Xbox is on track to knock Sony PlayStation down to third place for the first time in history

With combined Activision and Xbox revenues, Sony PlayStation may be looking at a third-place spot behind Microsoft for the first time.

[Jin_Sakai]

Sure thing windowscentral.com. We all believe your biased nonsense. Microsoft will never beat Sony or Nintendo at making great games. And that’s what matters to gamers, not revenue.

[PrinceOfAnger]

Is the order , days gone , death stranding, better than gears 5 or Quantum break ?
Is knack 2 better than Ori ? ..
Is driveclub better than Horizon 5 ?
is any killzone game better than Halo in sales and metacritic score? Nah..

"Forza M7 wins TGA award for best racing game over GT Sport."

Still no sony game got 97mc like halo

[TheLordOfStuff]

Days gone was great, you obviously never played it lol

But yeah, just very selective with your titles there, no God of war, spiderman or tlou for a start, that you jez??

🤣🤣

[P_Bomb]

“Still no sony game got 97mc like halo”

What’s the argument here? That Uncharted 2’s 96% is suddenly dogshit 🧐?

[MrBeatdown]

Dude's living in 2013.

[Hofstaderman]

Which Halo and how long ago was that? Because Halo in its current state is dogshit.

[Rimeskeem]

No MS or Sony game has beaten Soulcaliber on Dreamcast sooooo

[ChasterMies]

“Is the order , days gone , death stranding, better than gears 5 or Quantum break ?”

What a strange comparison. If comparing Sony studio games versus Microsoft Studio games, yes, Days Gone is better than Gear 5. And Spider-Man 2 is better than Starfield. And Horizon Forbidden West is better than Halo Infinite. Unfortunately, I can do this all day.

[PapaBop]

That's some serious copium.. name me one Microsoft developed game that was a genuine GOTY contender in the last decade.

[Vengeance1138]

How's Redfall working out for you kid? Hahahaha 🤣 $7B buys you Redfall. So well spent.
I guess you're living under a rock, cause Halo as a franchise is 6 feet under DEAD.

[shinoff2183]

Soul caliber was good if your into fighting games but how long could you seriously play that over and over. Idk I'm just not a huge fan of fighting, enjoyed mk in its early years when I was new etc

[GhostScholar]

Knack 2 is definitely not better than ori

[GhostScholar]

Days gone is one of the most underrated games of all time. It’s my favorite PlayStation exclusive. I think it’s better in every way than the last of us.

[Crows90]

The order not so much but the other yes...by a mile.

Knack 2 isn't a Sony focused platformer. That would be ratchet and clank...overall different games regardless. Ori is great. Stop comparing the small half ass attempts to Xbox heavy hitting attempts which barely reach.

Drive club and horizon...you'd have to ask a gamer who cares about racing games.

Killzone is overall much better than halo...maybe not the multiplayer though. Halo infinite sucks ass.

Halo...the original one was already in development by Bungie before acquisition. Halo is a Microsoft bought IP...not a Microsoft made IP.

[__SteakDeck__]

@PrinceofAnger You really had to go back to a game that released 22 years ago. 😂 It got a 97 Meta with only 68 reviews, I bet that it released today as a brand new game it doesn’t get that.

[ThePacemaker]

The order was only published by SIE, the team behind it now belong to Meta. Why being selective with titles? Why no mention of Uncharted 2? TLOU? GOW? ICO? shadow of colossus? Ghost of Tsushima?

Xbox fan girls at it again 😂. Be a gamer for once and think out of the box. A Blindfolded xbot.

[Binarycode]

Never been into Halo, First was ok. But same old sht different day.

GTSport spanks every Forza game end of. Forza isn't a sim. never will be, and this years version is worse.

But those top games are soo old it's comical.

Metacritic is an average, nothing more. Some sites are more xbox, some more sony, ninty.

To have fair scores all round you'd have to the exact same sites, the same reviewers and see what scores you get.

Lastly.

TLOU, Uncharted1,2,3,4 are better then 99% of games on that list, Then there's the quality of Spiderman, Horizon, GT, etc.

