Playstation Might Be The Biggest Winner: GTA 6 Changed Everything

You find yourself watching the momentum build, and truthfully, it’s hard not to feel like PlayStation is winning right now. It might sound fanboy-ish, but you’re not here to say it’s at the expense of other platforms. It just feels like Sony and the PS5 are having a moment, one you didn’t fully expect, yet it’s happening right in front of you.

Over the last couple of weeks, a sequence of events has stacked up, and if you're paying attention, you probably feel pretty good if you’re playing on a PS5. If you’re Sony, you’re definitely feeling confident.

You can start with two big news stories that came out lately. The first surprise was hearing that Gears of War: Reloaded would be coming to the PS5. Second, the second video for GTA 6 has arrived. Even though these games weren't made by Sony, they are still very important for the PlayStation platform.

What makes it even stranger is that. You haven’t even gotten to Death Stranding 2 previews or the announcement of Ghost of Tsushima 2’s release date, both PlayStation exclusives, at least for the foreseeable future. These games will likely hit PC eventually, but that window could be wide. In the meantime, they are living and breathing only on PS5.

When you start to list these things out, you quickly realize how much incentive there is right now to either buy or stick with a PS5. This is done without even touching the competitive pricing conversation. In the last two weeks, you’ve seen Microsoft announce price increases for all of their consoles.

An Xbox Series X with 2TB storage now sits at $730. The Series S is now going for $400. Compare that to Sony, where the Astrobot digital bundle is still $400 and the disc drive bundle is $450. And it looks like upcoming bundles for Call of Duty Black Ops 6 will be priced similarly. You can’t ignore how that looks side-by-side. It’s not just a few dollars anymore. It’s a whole tier of separation.

Now, of course, GTA 6 is going to come out on Xbox. There’s no doubt it’ll perform well there, and plenty of people will enjoy the game on that platform. But you also know that Xbox console sales have completely flatlined.

Combine that with the rising cost of entry, and you begin to see how the road ahead only gets steeper. Right now, it seems safe to say that the overwhelming majority of console sales in the coming year will fall in favor of the PlayStation 5, alongside whatever Nintendo reveals with the Switch 2.

The PlayStation 5 is becoming the go-to console. And while you have to acknowledge PC’s continued presence in the conversation, there’s also the reality that PC gaming carries a heavier price tag. Sometimes a little more. Sometimes a lot more, depending on what level of performance you’re aiming for.

Plus, the very titles that are generating buzz, like GTA 6, Ghost of Tsushima 2, or Death Stranding 2, may take months or even years to land on PC. You understand that many are okay with waiting or just aren’t interested in Sony's games. But for the people making platform decisions now, that delay can matter a lot.

When you talk about platform health, you often hear negativity aimed toward PlayStation. You find that fascinating because, from your viewpoint, things seem to be tilting the other way. Microsoft’s Xbox brand, once PlayStation’s fiercest rival, now feels like it’s taken a step back.

It looks like Xbox has given up on going head-to-head and is now trying to place itself as a content partner. Games like Gears of War and Forza Horizon are coming to PS5. Those are two series you never thought would go there. Not only are they moving them, but they're also making them better for PS5 Pro by using things like the DualSense controller.

You respect Microsoft for that. They aren’t just dumping games on the platform and walking away. They’re making sure the PS5 versions are tailored, polished, and worthy of attention. You have to give them credit. Still, when you step back and remember what things looked like in 2020 during the launch of this generation, it’s hard to believe this is where it was all headed.

You don’t think people playing on Xbox are necessarily losing out, not entirely. As you said earlier, it’s not that one platform must succeed at the cost of another. But there’s definitely a shift in how these platforms are evolving.

For Xbox, the core value proposition seems to now be Game Pass. But even Game Pass doesn’t hit as hard when it’s cheaper and better supported on PC. You can feel Microsoft slowly turning its focus toward the PC space.

That’s not necessarily a bad move, but it does signal that the Xbox console, as you once knew it, is slowly fading. If you were someone who bought into Xbox at the start of this generation, or even back during the 360 or Xbox One days, this might not be the outcome you hoped for.

In contrast, if you picked up a PlayStation 5 at launch, or if you’ve recently made that decision, you probably feel like you're getting more than you initially signed up for. When you bought a PS5, you expected games like Death Stranding 2, Spider-Man 2, maybe even GTA 6 eventually. But you didn’t expect to see Microsoft's games coming along for the ride. That surprise adds extra value, and you’re here for it.

It makes you think about how quickly things can change. Even just looking at the past two weeks, everything from price hikes to game announcements to new trailers has shifted the balance a bit more in Sony’s favor. Will this stay true forever? That’s unclear. If Sony starts raising prices on console models or game accessories, you’ll be having a different conversation. Those advantages could shrink. But right now, they still exist, and they feel tangible.

You’re playing on PlayStation and looking forward to Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Tsushima 2. You’re excited to see what else Sony may have in the pipeline. You could argue that it's not a ton of new games, and you'd be fair in saying that. But between Sony’s exclusives, third-party blockbusters like GTA 6, and now even Microsoft's own titles landing on PS5, you feel like you’ve got more choice than ever.

And when you think about what players want when they choose a platform, it often comes down to options. How many games can I access? What kinds of games are available? Which publishers are supporting this ecosystem? Right now, PlayStation has solid answers to those questions. It’s not just about exclusives anymore. It’s about variety. And the PS5 has that in spades.

You’re aware that there will always be people who swear by PC gaming. They’ll tell you it’s the superior platform, and for many, it is. You’re not here to argue against that. You’re simply looking at the current state of things from a PlayStation player's perspective. And what you see is a lot of good news. A lot of momentum. A lot of reasons to stay invested in the platform.

As you close in on the second half of the generation, you realize just how unpredictable this whole journey has been. Every generation has its surprises or unexpected shifts. Back in the era of PS3 and Xbox 360, things felt relatively clear. The same was true for PS4 and Xbox One. But now, it feels like anything is possible. Roles can reverse. Strategies can pivot. One moment, you're predicting the fall of a platform, and the next, it's rising in a new form.

You accept that everything you’re saying right now could be upended a month from now. That’s the nature of the industry. Still, as it stands, the PS5 seems to be in a very strong place. Whether it’s from a pricing standpoint, an exclusivity standpoint, or even a surprise content pipeline from former competitors, PlayStation is riding a high that you didn’t quite see coming.

And that’s the beauty of it. You never really know how these things are going to play out. But right now, it feels good to be on PlayStation. The future may hold surprises, but the present feels like a quiet triumph for Sony.