August 26, 2025, will be remembered by the gaming community as the end of the console war, marking a historic milestone: two franchises from rival companies, previously exclusive to their respective consoles, will arrive on the rival console. Obviously, calling it the end of the console war is more a matter of marketing than reality, but it is true that it opens a new horizon in the competition within the industry. Until now, Sony had brought some of its most famous IPs to PC users through various stores, while in Microsoft’s case, many of its licenses were already distributed on PC, even in stores outside its own. But up until this moment, as far as consoles are concerned, only Xbox had released its games on rival platforms, adopting a new strategy aimed at strengthening its position as a publisher.
From now on, PlayStation users will be able to play one of the most famous and representative sagas in Xbox’s history: Gears of War Reloaded, developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios. This title is an enhanced version of the “Ultimate Edition” released in 2015 for Xbox One, which itself is a remaster of the original Xbox 360 trilogy, making it essentially a re-remaster.
Xbox Series users, on the other hand, will have the opportunity to acquire Helldivers 2, the excellent multiplayer game developed by Arrowhead Game Studios and distributed by PlayStation Studios. This new release will also benefit players who already enjoy it on PS5 and PC, as the number of concurrent players will increase significantly.
A new strategy that benefits players
This paradigm shift, originally initiated by Xbox but now seemingly embraced by PlayStation, represents a major step forward for the video game industry and, above all, a victory for players. If this new strategy proves successful, we will progressively witness a diversification of platforms on which we can enjoy our favorite games, while also increasing the concurrent player base for these titles, enabling much larger and more active communities. Hopefully, in the future, we will see a gradual reduction in the cancer of exclusive games that for so many years have deprived some of us from enjoying certain works simply because we chose hardware from a specific brand. Even more importantly, it could help avoid the limbo into which great titles have fallen, making them impossible to purchase legally today—Metal Gear Solid 4, for example.
Not only will users benefit, but both Sony and Microsoft will be able to increase their sales thanks to a broader market. While they will still compete, and we shouldn’t rule out the continued existence of exclusive games, at least temporarily, a larger player base makes any title more attractive. It is most likely that Nintendo will never join this new paradigm, as its main appeal lies precisely in the traction of its exclusive games. Allowing users to enjoy them in superior versions thanks to more powerful hardware would likely be more harmful than beneficial. That said, considering that the Big N has its market locked down and any of its main licenses will sell regardless, simply due to the weight of its name, it won’t really need to.