Mentioning Knack was funny though.

LBP was better then most Platform games and is up there with Mario imo.

Driveclub is a great game and has higher quality car models then most racing games today.

[Angyobangyo]

Halo hasn't been good since Bungie left and will never reach a 97 on MC ever again. Enjoy mediocrity under 343.

Everything you mentioned is from year ago. Please insert some current gen Xbox titles into your argument and let's see where that goes. Is Redfall better than......well the only thing it's better than is Gollum and King Kong.

[jambola]

"critics like my game more than yours"
Good job bud 👍

[PrinceOfAnger]

"Days Gone Director says that Metacritic scores matter more than sales to Sony"
..

[MetroidFREAK21]

What year is it?

[X-23]

Oh god, just stop. The amount of delusion there is just mind numbingly bad and outrageously bias.

[Iceman_Nightmare]

As someone who owns an XBOX and Gaming PC, meaning I have no reason to be called a Sony fanboy. I will tell you that comment is full of SHIT.

Microsoft will never make games that are up to pair with Sony and Nintendo exclusives. And even if they have some straight up bangers, is because they are going around buying all the big multiplatform game studios.

I personally don't mind, since I get most of them on XBOX game pass.

[Babadook7]

Yeah.

And to answer the biased claim of windows central directly; how long before Microsoft passes Sony in gaming revenue when subtracting publisher purchases? 10 years maybe?

[yeahokwhatever]

literally never.

[PhillyDonJawn]

Idk about that. Ps fanboys bring up numbers constantly

[ApocalypseShadow]

Yeah. Because those real, factual numbers are the ones that are whooping Microsoft's ass. Not those bullshit player metrics Microsoft comes up with.

9 million consumers downloading something to try isn't the same as 10 million gamers buying games.

Only thing Microsoft has beaten Sony on is lies, misleading statements and misdirects.

Your disagree won't change the facts. Microsoft has gotten their ass whooped 4 times. Microsoft has never won a game generation. But keep bullshitting.

[LoLCryBabyGamers]

Xbox fans praising xbox for what? they spent roughly 80 billion on studios and so far, all they produced is straight trash... they need a service to even be remotely competitive. Xbots praising them like there gonna rule the gaming marklet buuuut yet game pass doesn't grow much and console sales are meh.. But nintendo and sony continue to sell at high rates......

[Chevalier]

Yeah, but, this is the equivalent of having your family buy you an expensive car you don't deserve and pretending you earned it. Except you didn't work for it.

[DigitallyAfflicted]

Actual financial report

https://www.microsoft.com/i...

[Babadook7]

Your point?

[Aloymetal]

The green camp never disappoints, soon you'll be hearing...''Great GOTY contender games are not important, only how much money my preferred platform has in the bank''
You can't make this shit up lmao.
On a side note, it ONLY took 20+ yrs for a trillion dollar company and 80 billions to have a shot, and hope of dethroning PlayStation... Let's dream....

[MrNinosan]

@Ufsuex
Xbox doesn't do more revenue and profit than Playstation.
However Microsoft does, but always did, so nothing new.

[Rocketisleague]

It might not matter to gamers, but it matters to sony abd thus should matter to gamers, since in the end it affects us all.

[S2Killinit]

And they forget that the majority of Activision sales were on PlayStation.

Also: “windows central” yes we can believe those guys Im sure there is no reason they may twist numbers…

[thesoftware730]

Haha, so all the revenue and sales articles that you and a few other here flock to over every single week is now irrelevant?

Revenue don't matter now?

You need revenue to make good games right? That has been said many times by people on here ..now it don't matter to you?

[Andrew336]

Actually revenue is what people on here seem to worry about more than games. Especially the fan boys.

[jambola]

But xboxworld.com and Microsoftnews.org also agree 😤

[Zeref]

Someone's salty 😂

[Rynxie]

Yeah, took Xbox (and daddy Ms) close to a hundred billion just to try and compete. That's Ms stragey. Can't innovate? Can't buyout your competition? Then monopolize the industry.

