Sony might have permitted cross-platform online play – or cross-play – in a select few major games, but don’t get your hopes up that the PS4 maker has opened those gates to everyone, Kotaku reports.
That’s what independent developers of two key new games are saying in response to a recent Game Informer interview with Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden, in which Layden claims the company is “open for business” on cross-play.
“We made many requests for crossplay (both through our account manager and directly with higher ups) all the way up until release month,” Finn Brice, CEO of Wargroove developer Chucklefish wrote on the ResetEra forum. “We were told in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen.”
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Likewise, Stewart Chisam, CEO of Paladins developer Hi-Rez Studios, tweeted before the release of the Game Informer interview, “It’s time to stop playing favorites and tear down the crossplay/progression wall for everyone. We have Smite, Paladins, Realm Royale ready to go when you are.”
Sony has yet to comment on these developers’ claims.
A Sony at odds with itself
Sony has permitted cross-play for just two games, Fortnite last year and Rocket League a month ago. However, the Sony boss claims that getting cross-play to work with your game is as simple as asking for it, yet at least two developers publicly disagree.
So, which is it?
That much is currently unknown, but at the very least this story hints at Sony’s reticence to the whole concept of cross-play. If you ask former Sony Entertainment Online boss John Smedley, the reason for this comes down to Sony trying to control the flow of money toward its console.
“When I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money,” Smedley wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “They didn't like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a PlayStation.”
Will Sony truly open up the gates to PS4 cross-play, or will it continue to be a difficult conversation for developers? Considering that, at this point, the only ones truly hurt by the lack of cross-play are the gamers, we’re holding out hope for the former.
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