The arrival of multiplayer hits such as Fortnite and Paladins has proved fans are really open to the idea of playing with other users, regardless of whether they're on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One or any other platform. However, Sony continues to be the one wrinkle in the plan, with everything from Minecraft (which took shots of its own on the matter) to Epic Games' battle royale hit affected by the firm's unwillingness to share the same servers as players on other platforms.
A reporter from Eurogamer put that question to Shawn Layden, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America and chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios at the Gamelab conference in Spain today, and his response, while typically vague, does at least present a glimmer of hope for the future of playing with PS4 players on your Switch:
"We're hearing it. We're looking at a lot of the possibilities. You can imagine that the circumstances around that affect a lot more than just one game. I'm confident we'll get to a solution which will be understood and accepted by our gaming community, while at the same time supporting our business."
So what do you make of Layden's response? A hint of a U-turn on this matter or is it unlikely to ever become a reality? Share your thoughts below....
[source eurogamer.net]
Comments 94
Who cares about sony! Pc xbox and swith unite!!!
There's only 1 proper response.
Do Crossplay because it's consumer friendly, not doing it will make you look like a fool.
Stop locking accounts first! THEN address crossplay you [removed]!
Hmm, I don't expect much really.
@GrailUK Yeah. For some reason, the account locking is getting lumped in with the cross-play issue, but one is clearly a lot more concerning than the other.
Lol guess Sony is still mad about the middle 90s with Nintendo over nintendo not wanting Sony to own their ips. So Nintendo backed out of the deal.lol
" Sony "Looking At A Lot Of The Possibilities" "
Why are you looking at a lot of possibilities? Just stop holding people hostage to your console and let us have crossplay!
But why should Sony care about listening to people about cross play? They're the market leader; thus, they can do whatever they want. Because, you know, console wars
/s
I'm honestly not to bothered by cross play, the 3rd party account locking is what I take issue with however. Should be no reason for that!
I personally have an Xbox, switch, and gaming pc, and I'm happy I don't have the account problem. But my friend does have a ps4 on which he plays fortnite. Because of this, he said he would never buy a PlayStation again
You know, I had grown to like Shaun Layden in his post-puffed-out-chest "Best Place to Play" days, but these days he's out-Reggieing Reggie. They might as well swap companies, they sound like echoes of each other.
But yeah I can understand not wanting Crossplay (and MS and Ninty would have the same position were they in the lead), but the locking is really gross (and arguably illegal?) Still being the only one without crossplay is going to start being a problem for Sony moving into the next gen. Tough spot for them. Do they leverage their dominance to keep a captive audience like Apple does but risk turning customers away from the closed platform, or do they join the fray to not be disadvantaged by staying closed, but arguably ceeding the migration of their base to other platforms by doing so? It feels like a lose-lose for Sony. The price of being #1 I guess, the only place to go is down.
All he actually said was: "BlahBlahBlah"
This is very disingenuous, because it would be extremely easy to allow cross play, as it's already been done "accidentally" in one of these games. If they really wanted it to happen, it would be done. Doesn't help that they're also trying to lock down third party accounts that used their system, which is slimy as hell.
They're being extremely shortsighted, and I think it's going to come back to bite them in the next gen console. At this point, if I get a second console now, or in the next gen, it'll be an X-box.
What I understand: "We don't care about the players. We only want to make more money. The PS4 dominates the console market so we do whatever the F we want."
Sony can go and be in their own little happy corner as much as they want, but they shouldn't be locking accounts to the PS4.
And I don't care if they are "looking into it" we need action, not these fake words to attempt to put a bandage over the situation.
@Rhaoulos You think Microsoft and Nintendo are doing it because they care about the players?
Sony will cave in time. Imagine what people could accomplish if they stood like this against paying to play online.
There's not much to "look into" for locking accounts. The account is part of Epic's property, and is in Epic's control. It's obviously a contract binding Epic to lock the account if it's ever touched Sony, not a technological restriction. Dissolve the contract, solve the problem. It takes their elite team of 500 lawyers all of 20 minutes.
@Crono1973, but Reggie said they want to be "fan-forward". I mean what sounds like genuinely caring about the players more than expressing your desire to be "fan-foward"? Clearly they want to move the needle on seeing addressable actionables to improve their favorable outcome ratio! What shows customer enthusiasm more than that?
