Odd Genshin Impact Issue Prompts More PS5, PS4 Crossplay Concerns

But is Sony to blame?

by Sammy Barker Thu 6th Jan 2022

For the most part, the chatter about PlayStation’s resistance to crossplay has gone cold. You may recall, Sony held out on the functionality for a short period, but it’s since become fairly commonplace across a number of key franchises – including the company’s own MLB The Show 21. There was a fresh spike of criticism which emerged from Epic Games’ court case with Apple, although this seemed to relate to the platform holder requesting royalties if there was an unorthodox ratio between the amount of time someone was playing on PlayStation compared to where they were spending their money.

However, a new Genshin Impact update has fans frustrated – although it’s not entirely clear who’s to blame. While the game has full cross-progression, players are forced to buy the title’s Battle Pass on PlayStation if they created their account on Sony’s system. This isn’t a huge deal in isolation, but the severity of the situation has been worsened because with the new version of the game it’s impossible to claim Battle Pass rewards on any platform other than the PS5 and PS4.

So this means if you make progress in the Battle Pass on another system, like the PC, it’ll be reflected in-game but you’ll have to turn on your PlayStation in order to claim any rewards. Those items will then be attributed to your account, and you’ll be able to use them on PC, but it adds a seemingly unnecessary step to the situation. It’s worth mentioning that crossplay games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone don’t have the same issue.

Nevertheless, some think, given Sony’s shaky history with crossplay, that it’s enforcing the rule – but we’re not sure why it would specifically make this stipulation, other than to force engagement with its own platform. There’s certainly no financial gain to be made from doing this, as it’s already requiring players to buy the Battle Pass through the PS Store anyway. As such, we’re leaning more towards this being a mix-up on developer miHoYo’s end.

Either way, hopefully it’s resolved promptly.

[source twitter.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
Shigurui
Thu 6th Jan 2022

Weird but a minor annoyance at most. A major annoyance is that the game is still region locked on PlayStation. My EU account has hundreds of hours played and loads of 5* characters and weaponry but if I want to play with my US friends I have to create a US PSN ID and start from scratch. Asinine.

2
Voltan
Thu 6th Jan 2022

I've seen tweets suggesting this is a Sony thing and while I can't rule it out completely, they really have nothing to gain from this, so I kinda doubt it.

But while we're at it - crossplay for Strive pls

3
Milktastrophe
Thu 6th Jan 2022

Sounds like a bug rather Sony enforcing an arbitrary rule that doesn't benefit them (Sony would already have their cut since the battle pass is already purchased).

4
themightyant
Thu 6th Jan 2022

Weird that this is suddenly only a thing since yesterday's 2.4 update it never happened before. While annoying you aren't usually in a rush to claim Battle Pass stuff.

But I wonder if this also affects Welkin Moon AKA (paid) daily login rewards? That would be FAR more annoying. e.g. I usually play on PS5 but when away log in on phone, if I had paid for daily login rewards (I usually don't) it would be really unethical to tie this to a specific device.

5
GymratAmarillo
Thu 6th Jan 2022

Doesn't look like a ps problem. First you let Aloy (one of the ps faces) being in pc and phones and now you make restrictions? That wouldn't make any sense. All games with external services like fornite, genshin, overwatch, etc. when they have problems is more likely they come from the developer and not the system.

Now, personally i know sony isn't any saint and they do a lot of thing wrong but when it comes to epic i feel like they have a strong relationship (sony is investor) and all the fornite crossplay situation was epic who offered the money so sony could allow it, because most of fornite earnings come from ps systems and what they paid to sony was nothing comparing it with all the money they could make with all those users playing with the rest of users.