At Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference, they announced that Minecraft was getting cross-platform play across all systems, but PlayStation 4 wasn’t on the list of participating systems. Then, earlier today, it was revealed that the new Nintendo Switch version of Rocket League will have cross-play with Xbox One and PC, but not PS4.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe President Jim Ryan was asked what’s going on with the lack of cross-platform support between PlayStation and other consoles.
He replied:
It’s certainly not a profound philosophical stance we have against this. We’ve done it in the past. We’re always open to conversations with any developer or publisher who wants to talk about it. Unfortunately it’s a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders, and I’m not going to get into the detail of that on this particular instance.
When Eurogamer brought up how PS4 owners are upset about the lack of cross-play, and the lack of an explanation, Ryan said:
We’ve got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft – the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it’s all ages but it’s also very young. We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.
While Ryan didn’t say that the door is completely closed for cross-play between PS4 and Xbox One/Switch, he did say, “… to my knowledge, there is no live conversation ongoing at the moment.”
What do you think of Sony’s explanation?
[Source: Eurogamer, Rocket League, Wario64]