@Djgoa The funny thing is I would find this interesting if the next Xbox would take the crossplatform support philosophy to the extreme of basically being a -literal- gaming PC console.
And by this I mean not just by supporting crossplatform multiplayer with PC, but literally by supporting PC games themselves and thus selling "xbox" games... that would also run on someone's Windows 10 PC should they want it. And the console could still have the appeal thanks to being set hardware that would be easy to access as basically "powerful entry level PC gaming" you could simply plug in your PC without worrying about graphic cards too much/etc.
Combined with continued chumminess with Nintendo on crossplatform stuff, this could hurt not just Sony but also the incredibly complacent Steam platform who may well see users start to migrate to the new console/games/services/etc simply due to finally having a solid alternative to Steam…. and one backed by retail stores that could thus sell games they could physically own again.
It could be a sneaky way of putting themselves on the map again.
@NEStalgia Reggie wants to be 'bank-forward' as well.
@Crono1973 Reggie was born bank-forward.
@Ludovsky I think MS is already largely working on that to a degree. Not the retail aspect, due to PC piracy, discs on PC remain problematic though I wouldn't doubt the ORIGINAL XBone DRM system was being designed with that in mind. Still the Play Anywhere for MS Game Studios games through the MS Store hints at that future a little.
Sony is the dog at the top of the heap currently, I’m sure they see no reason to lift a paw
@NinChocolate currently, but if they keep up with shenanigans like this, they won't be.
I'm done with PlayStation after this gen. My fiance has a PS4 so I can still keep my library and play games on that one, but I'm selling mine and will only ever buy first party games on her PlayStation.
Nintendo and Xbox from here on out.
That’s probably just PR talk.
@GrailUK Mind your language!
@Octane Erm...it's actually in the Cambridge dictionary as an unpleasant person. Didn't think it was that offensive.
I thought it was as easy as flicking a switch, at least going by developers comments from the past.
@GrailUK Well.. it kinda is.
@Slim1999 I don't think Sony are too mad about the 90's and Nintendo. Didn't you see how well the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 sold?
@Spudworthy So according to your logic Sony its the worst for not allowing cross play but Microsoft charging you to play your favorite game which is Free to play and Nintendo charging for backup saves are the best companies that only cares for the players and you think like @Rhaoulos that they don't care about making money, Microsoft and Nintendo are doing cross play because they are doing it for reputation and clean their image by making PlayStation look bad
@Spudworthy Did you say the same about Xbox when Sony were trying to get MS to do crossplay last gen and they declined?
Yeah people need to stop conflating cross progression and cross play. One is actually far more important than the other.
ponders what term @GrailUK might have used to invoke censure, resigns self to fact it will remain a mystery for all time
@Octane I always thought it just meant 'a smarmy fellow' lol. Insincere. Of course I'm sorry if it's more colourful than that...and now I am compelled to go educate myself about the word hahaha
"same time supporting our business"
Only reason Nintendo, Microsoft or SONY do anything. Why you never put all your eggs with any of them.
I rather they focus on Universal Accounts... not cross play. All this helps Microsoft more than Nintendo anyway.
cross play is cool if you have friends on different consoles, for me what Paladins is doing doesnt count as cross play because you cant create parties with xbox users its just random mix of Xbox and Switch
Unless I am not seeing something
@G-Boy Yeah... Let's not go there.
@Agramonte agreed its more about needing Universal Accounts , if cross play just means the lobbies are filled with all platforms but oyu can only friend people on the same console is you its all pointless IMO
@ValhallaOutcast Exactly... you can only invite people who are on Switch in Paladin. So what is the point? The boards are full in PS4 and PC. I don't need more random players.
Also, I am not starting over and loosing all my stuff just to play Rocket League on Switch. How is that any different? Just let me log on with my PC account on Switch.
@G-Boy Ah. I see. 😉
@Crono1973 what people would accomplish is they’d keep companies on worse servers where they’d face more lag, crashing, and other problems. Online fees suck but they allow companies to afford better servers, which is why Nintendo has always been behind the others in the quality of their online games. $20 a year is hardly anything, if it gets us better servers and more features then sure, it’s hardly as bad as PS Plus or Xbox Live.
Sony still needs to do the following before I will consider another of their products:
@ShadJV Nintendo will still be behind.
What beautiful PR talking. Let me translate: clears throat we’re currently looking into how to distract our consumers from this issue. This benefits our business and we would like to avoid any sort of compromise. Please keep buying our stuff.
