The PlayStation 5 recently received its full unveiling, featuring over two dozen titles headed to the next-generation. It provided the first deep dive into the games targeting Sony's upcoming console, wrapped with our early look at the box itself, ahead of its scheduled holiday launch.
Sony's showing featured both in-house PlayStation Studios titles, coupled with an extensive roster of third-party talent. And despite many locked to PlayStation 5 exclusivity, a handful of unveiled games also targets Microsoft's Xbox Series X console. We've wrapped up every game showcased at the PlayStation 5 unveiling and headed to the next-gen Xbox.
Understanding PS5 'exclusive' vs. 'timed exclusive'
While Sony's PlayStation 5 event flashed the exclusivity tagline across a majority of titles, many games could be headed to Xbox Series X. Projects like Hitman 3, Resident Evil: Village, and Pragmata launch on Xbox Series X simultaneously to PS5, with no disclosed ties to specific platforms.
The remaining titles launch as "timed exclusives," committed to PS5 (and sometimes, PC,) but with an opportunity for exclusivity to expire with time. While timed exclusivity doesn't translate to a definitive Xbox Series X launch, it provides an overview of titles with futures potentially beyond PS5.
- Bugsnax (Timed exclusive)
- Deathloop (Timed exclusive)
- Ghostwire: Tokyo (Timed exclusive)
- Godfall (Timed exclusive)
- Goodbye Volcano High (Timed exclusive)
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Hitman 3
- JETT: The Far Shore (Timed exclusive)
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits (Timed exclusive)
- Little Devil Inside (Timed exclusive)
- NBA 2K21
- Oddworld: Soulstorm (Timed exclusive)
- Pragmata
- Project Athia (Timed exclusive)
- Resident Evil: Village
- Solar Ash (Timed exclusive)
- Stray (Timed exclusive)
Grand Theft Auto V
Rockstar Games' open-world hit once again translates to the next generation in 2021, promising title-wide visual upgrades to leverage the best of upcoming consoles. While specific upgrades remain unclear, the developer promises technical "improvements, visual upgrades, and performance enhancements" per each console's capabilities.
The announcement of Grand Theft Auto V's latest refresh stopped short of naming Xbox Series X, "coming to a new generation of consoles, including PlayStation 5." While keen to highlight its partnership with Sony headed into the PlayStation 5 debut, Xbox Series X also appears on the roadmap. Grand Theft Auto Online will see a free-to-play, standalone release exclusive to PS5 for three months — then assumedly Xbox Series X and PC bound, too.
Hitman 3
The third installment of modern Hitman series drops next January, steering international assassination across six new locales. Agent 47's latest adventures garnered a reputation for their expansive sandboxes brimming with opportunity, and Hitman 3 looks to be no exception. The latest surfaced with a towering new Dubai setting, running in-engine on PlayStation 5, and sprinkled with visual improvements.
For Xbox owners, Hitman 3 launches on Xbox One and Xbox Series X, in tandem with other platforms. Players can also "import" their previously purchased maps from the first two games, condensing the complete trilogy to the single title. While specific visual upgrades remain uncertain, expect its densely populated environments to shine on new hardware.
Pragmata
We're getting severe Hideo Kojima vibes from Pragmata, the surprise unveiling from Capcom at the PS5 event. While details are thin, its mysterious cinematic trailer sees our spacesuit-clad protagonist walking through a desolate city, and uncovering past events. There's also a young girl, cybernetic cat, and space station falling from the sky, making for one trippy opening.
The premise for Pragmata remains vague, with a release scheduled for 2022. But it's headed to Xbox Series X, as well as PlayStation 5 consoles.
Resident Evil 8: Village
The next Resident Evil installment made its debut at the PlayStation 5 showcase, adopting the title Resident Evil Village. The successor to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard continues the story with returning protagonists, Ethan and his wife Mia, and the same first-person perspective to keep encounters personal. Capcom promises the "most realistic and terrifying graphics to date," enabled by next-generation hardware.
Resident Evil Village hits PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC in 2021, but it seemingly won't be coming to existing consoles.
NBA 2K21
NBA 2K21 brings basketball into the next-generation, with a brief in-engine trailer headlined by New Orleans Pelicans' Zion Williamson. While only a small snippet of more to come, the trailer spotlighted improvements to graphical fidelity, through improved character models down to the individual droplets of sweat. 2K also promises drastic loading time gains on next-generation devices, with new features and shakeups to come.
While our NBA 2K21 debut trailer spotlighted PS5, the upcoming installment is, as usual, also expected to branch out to Xbox consoles.
Deathloop
Deathloop makes its "console debut" exclusively on PlayStation 5, suggesting timed exclusivity on Sony's next-generation console. From the studio behind Dishonored and Prey, Deathloop incorporates familiar traits of its predecessors, with shooting, stealth, and supernatural abilities to survive. But its unique twist comes from its time loop, where protagonist Colt looks to escape, and rival assassin Juliana hunts you down — both controllable by real players.
Deathloop isn't coming to Xbox Series X yet, but suggests limited-time exclusivity on PS5 and PC, likely opening up at a later date.
Ghostwire: Tokyo
Like Deathloop, Bethesda appears to have cooked up a limited-time exclusivity deal for its action-adventure thriller, Ghostwire: Tokyo. Following the strange disappearance of the city's population, you'll leverage a variety of supernatural abilities to face evil spirits on the streets. This next-generation exclusive pushes new levels of graphical fidelity and more immersive audio, on the PlayStation 5.
Once again, Ghostwire: Tokyo drops with its "console debut" on PS5, suggesting an Xbox Series X launch could occur at a later date.
Xbox Series X/S
Main
- Xbox Series X: Everything we know
- Best games coming to Xbox Series X/S
- List of Xbox Series X specs
- What is the Xbox Series X release date?
- How much does Xbox Series X cost?
- Why you can't preorder Xbox Series X yet
- Best Xbox Series X Headsets