[itsmebryan]

@Jin
Never say Never. Remember they said revenue not console sales.

What is the next great title from Playstation. TLOU2 again? How old is that game now ?

With all of Microsoft 's studios they can produce a lot of revenue. Is the new COD selling poorly ?

[Obscure_Observer]

Xbox is already making more operating income (profit) out of revenues than Playstation according to FTC documents, now with both Bethesda and Activision, the gap will grow even bigger.

This is nothing but expected.

https://gameranx.com/wp-con...

Sony is making the more revenue out of the big three, but at the same time seeing less profit margins.

[shinoff2183]

It would make sense for ms to make more money. They own more. Even before the acti deal they so desperately supposedly needed.

[Sephiroushin]

you talking about profit of xbox dividion lol how cute.. if that's the case they have to break even first smh 69b, that will take a few years to break even, at least 10 years and that if the activision do not decay like everything MS touch

[Miraak82]

I know right haha ...and Sony's still getting a 30% cut off those CoD sales which is where it sells most lol

[killacal13]

I always say that Microsoft has the reverse Midas touch, everything they touch turns to sh1t, look at Rare, do they do anything anymore? I personally love Sony because they always provided me with games I enjoy, Microsoft on the other hand just comes to try to monopolize the industry, they won't be able to BTW.

[Gamingsince1981]

Azanar no one is even playing sea of thieves

[crazyCoconuts]

@azanar, saying that everything Naughty Dog touches turns to sh@t really doesn't help your case

[Babadook7]

Microsoft combines different markets into gaming to hide how bad they are behind. Playstation is far ahead, but you knew that, didn't you?

[shinoff2183]

Hence the like of any actual real numbers from ms aside from hours or how many spacecraft have been boarded.

[TheLordOfStuff]

Yeah hate to break it to you but this was made up on twitter and already disproved 🤣

The fact you got any upvotes for it it actually wild.

[derek]

@obscure, that nonsense claim has been debunked countless times.

[Obscure_Observer]

Talk is cheap.

Bring your sources.

[sparky77]

Yep if anyone would be leaving gaming it would be Sony

[Gamingsince1981]

It's really gonna hurt you inside when xbox is a publisher in a couple years huh, better get those excuses ready though because we all know it's coming and so does MS.

[sparky77]

How? Everyone will be a publisher only in about 15/20 years time, consoles won't be needed forever.

Sony better hope they get acquired before that happens because it's Game Over for them at that point.

[BlaqMagiq1]

Ah, yes Sony the company destroying Xbox in console sales and amount of great games is going to be leaving gaming before Xbox. You keep thinking that. Get ready for 2027 when Xbox leaves the game industry, there's gonna be a lot of crying over here. And I will be here for it.

[ChasterMies]

“Xbox is already making more operating income (profit) out of revenues than Playstation”

This is also bogus. Microsoft can use profits from Windows and Office to buy game studios and then say they are an asset to Microsoft and not count the $80B cost against profits from its Xbox game division. Microsoft has been floating Xbox from the beginning, and it’s possible the Xbox division has never actually made a profit for Microsoft. To be clear, Xbox is not a separate company. It’s not a subsidiary. It’s all Microsoft and Microsoft won’t profit from the Activision and Zenimax purchases for a long time.

[Melankolis]

Well yes, just as you said. Xbox will always be profitable because every spending is done by Microsoft, yet they include the revenue/profit for Xbox.
I don't know what the real financial report showed, but many people are misled by the narrration that Xbox profits 2nd largest while at the same time, buying Bethesda and Activision for almost 80b. That doesn't make any sense.

[Gamingsince1981]

All that money MS has and they still can't even buy a good game 🤣

[CombatEmu]

That actually makes Xbox look worse. So even with this supposed greater "profit", the Xbox brand is still doing far worse than Playstation. You're basically arguing that Microsoft is an extremely inefficient spender.

[Einhander1972]

It's not really in a meaningful way, Microsoft obviously already had more revenue than Sony. And if xbox actually reported it's finances properly and included the loss from buying Actvision it would be in the red for the next 20 years.