I think when everyone was locked into playing exclusively on their specific platform, it was fine for Sony. But this seems like it’ll bite them in the arse if they don’t join in while Switch, pc and Xbox play together. However, I do think it’s kinda funny where some people say they’ll never buy another PlayStation or Sony product over this issue. IMO Sony has the games I want to play most, so I don’t mind using a new email address just to play Fortnite on Switch— but that’s because I play it for the gameplay, not to show off skins I’ve earned.
@Kimyonaakuma
The possibilities he probably alludes to, are all about finding how much each decision will affect their profits down the line.
All purchases done through Fortnite on the PS4 gets Sony a % of the sale, as with anything else on PSN. This means BIG MONEY for them, and they don't want people using in-game purchases made on other consoles to benefit from those on PS4. This is about money, nothing else.
If Sony feel that all the bad press might affect their image enough, and make a lot of people move away to other platforms in the future (thus affecting their bottom line), they'll probably flip the software switch allowing cross-platform play.
They're only evaluating what's more profitable for THEM. They don't care about the players.
@Crono1973 perhaps. MS and Sony have such a lead on Nintendo, I don’t see them catching up instantly (if they even do). MS and Sony have been continually upgrading their online infrastructure thanks to all the money they make from it. Nintendo has struggled just to maintain their shoddy online infrastructure with the money from their game sales which they also needed to use for game development (as they handle more first party games than their competitors) and hardware R&D. This has resulted in a stagnation of their servers.
And, as per usual, the admins of Push Square are defending Sony for this trash because they are the market leader and have "no incentive" to do cross-play.
Who cares if Sony is the market leader? Why are we defending anti-consumerism? People always say that Microsoft and Nintendo would do the same if they were in the lead but why does that suddenly excuse Sony?
I guess the image of you favorite company is more important than what is best for consumers to some people. Somehow.
No. No it doesn't have to effect more than one game. You can unlock the Fortnite accounts and be done if you have to. But holding gamer's progress and purchases hostage because you're arrogant, butthurt douche hammers? Not ok.
@datamonkey I didn't care about cross play because last gen I and all of my friends played on Xbox 360's anyway. I was also a young teenager and didn't really think about this kind of stuff much.
@GKO900 PlayStation charges for backup saves, and PSN is inferior to Xbox Live.
@ShadJV @Crono1973 In a way paid online could make Nintendo's servers more vulnerable. While XBL and PSN are better online services than Nintendo Network in terms of overall quality, Nintendo Network never had a major PSN 2011 type mess.
@Beedrill4Smash That's the console wars in a nutshell: Consumers get so caught up in their "teams" that they forget that these are companies. Sure most of them aren't out to rob you blind (if you don't come back they can't get more money from you) but they are in the business of making money. But aside from owning product, gamers act like stock holders or something. Makes no sense. I think if sony wants to omit cross play that is fine so long as they advertise that so consumers are informed. However the account lock down needs to stop. These aren't sony accounts after all. (does anybody know if they lock down accounts for TESO? I started on ps4, quit but I'm thinking about getting into the PC version)
I'm not going to get into arguments with people defending this CLEARLY anti-consumer move by Sony lol, it always amazes me how Sony fanboys foam at the mouth to defend everything they do even when it doesn't benefit them. I like PlayStation exclusives, but that's all I think having a PlayStation is going to be good for going forward. PSN is inferior to Xbox Live and more prone to hackers, the Xbox One X is currently the best place to play multiplatform and online games on console this gen, and they're focusing more on first party. I'm not going to keep defending Sony just because I really liked Bloodborne.
Be mad all you want at the end of the day it's a business decision just like it was a business decision when Microsoft blocked crossplay for being the the market leader in the 360 days
@Spudworthy What are you talking about you can back up your saves for free on a HDD. Stop spouting nonsense and fanboyisms
Not locking accounts would be a start.
I for one hope Sony doesn`t change a thing... That way I`ll be happy to buy an Xbox to go alongside my sweet sweet Switch!
@Grumblevolcano which is due to a larger install base. Hackers can compromise ANYTHING. Nintendo has been ignored because the install bases weren’t as high, they want as much sensitive information as possible. That’s not due to paid online. That risk raises if Nintendo gets a comparable user base as their competitors.
@ShadJV Subscriptions increase the amount of sensitive information because more people choose to leave their card details attached to their account because of auto renewal.
