The current-generation console war has ended with the PlayStation 5 successfully defeating the Xbox Series S/X. It began with Microsoft's commitment to offer Xbox games such as Forza, Gears of War and Sea of Thieves to PlayStation since last year while Sony offers their studio games to Windows only.
But on August 26, the game Helldivers 2 will finally be playable on the Xbox Series S/X, making it the first game from Sony's studio to be offered on a rival console. This is seen as opening a door that has been forbidden because Sony and Microsoft refuse to offer exclusive games to their opponents. This leaves only Nintendo still insisting on maintaining its exclusive game policy among the world's largest console manufacturers.
Sony and Microsoft's actions over the past year are simply following the times. The increasing cost of game development has made the model of only selling games with their own IP on their own consoles no longer profitable. Both companies, despite dominating the console market, have laid off thousands of employees as a cost-cutting measure.
Yesterday, for example, Microsoft canceled the games Perfect Dark and Everwild and closed the development studio. Several other studios under the Xbox banner have also laid off workers as Microsoft is now focusing more on artificial intelligence (AI).