Forza Horizon 5 managed to set a new Forza franchise record when it comes to launch month sales, according to the latest NPD report. Shin Megami Tensei V also set a new dollar sales record for the franchise.
Gamesradar:
Almost four years on from its original launch on Xbox Series X, I'm reliving the opening of Forza Horizon 5 on PS5.
The gloriously over-the-top introduction to Playground Games' open-world racing adventure is just as entertaining as it ever was, but there's one marked difference that steps things up a gear.
After jettisoning out of the back of a plane behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco, I careen over the hilltops of Mexico and I'm instantly taken by the responsive feel of the DualSense controller.
Not only do the adaptive triggers give me tactile feedback as I put the pedal to the metal, but the controller's vibrations change to mirror the traction of the wheels as I hit different surfaces. I really begin to notice how it enhances the experience when the race switches things up and has me speeding across tarmac in the silky smooth Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe.
I've always loved how every vehicle in Forza Horizon 5 feels different to drive.
I love how much shit ppl were happy to talk about Forza Horizon, but now that it’s on PS5, suddenly it’s amazing.
I’ve got news for you - it was always great, and a lot of other Xbox owned games are great too - but nobody wanted to hear it bc dumbass console war bs.
I don't recall hearing shit about FH5 here.
Only just a few ridiculous things from some special people claiming the player counts are fake or suspicious, even though the player counts are *literally displayed on in-game leaderboards* and are based on nearly 4 years of availability as one of the most acclaimed racers in history having gone through several waves of largely-discounted pricing along the way
I’ve never heard anyone talk about forza games. I’ve heard tons of forza over GT sports or 7 though. I’m not into racers but the commentary on the games was never negative. Perhaps you could link some for me?
Dude come on. Stop with the strawman argument. Nobody shit talks Forza Horizon. Everybody knows, even PS gamers, that Forza Horizon is Xbox's best IP.
Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella shared a bullish report on the performance of the Xbox gaming business also on PlayStation.
I'm kind of hoping they drop most hardware support here with a 'good enough console' next generation and focus more on being a publisher. Obviously that is doing well for them and they can still push cloud gaming since it's going to tons of smart TVS and devices. They're now the largest video game publisher in the world, if they aren't doing the most sales and pre-orders, then they would be in trouble. They aren't.
They're gonna try again with a new gen console. If they want to compete they need to actually be competive. Say games like Halo, Blade Elder Scrolls or whatever big game it is. Needs to only be on Xbox and PC. If those games go multiplat it needs to be after a few years or at least a year later definitely not 6 months as a good portion of ppl will wait. Knowing MS they'll probably try and compete, then when things don't go there way they pivot and change the metrics again.
I don't think you're reading the tea leaves here. Leadership hasn't used the word "exclusive" in quite a while, and they're now boasting about PS sales. They're probably done with consoles and exclusive at this point.
I don't think they'll try. They have been beating a dead horse for so long now and they have finally realized it isn't going nowhere.
MS is going to drop being hardware exclusive, they are going publisher and subscription. You will be able to buy a Xbox, but you will be able to play on any platform, that's their new goal. After the hit with Oblivion remastered and major sales on PS5, no more Xbox/PC exclusives long term..
I think with the latest price hike on their console, they’re well on their way to axing hardware.
Hardware axing entirely is bad news. They've sold most of their hardware on the Series S this generation. I think if they capture a lower hardware market that can still buy games (especially on sale), they'll actually hit a good market considering how the economy is going. Especially in the U.S. People are going to want to keep gaming and streaming isn't that good for online gaming at all.
@crazy they've stated multiple times they're going another gen. The next gen Controller even got leaked.
Tired of repeating myself whenever it comes to this subject of Xbox having another gen.
Xbox consoles are done, all we gonna get is some branded 3rd party shite at best, ms aint interested in being a console manufacturer no more, this much is obvious.
Microsoft has too much money for that. They are rumored to release a PC/console hybrid in 2026. They will push all you hope as a publisher while having new hardware next year, so the games will appear on their platform and every other platform which is good to me if the goal is to sell software. If that is where the money is why would anyone fault MS for that? The prices are going to be insane for the next PlayStation and console from Microsoft, though, but it is what they voted for, so this is what we got.