@Spudworthy Just like @canucksfan989 said those are cloud saves which is an alternative option for backup saves obviously since it's cloud base it's not free but unlike Nintendo you can transfer your saves to an USB instead of locking your saves to the system and forcing you to rely on cloud saves and how is Xbox live better by forcing people to pay for it in order to play f2p games not only that but apparently you didn't care for cross play before back when Xbox was the in top of PS3 and everyone had an Xbox but now you suddenly care and just like you were back then maybe there are a lot of people that has a PS4 and there friends too so probably a lot of people don't even care about cross play just like you didn't care besides why you cared so much now and didn't before
@GKO900 Because I was a teenager and I didn't look at things objectively, like you aren't doing now. Back then if PlayStation was doing cross play with Nintendo but Xbox didn't want to play ball, I probably would have thought it was stupid too. I didn't really follow gaming news or anything like that and didn't know Xbox refused to do cross play with PlayStation. They should have. That doesn't make this right, though. Are we going to keep justifying anti-consumerism with more anti-consumerism? At that point you aren't even acknowledging a problem, you're just defending your company of choice. Microsoft has been rerouting their ship and working on being a better service for their consumers. What is Sony doing? Is your only argument here that Sony is completely okay and not wrong for doing this because of what happened last gen? If you really want to bring up last gen, we can bring up how my mom's credit card information was at risk when PSN got hacked and was down for almost a month.
Unless if they can work out a way for Epic to merge accounts, it's too late for a lot of us. I'd love to bring my limited edition skins from my old Sony account over to the Nintendo one, but as is even if cross-play is added my old Sony account will be the one I abandon. Shame you can't trade. Really seems like you should be able to, this'd work great if it had a system like TF2.
@ShadJV LOL, NIntendo isn't poor. If they cared about upgrading their servers they would have done it long ago and without charging a fee. Make no mistake that Nintendo is charging a fee because gamers have shown them that they will pay it and it's as simple as that.
If you truly believe that the larger the fee, the better the service then Steam's online multiplayer must truly suck.
In other words, ”We know about the ʃɪtstorm, but we need to choose the option that makes us the most money, and we hope that we’ll find more ways to get even more cash. Everybody will forget about this soon, and our fanbase is so big and loyal, so it will all work out, haha!”
@Spudworthy Don't think I'm a fanboy unlike some people here that defend their company but I just don't see how not allowing cross play it's the worst anti consumer thing they are a company just like Nintendo and Microsoft and every company has one goal to make money there no such thing as a friendly company in this case PS4 is the leader by a large margin so why would they share there install base with others when Microsoft didn't when they were the lead by a small margin last gen
Lol PR bull crap
So...Nintendo and Microsoft allow cosplay without a problem, but Sony is looking at possibilities...? lol Ok, Sony. This is anti-consumer, plain and simple. You can argue that Sony's the market leader and no will care, but thats a REALLY bad mindset to have because you're giving Sony a free pass on anti-consumer practices.
What would stop Sony from doing even worse stuff if they know people will defend/support it since their the "market leader" ?
"You can imagine that the circumstances around that affect a lot more than just one game."
Yeah, no sh**, Sherlock...
@GKO900 Because it isn't going to impact sales, and if it is, Sony should be offering more on their platform. For instance, say someone liked PlayStation more than Xbox for their exclusives, but bought an Xbox anyway because that's what their friends are on. With cross play, that person could still get a PlayStation and play with their friends. If anything this might improve console sales for them.
This is anti consumer and as someone who only gets an Xbox or PlayStation each gen for their online box, Sony is making this a much easier decision for me next gen. Xbox Live is a better online service, better servers, more secure, etc. Now they're allowing cross play. The two, maybe three exclusive games I care about each gen on PlayStation aren't enough to choose them next gen, especially when they seem to be focusing on The Last of Us cinematic movie game I.P.
@Varkster
"I didn't know anyone could defend Sony locking accounts to their system.
Are you people for real?"
Some people are pro-big corporation and anti-consumer. Its strange given that they are consumers themselves but maybe turkeys really do vote for Christmas.
Sony sucks.
I love PlayStation.
I love games
You could just turn it on......or just not turn it on so people can instead invest into an Xbox, PC, or Switch, the longer this continues. Your choice, Sony.
Looking into how much they can charge for a crossplay sub perhaps...
@Blister What did @G-Boy say?! Please I am curious now.
