PS5 vs Xbox Series X sales have shown the latter in a damning light, and a former PlayStation chief has piled on the ‘console war’ misery by suggesting Xbox’s days are numbered.
While it started much as would be expected, with a lot of anticipation for either console’s exclusives, more recently these strategies have started to blur.
Both Xbox’s headline releases, such Bethesda’s hotly anticipated Starfield, as well as smaller projects like Obsidian’s medieval whodunnit Pentiment, are seeming to find their way over to PlayStation.
Shawn Layden’s Xbox Remarks
In an interview with GI.biz, Shawn Layden, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America between 2014 and 2019, said that he believed Xbox was at a fork in the road – much like Sega in the Dreamcast days.
“Watching what Xbox has been doing recently, I do get Dreamcast flashbacks, […] I think Sega realized they just were better off being a software house.
“I think Microsoft is in that same sort of fork in the road. And I don’t think their hardware offering is persuasive enough to make up the ground they’ve lost.”
PS5 vs Xbox Series X Sales
Are falling hardware sales the cause of Xbox’s recent shift in strategy to a more multi-platform focus?
For a long time, it seemed as though Xbox’s gaming subscription model Game Pass would function as a strong selling point for their consoles, but now it’s a service that’s almost independent of that due to its popularity on PC as well.
The fact that games featuring Xbox’s mascots, like Halo: The Master Chief Collection, are becoming available on rival consoles like the Switch show that something isn’t working.
The combined sales of the Xbox Series X/S were estimated to be around 28 million in June 2024, putting it well behind that of the PlayStation 5, which in August 2025 was said to have sold over 80 million units as it approaches its fifth anniversary.
What Does the Future of Xbox Look Like?
If Layden’s remarks are correct, then what does the future of Xbox look like?
It’s unlikely that they’ll give up altogether, but does that just mean investing more into Game Pass and trying to get that on other consoles like PlayStation and the Nintendo Switch?
In that same interview, Layden feels as though this isn’t only an opportunity for Xbox to alter its course, but for the entire industry to shift towards a greater degree of standardisation.
“Can’t we look at the game console business kind of like Blu-ray, or cassette, or compact disc, or any other medium where the industry decided we’ll compete on content, but let’s standardize on format? And then let’s take that format and license it out to everybody who wants to support it. That’s what stops the penetration rate of console gaming, I think.”
The Next Generation of Xbox Hardware
Contrary to these statements, however, Microsoft is seemingly remaining firm in its commitment to releasing hardware.
Microsoft recently signed a long-term deal with AMD to continue developing hardware, and it also has its handheld device ASUS ROG Ally 2 supposedly releasing at the end of the year.
However, many think that the Xbox consoles of the future will lean more heavily into the world of PC gaming, rather than what’s expected of traditional consoles.