Get back to me when Microsoft is selling more consoles or selling more software.

[BeHunted]

Microsoft has billions in cash for acquisitions and investment, it wouldn't make sense to include the losses. They always put money to one side.

[EasilyTheBest]

In the red for the next 20 years?
That's not how it works. They now own Activision, Blizzard etc. They haven't lost money by buying them. It's an asset that is still worth Billions.

[Hofstaderman]

Sigh. XBOX is not MS. The mother body bought Activision. Dont you think they would want those billions back? This is the final push for GamePass. If theres no growth....well 2027.....

[S2Killinit]

They are in the red, as in, they have not made 70 Billion in revenue during their entire time in the industry. Not profit, Revenue! Let that sink in for a second.

[EasilyTheBest]

Hofstaserman, well if that's the case my point is still valid. The mother body as you put it needs to make the money back not Xbox.

[Hofstaderman]

@EasilyTheBest no corporation keeps a non profitable division around. Not indefinitely. It appears the XBOX division has been given a deadline. MS has been known to spend billions before and pull the plug on entire divisions when they do not perform. See Zune, Nokia etc. Remember XBOX was already on the chopping block and Satya threw them a preserver. Boards do not govern a company on goodwill, they govern on profit. XBOX obtaining Activision is their last chance. Mark my words you are seeing its final years.

[Snookies12]

Income, sure. I seriously doubt they're going to be beating Sony in sales.

[andy85]

Now let's do profit 😂

[Ryuk_2007]

Nintendo and Xbox were more profitable than Sony. Nintendo had double of what Sony had made lol

[Chevalier]

Cool where's the link proving your fantasy?

[Gamingsince1981]

Yeah xbox is soooo profitable that they are going to be a publisher by 2027 , they are making so much money that Phil himself is saying xbox is done lol what an idiot you are.

[ziggyzinfirion]

Did you just pulled that out of your ass?

[ironmonkey]

LOL, like listening to a kid say when I grow up I wanna be an astronaut.

[Barlos]

Source: Windows Central.

Who makes Windows? I'm sure there's no spin or bias here 😉

[aconnellan]

Worth noting a site called Newzoo put the report/analysis together, Windows Central is just reporting on it:

https://newzoo.com/resource...

[Hofstaderman]

In which alternate dimension?

[ApocalypseShadow]

Must be between the days of November 27 and December 4. But even that would be ridiculous.

No one believes this bullshit from Windows. Microsoft admitted to themselves that Nintendo and Sony have kicked their ass.

So, Microsoft is creating a new category because they will never win the traditional category. While Sony and Nintendo drop sales numbers, Microsoft drops player numbers that have nothing to do with sales. They never mention game sales or hardware sales.

Just because they bought up their party publishers doesn't mean anything unless they can come out with hits that matter. Having more BC console support didn't help them. Having bought Zenimax didn't help it any of those smaller indie companies. Game pass hasn't helped. A lower priced console didn't help. Star Field didn't help. Having 2 Forza games didn't help.

Since Microsoft can't take away cod for over 10 years, none of those other dormant franchises are going to somehow push Microsoft into the pole position. Because newly acquired games that were already in production and released haven't don't shit either.

When Microsoft outsells Sony for one year, then you can talk about pushing Sony into third place. Don't give us these nonsense articles.

[aconnellan]

Listen, I don’t disagree, but your comment kind of talks past the point of the article.

It says in 2023 MS gaming division earned X, Acti Blizz earned Y, and Sony gaming division earned Z. Now that MS owns Acti Blizz, next financial year their revenue will be X + Y, which in the current numbers is more than Sony’s Z.

That’s it. It’s saying the combined revenue is more than Sony’s. There are a lot of really defensive comments in here that are addressing all sorts of different points about number of sales, consoles sold, quality of games, etc but that’s not what this report is about at all.

There’s a conversation to be had about those metrics and where Microsoft stacks up, especially because MS’s first part offering is light years behind Sony and Nintendo’s. It’s just irrelevant to deflect this report with those talking points

[__y2jb]

But it isn’t x + y, it’s x + y - 80,000,000,000

[shinoff2183]

But the report and headline alone were done with the intent to confuse

[BeHunted]

@_y2jb

Microsoft would make that back within 12 months. Seems like a smart investment

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Good job!