“We continue to transform the business and focus on margin expansion as we bring our games to over 500 million monthly active users across devices. We ended the quarter as the top publisher by pre-orders and pre-installs on both Xbox and PlayStation Store.”
Amazing news!
Xbox reigning within rival territory.
Big slap in the face of haters who used to crap on Xbox´s games and its quality.
One minute he says that they will NEVER go third party
Now he's all for it like this was Microsofts grand master plan all along.
@-Foxtrot
"One minute he says that they will NEVER go third party"
Fact.
"Now he's all for it like this was Microsofts grand master plan all along."
False.
Never said it was Microsoft´s master plan all along. But it is REALLY working for us, as the fact that you´ll be able to enjoy Xbox gamers isn´t killing us. Rather the contrary, we are happy that everybody is funding our games on Gamepass.
Specially now with the imminent new $80 price tag for Xbox first party games.
It is what it is.
He loves it. Now he gets to support the trillion dollar company even more by giving them more of his money.
I agree.. great news for Microsoft and tbe xbox brand. Your Playstation is now a xbox. Microsoft wasn't kidding around when they said xbox will be everywhere. Now they are laughing all the way to the bank. Imo sony needs to do similar things. They're putting their biggest titles on PC. Might as well bring them over to other consoles too. They aren't making much on console sales.
Theres been one game in the last few years that's been good. Indy. Long way to go before you start talking about their games and their quality
Xbox gamers really are the strangest demographic. Not so long ago you are all saying PlayStation isn't the competition Amazon is because Phil said so. You love to parrot what your corporate talking say. That wasn't actually true Xbox and PlayStation were in direct competition but because Xbox was losing so badly Phil had to act like they weren't.
Cut to present day and Xbox and PlayStation aren't competition because Xbox has no hardware presence it's zero. In fact Microsoft is now a third party publisher and they need PlayStation they don't need Xbox or Xbox gamers they need PlayStation gamers and PC gamers and mobile phone gamers and switch gamers.
You're here cheering for the fact you've become irrelevant because you think it's important that your uncle Phil is making money. You think PlayStation gamers are upset if Microsoft releases more good games in a year than sony does. when Microsoft makes a good game you shout take that playstation!
PlayStation gamers simply say thank you I will third party publisher that makes me games
I think you're confused. Microsoft never saw Sony as their biggest competitor. They've reiterated it for years. Sony is doing the same thing by putting their biggest franchises on PC, which is OK with Microsoft. Their will be more playstaion games coming to Microsoft ecosystems. Maybe not to xbox consoles but playstation won't be the only place you can play their games. Kind of how it is now. I would bet that they are making plans to do just that but they probably fear the backlash from their fanbase which is silly because noone is gonna stop playing games just because it's on on another platform.
"Cut to present day and Xbox and PlayStation aren't competition because Xbox has no hardware presence it's zero."
If that was remotely true you wouldn´t be so mad about Xbox gamers getting day one games on Gamepass that you have to pay full price for.
"PlayStation gamers simply say thank you I will third party publisher that makes me games"
And we´re thankful for Playstation gamers supporting Xbox games funding our day one games on Gamepass.
Like I said: Everybody wins.
We brought two of the biggest publishers in the world, cost thousands of people their livelihoods and consolidated a huge part of the industry, look how successful we are at gaming!
Top Secret Strategy for How to Become the Biggest Publisher in the World:
1. Buy everybody
And this has been standard business practice in every industry. Don't hate the player hate the game! lol
I have no doubt that the vast majority of developers and studios will be looking at Microsoft as far job security is a concern.
Microsoft will allow its studios to release their games to every single platform, which means more investment on new games, more money, more jobs positions, better payment, benefits and recognition among gamers worldwide.
You though MS would crash and burn
You want MS to leave gaming forever but GAMERS clearly wants otherwise.
You said MS doesn´t know how to make great games but Xbox games dominating sales on Playstation clearly says otherwise.
Now you also have Playstation gamers to blame for helping the rich to get richer.
I warned you. You were on a fool´s errand all the time.
Now all you can do is watch as MS and Xbox gaming grows bigger and better than ever and release games for everyone!
At the end of this road, Bethesda, Activision, etc, will still be releasing games for everyone and Xbox consoles will be no more.
If that's what you claim to have foreseen, then congratulations, you win.
You think three major publishers no longer competing and thousands fired to feed the piggies at MS is a good thing, I don't.
