The PS5’s dominance over the Xbox Series is going down in history as an era where it surged ahead by a considerable margin over its long-time rival. That margin might be a tad more significant than we’ve been thinking, as recent statements from The Game Business’s editor, Christopher Dring, to VGC claim that the PS5 comprises nearly 75-80% of AAA single-player launch sales, a facet of ownership that Sony has always been quite vocal about.
“It obviously varies by title. But if you take an AAA single-player title like Resident Evil Requiem, Crimson Desert or 007 First Light, you’re seeing about 75 – 80% of their sales coming on PlayStation during the launch month (removing PC data),” said Dring.
That isn’t too much of a surprise, though, considering that we’ve had some real doozies for the PS5 as platform exclusives that the Xbox Series X|S simply couldn’t compete with. Even Xbox-owned properties like Gears of War: Reloaded on the console had us convinced that Sony was the one-stop shop to go for such experiences (before the next entry, E-Day, became Xbox console exclusive).
It seems that the confidential sources Dring referred to agree, as the sales of online multiplayer titles are still fairly balanced, which checks out thanks to Sony’s own live-service fumbles and all the drama around Helldivers 2. Nevertheless, we’re quite sure Sony sees all of it as a win, even as it continues to nurse some live-service ambitions, logic be damned.
Still, the news comes as an interesting addition to the debate around platform exclusivity that surfaced recently, and a showcase of how single-player games remain a viable and widely desired product in the gaming world.
