Microsoft has more best-sellers on PlayStation Store than Sony does

Sony and Microsoft may be direct competitors, but sales charts also show just how mutualistic the two companies are.

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If nothing else, the FTC v Microsoft trial in 2023 taught us one important lesson: PlayStation and Xbox are as cooperative as they are competitive. Microsoft depends heavily on Sony's storefront to sell its games, including mega-hits like Minecraft and Call of Duty, and Sony in turn welcomes Microsoft's revenue contribution. This cooperation has evolved now that Microsoft has broken first-party Xbox game exclusivity.

Microsoft has grown considerably now that it owns Activision Blizzard King, so by virtue of its sheer size, it's not really a surprise that its games now have a larger share and populate multiple charts. To get a better idea of both Xbox's size and its synergistic relationship with Sony, we can take a quick look at best-selling games on the PlayStation Store.

I originally checked the PS Store charts to see if the Fallout TV show bumped franchise sales (it has), but when checking the list I noticed something interesting: Xbox had more games on the PS Store's top 25 best-selling games than Sony did.

Before we look at the data, I have to bring up some very important context points:

• PlayStation Store rankings change on a daily basis and the info provided below only reflects current standings
• Listings are based on region, will be different depending on which country/region you live in
• The best-sellers list includes free-to-play games like Fortnite
• Prices fluctuate and discounted games will often top the lists and/or be included

Now onto the data.

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According to the PS Store listings on the PS5 console, as of today, April 18, 2024, Microsoft had 7 out of the top 25 best-selling games on the PlayStation Store.

This includes 2x Fallout games (Fallout 4 at #16 and Fallout 76 at #20, respectively), Call of Duty at #2, Overwatch 2 at #7, Minecraft at #19, and two separate games that recently broke exclusivity: Sea of Thieves at #12 and Grounded at #23.

Sony, on the other hand, had 5 games on the best-sellers list, two of which are not technically first-party games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment (Helldivers II was developed by Arrowhead Studios, and Stellar Blade by Shift Up).

The 7 games associated with Microsoft are all from owned groups; even as limited-integration divisions, both ZeniMax (Bethesda) and Activision Blizzard King are owned by Microsoft.