Guide: Why Doesn't Sony Allow Cross-Play on PS4?

Just open it to switch and people will be satisfied. The HUGE uproar started with Switch cross play.

Would'ave been pretty great if papa Sony could'ave warned us about our Epic account getting locked.

"Sony has built the largest online gaming network in the world on the PS4" this simply isn't true. Sony has the largest install base but it hasn't build the largest network.

This is a bad move for consumers, there's no working around it. I don't care for corporate politics, I'm a normal user and I don't like this. One of few missteps Sony has made this generation.

@NinjaWaddleDee I think Sony also would not want to open up to Switch Cross-console play because the Switch almost always handily whups Sony's @$$ in console sales in its home market. They wouldn't want to concede even more sales to the Switch in a predominantly mobile-loving market like Japan.

I'll happily let them keep the block on cross-play, I can understand the business reasons for that, even if it is a PITA for many gamers. But blocking users from using the same account on different platforms is not helping Sony in the slightest and is a blatant abuse of power. They need to back down on this.

One slight gripe against Epic: they should have made it VERY clear when linking your account to a PSN ID what effect this would have. I think a lot of people would not have done so had they known.

It made sense for Minecraft - I don't think people on PS4 should need to have an Xbox Live account - but I'm nto sure about Rocket League and Fortnite.

If Sony is smart though they'll turn these lemons into lemonade. When they announce PS5 say it will have cross-play with Switch. Having cross-play with Switch - which really will just be a handheld once PS5 and X2X4 launches - almost lets Switch replace the Vita and Sony won't need to build a new handheld. Win-win.

@NecuVise And this is why monopolies are bad. This is why the "ideal" one console world is bad.

Because then you get crap like this.

We are teetering so close to the end of the PS2 era Sony again that I honestly want to see the price of the PS5.

@get2sammyb Careful, they may say you should work two jobs for their next box.

This is why having such a lead on the competition is a bad thing. Not for you, you dont care. Sun shines out of your console. But they are muscling in on everyone else now in ways that they really shouldn't. At what point do you say it's enough?

And I honestly dont want that to happen because low and behold, I love my PS4. But it has problems that are becoming harder and harder to ignore and as time goes on and Sony sticks to this path with no sign of stopping I look at the PS5 as the WORST place to play.

Why would I buy a PS5 if I cant play with my friends who have other systems, or my squads on PC? Why would I play a game on PS4 when it runs better on Xbox One X or my gaming PC, or portably on my Switch? What benefit is there to the PS4 now?

There are the exclusives that I love, like the Kingdom Hearts collections I am currently pouring hours into every week live on the internet, but if I want to play a smaller game? Its not on PS4. A big third party game? PC. A multiplayer game? Sure as hell not on PS4 now.

This will impact my decision on buying a PS5. I will get one eventually as an exclusives box, obviously, but for every other game? I have better, more open, more accessible places to play.

Summed up the situation nicely. Also glad that you guys brought up Exclusives too.

Are Exclusives Anti-Consumer? Shouldn’t MS/Sony/Nintendo just be happy we’re giving them money & worry less about where we play them?

I really don’t understand why there’s such an uproar over this.
It’s a business decision.

My question is why is this issue just coming up now after the switch announcement?

Xbox has fortnight and surely people must have been able to discover this same issue... so why is it A huge deal now?

Glad you guys wrote a reasonable article that shows both sides of the argument.

Unlike the guys at NintendoLife...

While Fortnite is the most trending game now, but it can change in the future with the appearance of a new trend.
The games that could change Sony's mind about cross-platform are FIFA or Call of Duty. If Activision or EA decided they want everybody to play with everybody no matter the platform, that would be big.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Yeah, the exclusive games are a nice comparison.

Can't wait to play the next Crackdown on PS4, and Metroid Prime 4 on PC

@Octane Dont forget about the Super Mario Odyssey port for Vita that surely must be in the works by now.

There are 15million Vita’s that have never got a Mario game from Nintendo. How Anti-Consumer is that?!

/s

No cross play is a bummer, I get that. But I didn’t think the criticism would be this big for it.

@get2sammyb If you hate me that much bring out the ban hammer. Evidently you want to.

Then again having genuine grievances with a system is valid, while I accept your opinion of the situation, you don't accept mine?

If the floodgates (as mentioned) were to open, would it give the software houses a license to really push a service driven model and change the financial dynamic on console?... Would that power shift be a good thing?

I guess only time will tell..

I'm not sure how i feel about the whole situation, as on one hand it plainly see's players losing out in certain ways, but at the same time, I can see why Sony would want to protect its business in such a way..

