It seems Xbox releasing one of its biggest franchises on…

Summary

The PS5 release of Forza Horizon 5 earned Xbox over $100 million in revenue.
Forza selling well on PS5 signals the potential for other Xbox exclusives to make the switch.

Releasing Forza Horizon 5 on the PS5 made Xbox millions, according to a new report. The Forza franchise was an Xbox exclusive for much of its history, but Microsoft decided to bring it to its chief competitor's hardware earlier in 2025 as part of a broader shift away from console exclusivity. It seems like that decision was a smart one, too, as Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 has been a huge success.

PS5 users were already a core piece of Microsoft's audience before Forza came to Sony consoles. A staggering 64% of spending on Microsoft games came from PlayStation users in December 2024, the same month that the Xbox-maker became the world's biggest game publisher. While most of those sales came from Microsoft-acquired franchises that already had PlayStation releases, the same strategy has proved effective with the company's former exclusives.

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By Trevor Edwards

A June 4 report from Alinea Analytics revealed that Forza Horizon 5 was the top-selling game on PlayStation in May 2025. That may not be a huge surprise, given that Forza Horizon 5 drew nearly 700,000 new players upon its PS5 release, but the Alinea report also highlighted even bigger news. Since April, Forza has sold more than 2.2 million copies on PS5, which Alinea says "easily" exceeds $100 million in revenue. In May alone, it sold 1.3 million copies. For context, Elden Ring Nightreign came in second place for the month and sold 752,000 copies, less than two-thirds the amount Forza sold.

Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 Made Over $100 Million for Xbox

Forza Horizon 5 isn't the only Microsoft title to break the top five in PS5 sales for May. Minecraft came in fifth place at 491,000 copies sold. That's largely to be expected, considering how Minecraft is the best-selling game of all time and was available on multiple platforms long before Microsoft acquired Mojang. Still, it's another example of how PlayStation users present a promising market for Xbox Game Studios and other Microsoft subsidiaries.

The success of Forza Horizon 5 on PS5 could foreshadow things to come. It's rumored that Halo will make its way to PS5, and another once-Xbox-exclusive franchise, Gears of War, is getting a PS5 release later this year. Seeing as how Forza sold so well on Sony consoles, it could give Xbox all the convincing it needs to give other first-party series the same treatment, though it remains unclear if the company will do the same with all of its exclusives.

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