According to one gaming analyst, the biggest new game for PlayStation 5 by copies sold in 2025 is the former Xbox exclusive, Forza Horizon 5. This racing title, released by Microsoft on PS5 in late March, recently surpassed 3 million copies sold on Sony`s console, becoming, according to Alinea, PS5`s best-selling game of 2025. A significant boost in sales was attributed to a recent promotion that lowered its price to $45.
Forza Horizon 5 also remains incredibly popular on other platforms, boasting over 45 million players on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S (through sales and Game Pass) and 6.5 million copies sold on Steam. The analytics firm Alinea predicts that the next installment in the series, Forza Horizon 6, will launch on PS5 on day one, although Microsoft has not yet announced a new game.
The PS5 and Steam versions of Forza Horizon 5 have generated nearly $400 million in revenue for Microsoft. This success highlights Microsoft`s strategic shift from a console platform holder to a third-party publisher. While the company is not abandoning hardware production (a new platform with AMD has been confirmed), Alinea suggests that Microsoft`s next system won`t be a “true console,” but rather a “console-like gaming hardware project.”
Analysts believe that Microsoft likely won`t market the next Xbox as a PC, but functionally, it will come closer than ever, integrating deeply with Windows and supporting cloud/hybrid gaming. As part of this strategy, Microsoft is already collaborating with Asus on the Xbox Rog Ally line of portable systems, set to launch this year. Microsoft had previously considered releasing its own Xbox portable device, but it appears those plans have been scrapped.