More and more owned by fewer and fewer is what you're cheering for, all that leads to is $80 first party games kid.
It looks like the PS5 release of Forza Horizon 5 has already added almost one million players to Microsoft’s mammoth arcade racing game.
...just shows how starved for good arcade style racing games the PS fans have been. Just imagine if Sony had not closed Evolution studios. They are sitting on their own open world style arcade racer series... Motorstorm.
Letting go of Evolution Studios was so dumb. There was and is a big gap in the market for this kind of game.
I think people forget that Shuhei shut down a lot of studios and definitely made some mistakes.
I played Motorstorm Pacific Rift last weekend, first time in years. I forgotten how good that game was.
Driveclub is another game I miss. I still got the steelbook case. I couldn't believe Sony closed Evolution studio...
Pacific rift is my favorite of the lot. I will say though, arctic edge is a very well made game for the PSP/PS2. I do find myself having a spin on the Vita RC game now and then too.
^ That Vita RC game was a blast. Yet another Vita game that got a raw deal from the gaming press, for no reason at all.
Driveclub was so crazy back then, it got much better over time too with dlc packs. I don’t understand why some games become forgotten when they are clearly fan favorites. Cough, Bloodborne, ahem.
Drive club was in such a great shape before studio closure. So they had worked hard to fix the issues and than got shut down. Sony has definitely made some dumb moves when it comes to closures and acquisitions. They paid 3.6 billion for bungie and bought concord studio before they released a single game along with closing many studios
darth, I would have loved a sequel to Driveclub or at the very least an update patch. That gem of a game had so much potential. I'm going to buy Forza at the end of the week as I love racing games.
how that game did not get at least a Pro update is beyond me. It was very polished either way. Even the VR game is good.
We wernt starved though, we got every arcade racer apart from this one.....
It selling well is a combination of things, but I dont think players being starved is one of them.
Agree with the rest, sony really messed up with evo
Sony also had a damn good Kart racer on PS3/Vita in Mod Nation Racers. Now that IP is just sitting in limbo, doing nothing. Thanks Sony!
Man... I kept hoping they would do a kart racer what they did with PSASBR. To have the stable of PS characters in a kart racer would have given MK a run for its money. I get that it may seem hokey to have kratos driving a kart, but having him throw his axe out at other racers would have been cool.
@darthv72
What made MNR so great was it's creation tools. You could create just about anybody in the game! The car customization was pretty extensive too! I had everything from Hitler driving a Nazi jeep to Michael Myers driving the Smiths Grove station wagon, to a black Iron Maiden van with "Eddie" driving! You could make anything!
There are a lot of games that sell great on PS even if it’s a flooded genre. Games sell on PS period.
"Starved" wouldn't say that. It's a solid game allaround they just wanna play it.
Yup, GT7 is great but we need Burnout or a good NFS. Would pay a lot of hard earned money for Driveclub remake, Bikes dlc was godly, or would happily day one a new Motorstorm.
Waiting for sale on Horizon like I do 90% of games—the game is old at this point not paying day one prices.
Glad they are seeing success from this. The game is one of the best racing games on the market. There are not much arcade racers available on PlayStation so to get a AAA experience is welcomed.
Its a fantastic game.
Highest rated PS5 racer and potentially 2025 game is a Xbox studios title. Who saw that coming a decade ago.
Not surprised. Forza has always been the best in that genre. Playground Games are really good devs. Microsoft was smart to add them to their family of devs.
Damn the pokemon power. Still going so strong! Crazy stuff. Only Cod and battlefield could beat him. Unbelievable. Crazy success of shin megami tensei! Cod still the king. Like or not.
Forza, 4th best selling game behind those big names!
Key word 'Selling'. That is big since its included with GP...Cant keep and excellent game down.
CoD always wins, I my self find the series fun, just let down by Zombies this year. Hopefully they can make up for it with additional content during the seasons.
Kinda feel bad for Forza. It actually deserved to be 1 or 2. But launching with Battlefield, CoD and Pokémon is like asking to come last unfortunately
But I was told Game Pass killed sales? That was the narrative in the UK article about Forza's initial sale numbers.
I guess the argument that Xbox Game Pass keeps Gamers from buying video games was wrong. Forza Horizon 5 Is a very good game. It definitely deserves all the praise it is getting. Congrats to Playground Games.