It has, for quite a while, felt like PlayStation was dominating the decreasingly relevant console wars against Xbox and Nintendo. With a swathe of incredible exclusives, impressive hardware that outmatched its competitors, and a steady stream of releases, PlayStation was absolutely on top with little competition to slow it down. However, going into 2025, that no longer seems to be the case, as both Xbox and Nintendo are quickly leaving it in the dust.

A lot has led to Xbox and Nintendo beating PlayStation, at least in recent memory, with it all painting PlayStation's immediate future in a rather bleak light. While it's not exactly curtains for the prominent publisher and developer, PlayStation certainly has a lot of slack to pick up now that its competitors are quickly suring it. Suffice to say, unless PlayStation pulls something truly impressive out of the bag, it could struggle to catch up with Nintendo and Xbox.

Xbox's Developer Direct Paints A Strong 2025

Xbox Is Gearing Up To Have Its Best Year Yet

2025 started off well for Xbox thanks to its in-depth Developer Direct which covered a number of first-party games, like DOOM: The Dark Ages, South of Midnight, and Ninja Gaiden 4, as well as the third-party title Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 that's launching on Game day one. It showed just how stacked the first half of 2025 is for Xbox fans, something that hasn't been the case for years now. With more titles like The Outer Worlds 2, Fable, and Gears of War: E-Day launching in the latter half, Xbox has no shortage of excellent games in 2025.

Of course, many of these are coming to PlayStation, as are some of PlayStation canceling multiple projects, including several of its live service offerings, which have proven to be a devastating investment. PlayStation's first-party offering is fairly weak in 2025, with only a handful of titles like Ghost of Yotei and Death Stranding 2 standing out. Xbox has PlayStation beaten, especially as so many of its first-party games are coming to Game on day one.

Nintendo Will Be Releasing Switch 2 This Year

It's Going To Be Another Landmark Console

On the Nintendo front, fans have the Nintendo Switch 2 to look forward to. The Switch 2 has been hotly-anticipated for several years now, and the announcement of a Direct in April has only fanned the flames. With its reveal outperforming the PS5's and PS4's, it's hard to see how PlayStation stands a chance of reclaiming its top spot. New hardware will naturally always give a significant advantage, but frankly, the Switch 2 has to be one of the most exciting in recent memory due to just how big of an upgrade it will be from its predecessor.

Another benefit Nintendo has over PlayStation is the plethora of Switch 2 first-party launch titles. While none have been officially announced yet, the teaser of a new Mario Kart game in the Switch 2 reveal definitely doesn't bode well for PlayStation. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the Nintendo Switch's best-selling game of all time, and its successor will likely follow suit. Once again, PlayStation is lagging behind in the first-party department, although, in its defense, Nintendo has the stark advantage of releasing a brand-new system.

What PlayStation Needs To Succeed In 2025

It Needs More Compelling Exclusives

PlayStation still has a chance of catching up, especially if it changes its current approach to game development. To start with, PlayStation needs to abandon the majority of its live service efforts. Far too much money and time has gone into games that ultimately end up canceled. Those resources can then be used to produce more of what it is known and loved for: narrative-driven single-player experiences. It also needs a better slate of first-party and third-party offerings, ones that it gets to control the narrative of.

While a lot of Xbox's catalog is coming to PlayStation in 2025, it is still Xbox's at the end of the day. It has started to feel like PlayStation is becoming reliant on other developers and publishers while its own languish under huge budgets and development times or canceled projects. It could also help if PlayStation officially revealed its rumored handheld, which would give it the hardware advantage that Xbox doesn't have.

It is all well and good to say that PlayStation should just have a new lineup of exclusives and reveal a brand-new console, but that isn't realistic. What it can do to pull back from fans is to give more information on some of its biggest franchises. A new trailer for Marvel's Wolverine would certainly delight fans, as too would more information on some of the games it revealed at the Game Awards. Ultimately, building hype for 2026, rather than focusing on 2025, would help PlayStation get back into the never-ending contest against Xbox and Nintendo.

Source: Nintendo of America/YouTube