Alexander Cope, writing for Windows Central:

The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Minecraft, and Forza Horizon 5, some of Xbox Series X|S‘s most popular titles, have been topping the sales charts on its competitor, the PlayStation 5.

This news comes from Sony itself, which has announced that the top three best-selling games for the PlayStation 5 during April were Oblivion Remastered at No.1, Minecraft at No.2, and Forza Horizon 5 at No.3 in the US.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Forza Horizon 5 is at No.1, Oblivion Remastered is at No.2, and Minecraft is at No.3 on the PlayStation 5 games sales chart.

I’m not surprised at this news. There was a time a couple of years ago when I thought I’d get an Xbox just to play Forza Horizon 5, but I didn’t have time for another console and paying for one when I knew I wouldn’t have time wasn’t justifiable. About a year ago, my mobile phone contract provider offered me a free GamePass subscription. I signed up for it and played Horizon Five for about ten minutes before giving up because I didn’t want to stream it on my MacBook. I really wanted to experience exclusive gameplay on a big TV, and it felt wrong streaming such a great game.

Later last year, Microsoft launched Indiana Jones on Xbox, which was another game I really wanted to play. Again, buying a console for just two games didn’t feel justifiable. Now both these games are available on the PS5. While I haven’t bought them, it’s only because I’m busy playing other games at the moment. I’m not surprised that these games are topping the charts on PlayStation.

Finally, the best console to play these games is turning out to be the PS5 Pro, which is much more powerful and cheaper than the Xbox after their recent price hike. Most of the games I have played of late are games available on the PS Plus Premium subscription. I do not know if Xbox games like Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones will ever end up on any of the PS Plus tiers, but they are definitely not going to end up on the subscription at the moment. Now that GTA6 is delayed until next year, I intend to pay for these games and play them on a PS5 Pro.

I feel like the way things are going, Xbox might not even have a next generation console, and it’s only going to be PlayStation. I kind of fear for that day, mostly because as a PlayStation player and fan, we need Xbox to keep PlayStation and Sony on their toes. Without Xbox as a console, and Xbox exclusive games now being available on PlayStation, I feel like the next console generation is going to be Sony by itself, increasing prices and doing things that are not really gamer-friendly.

Yes, there’s Nintendo, but Nintendo was never a competitor for Sony or Xbox, if you ask me. They play their own game. Their consoles are seriously underpowered, they don’t care, and they still come out on top. And everyone, including yours truly, loves those exclusive games.

Right now, it feels good to be a PlayStation gamer, and if you are into the console wars (you should not be), it looks like PlayStation is winning not because they are necessarily good at what they do, but because Xbox has lost its way and lost interest. And PlayStation winning might be a good thing in the short run, but I do not know how the next couple of years are going to hold up. I just hope Xbox somehow stays relevant in the market in the future for every gamer’s sake, especially the PlayStation gamers. Competition is good, competition is what gets us great games, wherever you play