Sony "support[s] and encourage[s] cross-play across its ecosystem, according to SIe president Jim Ryan.
In an interview with Axios, Ryan said that "we support and encourage cross-play," going on to cite Fortnite, Rocket League, Call of Duty, Minecraft, and the upcoming support for Destiny 2, all of which are games supporting cross-play.
It has, however, taken a while for PlayStation to get to this point. Sony has been notoriously slow at adopting the practice, while Xbox has been taking down the barriers of play by working with the Nintendo Switch and PC on multiple occasions.
As to why Sony might have started playing ball, we did get some insight from the Apple and Epic Games legal battle. Recently it was revealed that Sony charges for cross-play, and takes royalties from partners and others participating.
Last month, Sony was put in an odd situation by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford when he seemingly suggested that Borderlands 3 cross-play wasn't coming to PlayStation due to Sony's reluctance. Pitchford previously tweeted: "Good news or bad news first? Good News: An update for Borderlands 3 has been prepared for release that includes full crossplay support across all platforms. Bad News: For certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove crossplay support for PlayStation consoles."
It's not clear who the publisher was in the clumsily worded tweet, be it Gearbox's parent company 2K or Sony. Either way, crossplay isn't coming to Borderlands on PlayStation until the issue is resolved.
Axios asked Ryan about this situation directly to which he remained tight-lipped. He said that he wouldn't comment on a "live business issue with a long-standing partner" but did add that "our policies are consistent across all of the publishers."
As far back as 2017, Sony had been largely reluctant to allow cross-play with other platforms, especially Xbox and Nintendo Switch. However, it seems that time is coming to a close and PlayStation gamers will be able to play with their Xbox friends on more and more titles.
While the process hasn't been quite as fast as some might hope, the future is certainly getting brighter for a gaming industry without hard platform borders.
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