Unfortunately loosely cobbled statements that dont directly address the situation, dont help, but then thats how big business rolls.. At this juncture, the massive install base is unlikely to jump ship, but they do need to be a litle careful in the future.

@get2sammyb well, when you say that someone has built a largest network it implies they have actually invested and BUILT something, like having so many servers etc and this is not true is Sony's case. As I said, they may have the largest install base but they haven't built largest infrastructure, not even close.
We don't play games on their servers, we play games on Epic's servers, or Activision etc, so there's really no reason to block this, especially in games like Fortnite where you use external account to connect to your friends. Can't believe how blindly can someone follow a company to let them make anticonsumer moves and to approve it.

Also, comparing exclusives to this is like comparing apples to oranges. It's not comparable at all. Don't make these weak arguments.

I'm just afraid that they're going back to the beginning PS3 cocky Sony and are going to lose support from both consumers and developers come the PS5.

This has always been the point of closed systems, surely? It's actually something that would benefit Microsoft disproportionately more than it would Sony.

Either way, Sony allow PS4 users to play with those on the PC and smartphone. It is surely not unreasonable to assume that between PS4, PC and smartphone we are talking an overwhelming majority of Fortnite players who are able to play with each other.

It's odd, but not unsurprising how this is being hysterically painted in some corners of the internet, as though Sony are Exxon or BP or Lehman Brothers. Or, dare I say it - Microsoft. There are many companies with very real anti-consumer practices who openly flout consumer law. When it comes to the issue of cross-console play, Sony isn't one of them.

In terms of not allowing PS4 users to use their associated Epic account on the Switch of Xbox One, that is certainly worthy of more criticism, but I would hazard a guess that we do not know the full story here.

@adf86 Console agnostic, yup.

PS4, PC Switch and (Soon to be retired) 3DS here. Just dug my third PS2 out of the loft too It still works to my surprise.

And I dont mind if "hardly anyone" visits my site or not. That's not a metric of success for me. For me, my site is not for my commercial gain or notoriety, I dont even run ads for crying out loud.

I bought the domain to act as both a writing portfolio, and a hub. There are links to my self-run gaming community, live streams, community nights, social media, other media projects and more. As someone who is actively seeking work, a portfolio of expanding experience in media is very beneficial in my field.

That is why I have a site. As a very popular YouTuber once told me, stop sitting around and have a prosperous 2018. That's what I'm doing. Therefore my metric of "Success" is simply enjoying myself, growing, and proving I can do things.

If any company does something stupid, I will grab them with both hands, by the nuts, and squeeze. In this moment, that is Sony. In my next write up, it'll be Nintendo for having the worst E3 I have seen in a long time. Maybe EA for dragging a mobile game on stage too, I'm torn on that one. On one hand its a huge part of the industry but on the other it's not really the time or place to show that title.

@get2sammyb That's fair. I shall refrain from fearing for the future as some users not so politely say it bugs them.

At the end of the day at least you tag me and say you have an issue you know? Common courtesy. Speak up, and you find I listen.

My issue with cross console play would be if a game say like Destiny or Battlefield had that exclusive content BS, all games across all platforms should have content that FPS give out to all. But content say for a single player game like GTA 4 did I am not bothered about unless it actually added to the story single player experience. I get why Sony are doing this but was really made this worse is you can't use your account off PSN on Switch etc, what makes me laugh is Sony wanted this on PS3 yet MS didn't and they didn't get as much backlash as this

Can't we all play nice here?

Thanks for the analysis.
I do wonder about the comparison with exclusive titles though. In those cases Sony is developing or funding a product. In this case Sony is strong-arming a developer into compliance. I think that's a little different.
Also (as some people have mentioned above) I think it would be worth mentioning account-locking in the article. That seems to be what is drawing most of the criticism. The cross-play is issue is important - but I think it's a distraction from what Sony being accused of here.

The Epic account stuff is obviously a scummy move from Sony, and I wouldn't be stupid enough to defend them on it, but I can see why from a pure cold business point they'd be willing to take such a position. That being said, they are holding back the industry. Need to show that they have faith in their product.

It is anti consumer but then again, I don’t think you can praise Sony for first party support and investing in good content then get annoyed that they then act like a first party and keep things dedicated to their eco system.

To be honest the issue is that no one realised a PS4 account prohibited using it on Switch. I see that as an Epic issue but never mind.

