Over the past year, Microsoft leapt first into some controversial decisions regarding its first party Xbox games output, putting previously exclusive titles like Forza Horizon and many others onto rival consoles.
At the time, Xbox’s efforts to give up on console exclusives looked like a swan song for the embattled platform. Microsoft’s Xbox hardware sales continue to look bleak on paper, faced with relentless competition from PlayStation and Nintendo. However, fast forward a few months, and things are looking a bit different.
Despite weak hardware sales overall, Xbox continues to post record console playtime hours, buoyed by a string of high-quality releases and expansions into other markets with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Xbox still commands millions of active users, so much so that even arch-rival PlayStation itself has opted to self-publish Helldivers 2 onto the Xbox platform. And it looks like team blue isn’t stopping there either.
A new job listing on PlayStation’s official GreenHouse hiring platform shared with us Hazzador on X suggests that PlayStation is ready to follow Xbox. The language in the listing suggests that PlayStation is ready to expand even more of its first-party titles, such as God of War, The Last of Us, and Horizon, over to competing platforms — including Steam, and Xbox itself.
“Executing the global commercial strategy for PlayStation Studios software titles across all digital platforms beyond PlayStation hardware”
The job listing is for a “Sr Director, Multiplatform & Account Management,” specifically, and describes a variety of responsibilities specific to Xbox and PC.
The successful applicant will lead a team that includes senior managers involved in liaising directly with Xbox and Windows PC platforms, like Steam and the Epic Games Store, to build sales and relationships.
PlayStation says the applicant will “oversee the out-of-year (mid-range) commercial strategy for PlayStation Studios titles across all non-PlayStation platforms, driving long-term revenue growth and audience reach.”
Furthermore, the overview describes specifically moving PlayStation Studios software titles “beyond PlayStation hardware,” listing Steam, Epic Games, Nintendo Switch, mobile, and indeed, Xbox consoles too.
“Reporting to the Vice President, Commercial Management as Senior Director of Multiplatform & Account Management, you will play a critical leadership role in shaping and executing the global commercial strategy for PlayStation Studios software titles across all digital platforms beyond PlayStation hardware, including Steam, Epic Games Store, Xbox, Nintendo, and mobile. This role is accountable for optimizing title profitability, ensuring cross-functional alignment, and leading a high-performing team focused on multiplatform expansion, mid-range commercial planning, and platform partner management.”
The game industry has changed
PlayStation has been signalling to investors for some time that it wants to boost margins, and a sure-fire way to do that is to sell more software. With the gaming population less willing to switch platform than ever before, it stands to reason that Sony could make heaps of high-impact, high-margin cash by putting some of its older games onto Xbox. There are still tens of millions of active Xbox gamers, many of whom have likely never experienced titles like Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, or others that would likely over-index on Xbox.
PlayStation’s renown for high-quality games is reflected by their high cost. Putting more older games on Xbox would do little to harm PlayStation’s hardware footprint, which is now essentially locked in and permanent as people have solidified and built up their digital game libraries. The same is true on the inverse, Xbox players with decades and thousands of dollars invested in the platform are unlikely to move across and start playing service games on other platforms, which is where the bulk of playtime hours and revenue remains.
With rumors that the next-gen Xbox will run Steam, which also has Sony’s games, it would behove Sony to simply cut out the middle man and go straight to self-publishing on Xbox more than likely. Perhaps Microsoft offered them a better cut than Steam does too, to get the budding partnership under way. Time will tell.
More than ever, the industry will be about finding people where they are to cut through the noise. Whether it’s Netflix, TikTok, or forever-games like Fortnite and Roblox, getting the attention of the masses is harder than ever. Being everywhere and on everything all at once gives you the best, and maybe, the only chance at grabbing attention — at least in the market of the right now.
It’ll be interesting to see how the industry evolves further in the coming months. I, for one, have Helldivers 2 pre-ordered on Xbox already.