@Rhaoulos Basically
https://bgr.com/2018/06/19/fortnite-cross-play-ps4-sony-money/
@Spudworthy I love your example that just mean that Xbox in your example did something good to make people buy the console so everyone bought an Xbox console now do you really believe they would allow cross play and let the competition get part of that console sale you gottta remember this the same anti consumer company from E3 2013
@Rika_Yoshitake Agreed. I highly doubt that cross play will harm PlayStation in the slightest but all this negative feedback is starting to look bad.
Sony is my second favorite platform, I wish they weren't being such... inappropriate word about cross-platform play. People aren't gonna not-buy a console because some games on that device are also on another device.
People decide what they want based on the things that make a console different, not similar. If a game is already on all 3 platforms, and runs fine on all 3, that game is not going to be a factor in choosing which of the 3 you buy. They will look at what makes the device different, Switch's hybrid nature, Sony's VR, Xbone's... lack. The points are the things that make the different are what people think of and lack of crossplay is a negative, not a positive when it comes to games on all platforms.
However, if someone sees that that same game can play together with players on either of 2 of the 3 platforms - that is more likely to push people away from the one that doesn't allow it.
Dont look at it, just enable it you damn fools.
@GKO900
I do remember E3 2013, which is exactly why I went with the PS4 this gen. However Microsoft seems to be trying to make amends and they've turned around on every anti consumer decision they made in 2013. I just can't see a scenario here where Sony wouldn't benefit from cross play. They could use it as a selling point and generate good PR, and look good in the eyes of their consumers. I'm trying to look at this objectively, man. I don't hate Sony. I actually love my PS4, I've played some excellent exclusives on it. Cross play is going to be the future, though. More and more online games have it, and I really do believe Sony is going to negatively impact their business if they don't do cross play.
@electrolite77 Well, whatever the case, they sure as hell are gobbling up all the corporate bull speak like it was the next best thing since sliced bread...
Sony, make it better by allowing cross play. Then make amends with Nintendo and team up with them to make The Legend of Ellie: A Link to the Past of Us.
I am not so much concerned with crossplay. I am frustrated that they are looking YOUR EPIC account!!! Not Sony account EPIC account. That is BS. If I want to play with friends that play on PS4 I play on PS4. But to not be able to have my progress swap over is annoying. I'm not going to say next gen I will get an Xbox because we'll, I will not. PlayStation has the games that I like so I will be getting the next one. Hopefully by then they have their heads on right.
I used to be a sony fan. But when the switch arrived, i lost interest in playstation. Now its Switch and PC all of the games i like on PS and XBOX are on steam (PC)
@Voldemort807 I was trying to solve a mystery earlier. @G-Boy ingeniously cleared it up. This luggage sales company could do the same for you: https://tinyurl.com/y7uqdwcr
@datamonkey At that time Sony was recovering from the biggest hacking scandal in history. So it was no surprise at that time that Microsoft kept their XBLive network locked down from the outside world.
They didn't do crossplay at all! Not even with their own PC platform.
When it comes to Sony, they allow cross-play with platforms they don't perceive as a threat. Like PC and Mobile.
They just lock it down from Xbox and Nintendo.
@GKO900
The funny thing is when the PS4 and Xbox One were first shown Sony had the exact same plans as Microsoft with DRM and a required camera. When they saw the backlash against the Xbox One they quickly changed their plans, ending up at E3 where they ditched the PS Eye at the last moment to allow for a lower price point (hence the pointless dualshock light bar). It won them the gen before a single console even hit the shelves. They wasn't being consumer friendly though, they were just scrambling to appear different and spouting buzz words that people were eating up.
The power is with the video game developers, they could withhold games from the Playstation until they get the green light for cross-play. This affects their bottom line, though. Still, I don't think it will be long before we see games not appearing on Playstation for that reason, just like we don't see games come to Switch because it doesn't have features (power/graphics usually) that other consoles have.
All of my friends have PS4's & none of us play Fortnite. So I could care less about this. Now trying to convince my friends that the Switch is worth it is another thing... I finally wiped the dust off of my Switch for Mario Tennis and have been kinda disappointed with it's short comings (weak single player, forced split screen, lack of options)
@URAmk2 That doesn't make it okay just because YOU don't care.
That face though...
@NEStalgia That could be pretty interesting. But yeah, solidifying PC as one of "their" platforms again through crossplatform multiplayer/support might be interesting.
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