[autoglope]

Kek

[RNTody]

I see "wait for E3" has become "wait for Microsoft's publisher acquisitions to deliver"

[Profchaos]

Typical Jez Cordon article mostly make believe

[SoLiD2007]

Sony is the best.

[BeHunted]

At what? Monopoly?

[frostypants]

Only if your definition of what constitutes Xbox is stupidly broad to the point of being meaningless and you're comparing apples to oranges.

[Destiny1080]

if your profits are third behind microsoft, i think your doing fine

Sony makes 30% on call of duty regardless of who owns it

[gold_drake]

bias website be bias.
more revenue doesnt mean more popularity.

sony and nintendo take more risks with their stuff than ms.
all ms can do is buy stuff and let it die.

[Stanjara]

Sony is making no risk this whole gen. DLCs aka Sequels, Remakes and Remasters.
Microsoft lost their fans and diminished Xbox brand. Now they bought well known brands to continue to have fans and brand loyalty to continue make money.

Fans of COD and WOW and Diablo don't care about Xbox. That player base is PC.
Those people also are buying $15 horse skins, monthly subs and $60 seasons and battle asses no problem.

...and Gold. They are buying Gold ok.

That's why the whole thing had cost $70b.

It's just another day at the office... in Bobby's world.

[ravens52]

...Well see lol...

[babadivad]

Sure it is...

[ChasterMies]

This is a bogus chart and Windows Central knows it. Always look at profit over revenue. For starters, Apple makes more profit on games than Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo combined. Just think of how this works. A store makes 30% on every game and every microtransaction with very little cost to the store. Meanwhile, the publishers, including Microsoft and Sony have to pay for salaries, rent, marketing, and servers. Sony and Microsoft also have stores, and because PlayStation has a bigger install base than Xbox, Sony makes more profit from its store than Microsoft. For finishers, Microsoft spent $70B on Activision. The Activision studios won’t make a profit, not really, until that $70B is paid off.

[jznrpg]

Let’s move shit around to make it look like Xbox is doing well. Funny stuff

[GrizzliS1987]

Someone tell them when you accumulate debt from spending, all profits you’ve made first have to pay off the initial investment before you can call it profit revenue. They’re not making money, they’re just decreasing the sum within the negative

[IRetrouk]

I could point to all the ways this is wrong but I won't, egg on faces is much more entertaining.

[Elda]

A delusional article.

[Nacho_Z]

Xbox is on track to remain in last place through a combination of mismanagement and overspending. I think that's more realistic.

[Valkyrye]

fanboys no longer celebrate making good games now they celebrate how much revenue they making as if they getting a damn check for it, the sad and terriiiiible state of Xbox

[Ryuk_2007]

I know right. Shame on fans for celebrating the amount of sales Sony makes lol

https://n4g.com/news/256297...

[VersusDMC]

We would say shame on them if they spent 70 billion to make 31 billion...

[Junghova]

Lol

[Soulsborne]

Cringe

[GotGame818]

LOL! ROFL! No, just no!

[eagle21]

My thoughts exactly. lol :)

[RupeeHoarder]

Wait we’re predicting the future using past performance when a majority of their sales were on Sony consoles? Better hope their games don’t go exclusive then, that will automatically make any projections irrelevant.

[GhostScholar]

This isn’t gonna go over well on this site.

[Games1st]

They can use that to make better games.

[TheColbertinator]

We all return to our regularly scheduled program "Profits and Sales Matter now"

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Because of the Activision purchase they'll beat Sony in something... okay.

[Pyrofire95]

The console wars are made up by journalists looking for clicks.

[Good-Smurf]

They're playing with growth charts now not games.
I know spent 69 billion hurts but didn't know it hurts them so bad that they turned alcoholics just to ease the pain.
Too much Absinthe consumption I guess lol.

