I once bought a PlayStation mainly because I wanted to play The Last Of Us.
That sounds slightly ridiculous when you say it out loud. Buying an entire console for one game is not exactly sensible budgeting. But that was the pulling power PlayStation exclusives used to have. The Last Of Us felt like something I genuinely needed to experience, not just another good game I could maybe get around to eventually.
That is why I keep coming back to the same question whenever the old PlayStation-versus-Xbox argument appears again: does PlayStation still have better exclusive games than Xbox?
My answer is yes.
But it is a much less exciting yes than it used to be.
PlayStation Still Has The Stronger Library
If you look at the games available on PS5, Sony still has the advantage.
Astro Bot is brilliant. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a polished, expensive-looking superhero game that does exactly what people wanted from it. Ghost Of Yōtei gives PlayStation another big single-player adventure. Returnal remains one of the most distinctive games on the console. Demon’s Souls still looks fantastic. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a proper showcase for the hardware.
Then you have Death Stranding 2: On The Beach, Stellar Blade, Gran Turismo 7 and the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine.
That is a healthy list. If somebody bought a PS5 tomorrow, I could easily recommend enough games to keep them busy for months.
Xbox has good games too, obviously. The idea that Xbox has nothing worth playing is outdated nonsense. But Microsoft has also made the comparison easier for Sony by putting more of its games on other platforms.
Gears Of War: Reloaded is on PS5. Halo: Campaign Evolved is coming to PS5. Fable is also heading to PS5, and Forza Horizon 6 is due to arrive there after its Xbox launch.
That is great for players. I am not complaining about more people getting to play good games. But it does weaken the argument for buying an Xbox specifically.
Better Exclusives Does Not Mean Must-Have Exclusives
This is where the conversation gets more interesting.
PlayStation still has better exclusives than Xbox, but does the PS5 have a game with the same console-selling power as The Last Of Us?
I am not sure it does.
Spider-Man 2 is probably the closest example. It was a huge release, and I can absolutely imagine people buying a PS5 because they wanted to swing around New York as Peter Parker and Miles Morales. It is the sort of game that looks impressive in a trailer and makes the hardware feel worthwhile.
But Spider-Man 2 is also on PC now. That does not stop it being a strong reason to choose PlayStation over Xbox, but it makes the old idea of the permanent exclusive feel less clear-cut.
Ghost Of Yōtei is another good candidate. It is a major release, it looks the part, and it gives the PS5 a big adventure that feels like a proper event. Astro Bot may be even better as a pure game, especially if you miss the days when platformers were allowed to be joyful and clever without pretending to be cinematic masterpieces.
Still, neither has quite the same gravity as The Last Of Us did for me.
That is not a criticism of those games. It is more about how gaming has changed.
Sony Is Winning With Depth Rather Than One Killer Game
The strength of PlayStation now is the accumulated library.
You might buy a PS5 for Spider-Man 2, then realise you also want Astro Bot, Ghost Of Yōtei, Returnal, Demon’s Souls and Ratchet & Clank. You might have missed The Last Of Us Part II, God Of War Ragnarök or Ghost Of Tsushima on PS4. You may simply prefer the sort of big single-player games Sony has spent years associating with the PlayStation name.
That is a strong pitch. It is just not the same pitch as “buy this console because there is one game you cannot miss”.
The PS5 generation has also been blurred by cross-generation releases and PC ports. That is good in many ways. More people can play the games. Nobody loses because an excellent game reaches another audience a year or two later.
But it does mean the console wars feel increasingly weird.
People still argue as if Sony and Microsoft are locking masterpieces in separate vaults. In reality, the walls are lower than they were. Xbox has embraced multiplatform releases far more aggressively, while Sony has become comfortable bringing major games to PC after the initial PlayStation window.
Xbox Is Competing On A Different Idea
Xbox is not really selling the same dream anymore.
Microsoft’s pitch is less about one locked-away exclusive and more about access. Game Pass, PC support, cloud play, cross-platform saves and a wider ecosystem are central to the appeal.
That works for some players. If you want value, flexibility and a large library without buying every game separately, Xbox has a very sensible argument.
But sensible is not always exciting.
A console seller needs to create irrational desire. It needs to make you look at the price of a new machine, wince slightly, then start working out whether you can justify it anyway.
For me, Xbox has not had enough games with that effect recently. PlayStation has had more, but even Sony has struggled to recreate that feeling consistently.
PlayStation Still Wins, But The Win Feels Different
So, does PlayStation still have better exclusive games than Xbox?
Yes. The PS5 still has the stronger selection of games that make its platform feel distinctive, particularly if you enjoy polished single-player adventures and the occasional odd gem like Astro Bot or Returnal.
But I do not think the answer is as emphatic as it once was.
PlayStation has a very good library. What it lacks is an obvious modern equivalent of The Last Of Us: the game that makes people stop comparing specifications and just buy the console.
Maybe Marvel’s Wolverine will become that game. Maybe the next big Naughty Dog release will do it. Maybe the days of one exclusive carrying that much weight are fading anyway.
For now, PlayStation still wins the exclusives argument.
It just wins on points rather than with a knockout.
