What Are the Most Important Games on PlayStation

Analysis of a January 2023 YouGov survey commissioned by Microsoft provides insight into player behavior and brand loyalty within the European console market. Covering 7,640 adult gamers across Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Poland, the data was originally submitted as evidence in the Federal Trade Commission’s legal challenge against the Activision Blizzard acquisition. The findings aim to contextualize the importance of the Call of Duty franchise relative to other major intellectual properties on the PlayStation platform.

The data indicates that Call of Duty is a significant but not singular driver of console adoption. When measuring past diversion—the percentage of players who would have chosen a different console if a specific game were unavailable—FIFA led at 6.4%, followed by Call of Duty and Fortnite at 3.1% each. Other titles such as Assassin’s Creed, Gran Turismo, and Minecraft showed similar influence, ranging from 2.8% to 2.9%. Future diversion intent followed a similar pattern; while 10.5% of PlayStation users claimed they would switch platforms if Call of Duty became unavailable, other titles like Grand Theft Auto and FIFA showed comparable or higher pull.

The research further highlights a substantial gap in brand loyalty between hardware manufacturers. Approximately 74% of PlayStation owners intend to stay with the brand for their next purchase, compared to only 44% of Xbox owners. Furthermore, Xbox users demonstrated higher diversion ratios, suggesting they are more likely than PlayStation users to switch platforms based on the availability of specific games. These findings suggest that Sony has established a level of generational brand ecosystem loyalty that Microsoft currently struggles to replicate, explaining the latter's strategic shift toward multi-platform services and aggressive content acquisition.