Are the "Console Wars" About to Kick Off Again? | Unpacked

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:15]It's an interesting time to be following the business of the games industry right now. PlayStation and Xbox seem to be in the midst of a refocusing effort as both companies, at least from my perspective, lost quite a bit of their identities this generation. Xbox seemingly gave up on the Xbox platform during the end of Phil Spencer's tenure to focus on being a multiplatform publisher instead, motivated by the need to drive up revenue due to the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Both PlayStation and Xbox loosened the exclusivity of their biggest games with their marquee first party titles coming to PC and in Xbox's case, PlayStation Nintendo platforms.

[00:00:48]Both also chased the live service golden goose with studios not equipped to do so like Bluepoint and Arcane Austin.

[00:00:54]PlayStation alone reportedly had 12 or so live service games in development at one point, most of which have been cancelled now. PlayStation historically has done very well in the multiplayer space. If you remember the PS3 era, Resistance, Killzone, Mag, Socom, Warhawk, and Starhawk all went on to be massive success stories in the multiplayer space. Oh, sorry. I had that wrong. It was PlayStation Home that really blew up. Ah, I'm sorry. I'm still salty about Starhawk. in an alternate universe. Starhawk did amazing and we still be playing it to this day. But too many of you skipped out on it, and I will never forgive you for that.

[00:01:31]Xbox canceled the Perfect Dark reboot, Ever Wild, and a number of other unannounced titles. Halo didn't make the comeback they were hoping for, and of course, they also closed a number of studios of their own, like Tango Softworks and Arcane Austin. We could go on and on about all the bad news that has come out of both platform holders this generation, but I think I've covered that plenty at this point. You can blame the co era for some of these problems with overinvestment in live service and big acquisitions that all seem smart at the time. Regardless, if you were to ask me what first-p party games are defining the PS5 and Xbox Series era, I wouldn't really have an answer for you. November will be 6 years since the launch of both the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5. And I think it's a common sentiment that neither platform has exactly wowed players this generation in terms of the first party output. And that output defines these conso's legacy and the future success of the platform. If you pay attention to the online discussions on these things, PS5's success was in large part due to how much people love the PS4's firstp party output. And I think just about everyone agrees that it has been lackluster this generation due to the problems I outlined previously in this video. What's interesting right now though is that both PlayStation and Xbox seem to be having similar conversations about brand identity, refocusing on their console businesses, and re-evaluating the importance of exclusive games to tie all that together.

[00:02:47]As the title of this video suggests, I think we're entering an era where Xbox and PlayStation are going to be in heavy competition again, not only against one another, but also clawing back market share from the PC gaming space. I'm personally excited for this as I yearn for the simpler times when people would fight over which console had the better games instead of whether the latest game is too woke or not. Bloomberg reported back in March that PlayStation was planning to stop releasing its single player focused games on PC. And that was confirmed this week via Bloomberg's follow-up reporting on a town hall meeting held by PlayStation CEO Herman Hol. A choice that makes sense considering the lower than expected sales for their games on PC, damage to the PlayStation brand, and the fact that Xbox's next console, Project Helix, will play both console and PC games. Xbox is also re-evaluating its exclusive strategy for its games. And with all the recent changes to the Xbox brand and their commitment to the console experience, I won't be surprised at all to see them reverse course on bringing their marquee single player experiences to PlayStation or Nintendo either. I'm particularly interested to hear what the Gears of War Eday release plan will be, which I think will spell out the strategy going forward for Xbox titles.

[00:03:54]I'm also keeping a close eye on what Xbox decides to do with the Fable reboot. It's confirmed for the PS5 as of now, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Xbox reverse course on that decision. I would say the same actually for Halo campaign evolve as well if Xbox is serious about rebuilding its brand image.

[00:04:11]Whether we like them or not, exclusives are what drive people to buy and invest in platforms. and both companies have diluted their console businesses by bringing everything to PC. I have no complaints about more games being made available for more platforms, but it's hard to argue with the fact that it's probably not great for your console business if everyone's just planning to move to PC to be able to play everything. It makes sense for games like Hell Divers 2, Forza Horizon 6, Marathon, really any title that benefits from a healthy online player base to be on as many platforms as possible these days. And marathon aside, clearly the numbers are there for Hell Divers 2 and Forsa Horizon 6 with the massive player counts they have showcased on just Steam alone.

[00:04:48]Obviously, it's not the consumerfriendly thing to do for these platforms that have exclusives. I think everyone understands that. But I also think excitement for both PlayStation and Xbox is clearly at an all-time low. The prices for the consoles are too high.

[00:05:00]The first party support is too infrequent. And when you could just wait to get the games on another platform in Xbox's case, it's hard to justify purchasing one in the first place.

[00:05:11]I do think PlayStation and Xbox getting back to competing over the console market and acquiring new customers will only be a net benefit for the industry.

[00:05:18]So much of the focus has been on finding that next big life service hit or building out their subscription programs for these platforms that they've neglected what brought people to their ecosystems in the first place. Exciting first party games you couldn't get anywhere else. It's always been about the games first, and I think both platforms lost sight of that. They seem to recognize us, too, with both Xbox and PlayStation putting on major showcases in the next couple weeks. PlayStation's next state of play is on June 2nd, where they'll be showing Wolverine, and with a 90-minute runtime and in theaters, I assume a number of other big first party titles they've got cooking at their studios will also show up.

[00:05:55]Xbox also has their big showcase on the 7th of June, which will include our first major look at Gears War Eday and will be Asha Chararma's first big showing as the new CEO of Xbox.

[00:06:05]Maybe it's just me, but it does feel like something is in the air around these showcases. And both platforms gearing up to show off their big guns feels a bit like that old school competition we used to see from them.

[00:06:15]I'm hoping I'm right and that a new console war is brewing for the next generation and that both platforms drive some muchneeded healthy competition again for the industry. If it results in good new games across the board, everyone wins.

[00:07:10]Hey.