In March, Microsoft announced native support for cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10. Part of the announcement was a bit of wording — “other console and PC networks” — that had the gaming community wondering if truly cross-platform gaming, on any platform, was next.
Here’s what execs told GameSpot about the possibility:
“PlayStation has been supporting cross-platform play between PC on several software titles starting with Final Fantasy 11 on PS2 and PC back in 2002. We would be happy to have the conversation with any publishers or developers who are interested in cross-platform play.”
Since then, Sony seems to have had a change of heart or a lack of interest, leading game developers to demand the company make good on its promise to have a conversation about the idea. The developers behind popular games like Rocket League and The Witcher 3 have both called on Sony in recent days to deliver an explanation at what’s keeping the company from allowing truly cross-platform play between consoles and PCs. Sony once seemed open to the idea, but now seems to have abandoned it.
Psynoix president Jeremy Dunham, the studio behind Rocket League, told IGN:
“We’re literally at the point where all we need is the go-ahead on the Sony side,” said Dunham, “and we can, in less than a business day, turn it on and have it up and working no problem. It’d literally take a few hours to propagate throughout the whole world, so really we’re just waiting on the permission to do so.”
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Other developers have shared his sentiment that the tech is ready on their end but requires cooperation from Sony.
In fairness, Sony doesn’t have a lot of motive to open up the platform. While beneficial to the gaming community, it does little to increase sales for the PS4 at this point, and with a refresh coming out this fall it seems our best chance for seeing the feature come to fruition would be closer to the launch date of the NEO on October 13 (rumored).
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