[Hedstrom]

Not if MS is making Activision games Exclusives. They would loose almost half of its player base and their profit would plummet.

[Brazz]

Wow. Lot's of people talking, i think that's a good work.

[enkiduxiv]

A lot of Activision revenue happens on Sony consoles though. The post-merger Activision will have to find a way to make its money on one the least popular platform in history.

[ironmonkey]

Oh wow it's Make a wish foundation.

[ocelot07]

Thought it was almost Christmas not April fools?

[Whitey2k]

Just wait till sony buys EA games battlefield will be better the cod 🤪 joking by the way

[DarXyde]

BREAKING NEWS: Rich kid who hired Michael Jordan as his personal coach excels in varsity basketball.

Honestly, if they couldn't with ABK and Bethesda given the recent big releases and aggressive monetization in ABK titles, they should be ashamed of themselves and pack it up.

If you've got all the money in the world, you've bought TWO massive publishers, and you STILL couldn't manage? Yeah, I'd be tempted to find Spencer myself and brand his forehead with an L.

[Brazz]

I fully agree with you.

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

Microsoft's mantra: cheat your way to success

[SoloGamer1]

🤣🤣🤣
29315;🤣 this is hilarious.. you need games first.. good First party games... good luck 😂😂😂
28514;😂

[Hereandthere]

They excluded hardware related revenue. Which I still find quite strange, regardless, it's dishonest deceptive shit like this is the reason why the xbox brand is dead last and in the xbox history to this day has not made a profit, nothing will change that because every 1st party produced games from Microsoft are always cheaply made game pass filler games with last gen graphics and more times than not locked at 30 fps.

[Tnt123]

Because ur business expert ur not stop making half arsed assumptions u know nothing about apart from what u googled lmao

[anast]

Buying a bunch of mobile games and slot machine companies, nice. They can't make a game even when they tried.

[Longadog]

must have missed the memo that april fools is now celebrated twice a year

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

Daddy Microsoft was already sitting on a pile of cash that Xbox potentially has access to, as for beating Sony in gaming? You really have to fudge the numbers for Xbox to beat Sony or Nintendo.

[OneLove]

Lmfao who didn't expect the engagement and comments in this article💀

[Exvalos]

Sony been behind in Microsoft revenue for decades, and they will never catch Microsofts revenue, as a gamer why in the he'll do I care about that. We don't care how much money Microsoft makes we care about them making great games, which over the past 10 years they have proven over and over that they cant.

[MarcianoBR360]

Now tell it to the tv while playing your average xbox games and be happy

[FyBy]

I would be surprised, if MS with 70B investment wouldnt get ahead of Sony :-))))
And if not, maybe MS ...will....buy....every...one. ..of..us :-D

[YourMommySpoils]

Like how lol? Xbox can't even handle a controller.

[BehindTheRows]

Thanks WindowsCentral. I needed a dosage of comedy!

[mastershredder]

Fanatical and fantastical thinking there chum. The result of denialism from someone whom can’t deal with the fact that their product of choice (or settled for) is not top dog. Lap dogging is pure cringe especially when you have nothing to gain from it but clicks.

[Brazz]

I can not believe! Considering N4G metrics, I technically posted the hottest news of the year! lol, unbelievable.
11/20/2023

[Realms]

I know this much you can't just throw money around and expect great talent to appear when you don't foster the foundation to allow it to develop. Something that both Sony and Nintendo do better than MS, this is why despite both Sony and Nintendo having far, far less money in their war chest they continue to reck MS, acquiring huge developers and publishers won't mean anything if they focus only on profits and not creativity. I mean MS has a ton of developers they have acquired to make great games will they allow them to do that or choose to be greedy time will tell, but MS track record isn't a good indicator of it.

[Tnt123]

Not one of u know what either company making not one of u so stop making stupid assumptions as u contacts in said companies

[Bronbron92]

For Xbox to take the lead again they need to make hit after hit the only games I can think of that’ll be a big one for xbox would hell blade 2, elder scrolls 6 and the fable reboot but we can only wait for what they’ll be like Sony always delivers with exclusives