The onset of console cross-platform play for the PlayStation 4 has been a process, if it can even be said to exist in a meaningful capacity yet at all. Only two games feature console cross-play outside of Japan, Fortnite and Rocket League, both working across PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. And so PS4 owners are left questioning whether cross-play will grow any further, if Sony's only willing to approve cross-play for games popular enough to have leverage. Shawn Layden, chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, has an answer. Cross-play on PS4 is officially "open for business."
Layden, speaking with Game Informer, offered the most progressive response to cross-play that Sony has had as of yet. Up to this point, cross-play on the PS4 has been considered a feature in a beta state, with its future unclear. Yet Layden says that Sony is on the same page as its players:
"... I think we learned, from the feedback from our fans, that it was important. And it wasn’t just important to a vocal minority."... "Even the fans who weren’t personally going to participate in a cross-play activity across different hardware pieces, just felt that it was kind of tone-deaf of PlayStation. We’ve tried to be so good certainly over the last four or five years to be in tune with our fans and to listen to what they want and try to be a friends of the gamer. We looked at that approach. This… this is just not friendly."
Layden goes on the claim that Sony was faster to come to this conclusion than many online assume, but that, "it's not just like flipping a switch." Sony has been thoroughly evaluating the ramifications of cross-play, cross-purchase, cross-progress, and how they affect scalability and security. Fortnite, Layden says, has reached that level of confidence, while Rocket League is still in progress despite being fully cross-play enabled already.
Everything Layden is saying up to this point is certain to be welcome news to Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One players alike. But the lingering question is why, if Sony is truly moving forward on cross-play, only Fortnite and Rocket League support it. Surely if Sony is fine approving cross-play, other games would have taken advantage of the feature by now. Layden's explanation doesn't necessarily clarify the situation:
"People keep saying, “Why doesn’t Sony allow more people to have it?” We’re open for business on this one. All it takes is for publishers and developers who wish to permission it. As ever, just work with your PlayStation account manager, and they will walk you through the steps that we’ve learned through our partnership with Epic on how this works. I don’t believe right now there is any gating factor on that. I think they’re open to make proposals, because the Fortnite thing worked pretty well."
The situation is, according to Layden, that Sony is "open for business" on cross-play and has no "gating factor" to prevent developers from implementing it in their own games. Developers just have to work with their PlayStation account managers to make it happen.
But something still doesn't seem right about what Layden's saying. If what he's said is correct, that means that the reason that console cross-play isn't widespread on PS4 yet is that game developers aren't pursuing it like how Epic Games and Psyonix have. That seems difficult to believe, considering the very public stances of developers including War Thunder's Gaijin Entertainment and Smite and Paladins creator Hi-Rez Studios. Either these studios aren't being truthful about pursuing cross-play on PS4 or Layden's not being truthful about existing "gating factors."
Given the circumstances, it's easier to believe the developers whose businesses could benefit significantly by implementing cross-play rather than Sony, who has up to this point been one of cross-play's most vocal opponents. Luckily for Sony, it's a relatively simple thing to correct in the public's eyes. Just fast-track a few more cross-play games on PS4 and the truth will be self-evident.
Source: Game Informer