Of course, this is a dangerous time for Sony. Next gen is around the corner and MS are going to fight hard. This sort of publicity can impact perception.

good & that is why I would not do it if I owned Playstation how Xbox changes its tune when they are losing

@BowTiesAreCool Holding back the industry lol

The Exclusive Games argument doesn't fully work.
Those are, most of the time, first party games.
This is a 3rd party game and as such, Sony, who isn't even the account holder, is restricting access to consumer money spent with the 3rd party from accessing that spent cash on the 3rd party elsewhere. That is what I see as the problem, not no cross plans or any thing else.

I just think its better if everyone plays together.

But money rules.

The biggest problem with Fortnite is that the users actively cannot use their accounts - which are not Sony owned - to play on another console when the set precedent so far was that the account basically transferred. Seeing as I'm not techy enough to know the specifics of it though, I'll refrain from saying more on that. One thing I'm 100% sure about though is that it's a Sony problem, as from a business position Epic would have let people know the account would be locked to PS4 to prevent backlash, so the most likely conclusion is that Sony implemented that on their own.

I believe from a consumer, PR, and logical standpoint: Sony should allow cross-console play. This late in the generation, people already know what games they want to play, on what console, and whet they won't be able to play by choosing another console. PS4 is already in the lead, and this kind of negative press only hurts the Sony and eventually sales of the PS5.

Let's not forget that Sony's whole campaign platform for PS4 was that it was geared to what the players want, and they won't be able to use that line for next gen at this rate. They got very cocky when the PS2 did so well and then the PS3 started so poorly they had to give a public apology. I hope that the launch of PS5 isn't so wrought with their PS3 mindset.

This'll end in one of two ways

With Sony will quietly allow cross console play just to get everyone to shut up about it.

Or they'll just let the controversy fizzle out and keep it moving as always.

Will Sony be stopping us from having an Xbox Live account or Nintendo Network ID on the same email we use on PS4 next? Not having cross-play is fine by me though as it keeps the playing field level.

@Knuckles-Fajita You love those big Exclusive titels dont you what funds that you think? Microsoft maybe the guys who said singleplayer is dead all games will be services. Phil is a great rat thats for sure decline first now act like the victim. Declined with Final Fantasy 14 on the PS4 now their behind and their dissapointed on Sony's stand what a joke. Well at least they pulled the wool over your eyes. 😁 😃 😂 🤣

@SlimDrizzyLamar Sony got ps1 backward compability for ps2, no body cares, got ps1 and ps2 bc for ps3, nobody cares either.
Microsoft got xbox 360 bc for xbox1, every news site is reporting and applauding it. I don't understand the double standard.

As far as I can tell, this issue of transferring Fortnite progress need not be a problem. Epic Games could, I'm sure, resolve it without any input from Sony.

You can copy any game save to a USB stick, and that's how Telltale allowed saves from any platform version of The Walking Dead Season 2 into any other platform for Season 3.

Copy the save to a USB stick, upload it to the website which converts the save data, and download to the new device. Yeah, it might be a bit long-winded, but it's a solution if Epic want to bother.

Why’s everyone so eager to play with Sony players?

This is still news?! Keep fighting the good fight Sony! 💪🏻

@Enigk that's impossible 😂 stop clutching.

@Cloud7794 they're taking care of their own players. That's for sure.

@daveofduncan I was just taking the idea of Sony locking an account that isn’t theirs to their console to its slightly illogical conclusion. Emails are not their account. Like I say, I don’t care about the cross-play thing. Let them do what they want in that respect as it’s their right.

@Enigk I agree. I've supported them on this from start to finish.

@daveofduncan They're largely taking care of us, however they still do some blatently anti-consumer things even if you want to give them every last ounce of your benefit of the doubt. Mods being gimped is a big one, for example. They like to make things proprietary to try to force others to bend to them. It's what made the PS3 so hard to code for, and what made the Vita's memory card so expensive.

I love Sony's games and consoles, buy a lot of what they do grates on me heavily. As a fan I don't have any problem calling them out when I think they're making a bad call. Will my disapproval change their mind? No. That won't make me like those decisions any better though.

The arguement sony has is valid to an extent like you say "exclusives sell consoles" which is what sony are in the market to do. But I think they should draw a line when it comes to "free-to-play" games as not many people by hardware purely for those titles. I've got both a PS4 and a switch and while graphically it's slightly better on the Sony machine after this season I'm gonna play exclusively on my switch now not across both systems due to their stance. This is down to convenience of the hardware more than anything and fortnite is a pick up and play for 5 mins title to me. Also I generally prefer my full triple A game experience on my PS4.