I’m with you on this. I just don’t see it either.

Going forward, I think the interesting thing is what Sony will do on PS6, regarding allowing other stores on the PlayStation. I can see that becoming a big issue as Xbox continues its “this is an Xbox” campaign and leaked screenshots showing Steam on their PC app. It’s also connected to the wider issue of complaints about Apple not allowing Epic’s store on iOS. Will Switch 2 natively run COD or will it be GamePass cloud gaming?

@SMJ Sony will have to do the same thing soon it's only a matter of time I feel if they want new money coming in. It's PC ports have been not so good through performance and just sales in general due to people refusing to sign up to PSN which was retracted a little.

But they will have to do it themselves I'm sorry they will

@Nakatomi_Uk At a push they may branch out to Nintendo if they can get some older games on the Switch 2, but in reality they will never need to branch out to XB as its a shrinking market that simply might not be worth the dev cost by the time the prime is launched.

@SMJ Dont think so mate. People will buy the games they want anyway. For example, I will buy Indiana and potentialy Hellblade 2, but this will not affect my 100% purchase of Ghost of Yotei. It only means that i will be having more good games than i expected this year.
But sony will be getting 30% of those without any expense of development, marketing or whatsoever.
It is a win for us most importantly

@AndyKazama U have not needed to buy a Xbox quit awhile at least if u have a pc !

@Sergo It's a win for gamers definitely. But, by default, any time spent playing an Xbox game means less time spent playing a PS Studios game. Most people also have a finite income and this will also lead to decisions being made over which game to spend money on.

@SMJ I see your point but I do not think we are at a time where we have so many huge titles per year. Also, who says you need to play them as they come. So, evetually everybody will play what they wanted. A game will give you the same experience day or 1 year later. ( well, 1 year later you will get better experience since it will be in much better state. The sad story of today games). This does not go for Indiana since it is already well fixed.

@Sergo I agree. If there's a game I want to play, I'll play it eventually. I think it benefits both Microsoft and Sony that there's a huge void of PS Studio games currently and a ton of Xbox games heading to PS5 imminently.

I really think it will be interesting to see big first party games going head to head.

If Microsoft decide to release Halo or Gears against the next big Sony first party game, I think it will massively impact the initial pre-orders and initial sales for the Sony game.

I think those Xbox games will get more interest, money and time spent on them.

Days gone was a blast don't know why it got so much hate I put it down to the start of woke culture. Yes I said it....

@SMJ Absolutely true. Xbox games will benefit a lot and also we as ps gamers and also sony.....kind of win win win
But yeah. It will be fun to see two big names head to head (and in the other news, publishers are moving schedules in order not to be close to GTA release )

Which tells people what was known for years, the games never sucked (they do to me) people were just salty they weren't on playstation, people are clowns for pre ordering that indiana jones snoozefest, that's one of the worst games i have ever played and anyone pre ordering it should know better, acting like it wasn't made by todd howard a dude who hasn't made a good game since 2011.