I’ve owned every PlayStation since the PS1 stole my heart in the late ’90s. It’s mildly embarrassing to admit that I was a hardcore “Sony Pony.” Granted, I would also make sure I always had the latest Nintendo or Microsoft console, too. But I was proud to be a PlayStation fanboy. Now, with Microsoft’s beloved Forza Horizon 5 coming to the PS5 and already breaking records? It’s fair to say that the “console wars” many of us gamers held onto were pretty ridiculous.
I remember when getting a multiplatform game on one console meant an entirely different experience from another. Now, it’s all uniform (mostly). The brand supremacy flags are looking more than a little beat-up. The Xbox is sharing its exclusives, the PS5 is putting its “exclusive” software on the PC. The landscape of gaming is changing before our eyes.
In the United States alone, Forza Horizon 5 is tearing the PS5 pre-order board up. As of this writing, it’s sitting at both the 3rd and 4th best-selling spots (via its Premium and Standard editions, respectively). In other regions, it’s all the way to the #1 spot. So, what does this mean? Forza Horizon 5 is a phenomenal racing game, sure. But, it also lends a great deal of credibility to the idea that the “survival” of console gaming as we know it is through collaboration rather than competition.
maybe the ps5, xbox, and switch should meet and call a truce
You know who “won” the console wars after all the bickering and squabbling we’ve been doing over the years? The PC and its massive library and means of game retention. The PS5/Xbox/Switch race we thought was a sprint to the top of the mountain was actually a freefall into the abyss. Console exclusives, games you bought that you suddenly can’t play two console generations later, boatloads of money being funneled into “safe” games that end up failing because they aren’t doing anything special.
None of that even begins to cover the diminishing financial returns for consumers. Why would I buy an Xbox or PS5 when I can purchase a solid PC? And never have to wonder if my copy of Die in the Dungeon will be playable a decade from now? All of this is to say: we’ve reached a point in the console “race” where collaboration and making games available across as many platforms as possible is the secret sauce. Presumably, the major players are already figuring this out!
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