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Sony Blocks Yet Another Game From Cross-Console Play With Xbox One (arstechnica.com)
"Back in June, Sony told Eurogamer that the company did not have 'a profound philosophical stance' against letting PS4 users play games with those on other platforms," reports Ars Technica. "That said, the company's continued refusal to allow for cross-console play between PS4 and Xbox One players has become an absolute and unmistakable trend in recent months." The latest game to be denied by Sony for cross-console play is Ark: Survival Evolved, which comes out of a two-year early access period next week on Windows, Mac, PS4, and Xbox One. From the report: In a Twitter response posted over the weekend, Ark lead designer and programmer Jeremy Stieglitz said that cross-platform play between PS4 and Xbox One is "working internally, but currently Sony won't allow it." This isn't a huge surprise, considering that the developers of Rocket League, Minecraft, and Gwent have made similar statements in recent months. Since Microsoft very publicly opened Xbox Live to easy cross-platform play back in March, Sony has said that it's "happy to have a conversation" about the issue, but it has failed to follow through by allowing any linkage between the two competing consoles (cross-platform play between the PS4 and PC has been available in certain games since the PS4's launch, though).
The question continues to be why, exactly, Sony seems so reluctant to allow any games to work between its own PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live. Speaking with Eurogamer in June, Sony's Jim Ryan suggested that, in the case of Minecraft, Sony was wary to expose that game's young players to "external influences we have no ability to manage or look after." Ryan also told Eurogamer that cross-platform decisions were "a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders." That suggests there may be some financial issues between the parties involved that are preventing cross-console play from moving forward. Perhaps Sony wants someone else to pay for the work required to get its network talking to Microsoft's? The bottom line, though, might be that Sony just doesn't want to partially give away its sizable advantage in console sales by letting Microsoft hook into that vast network of players.
The question continues to be why, exactly, Sony seems so reluctant to allow any games to work between its own PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live. Speaking with Eurogamer in June, Sony's Jim Ryan suggested that, in the case of Minecraft, Sony was wary to expose that game's young players to "external influences we have no ability to manage or look after." Ryan also told Eurogamer that cross-platform decisions were "a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders." That suggests there may be some financial issues between the parties involved that are preventing cross-console play from moving forward. Perhaps Sony wants someone else to pay for the work required to get its network talking to Microsoft's? The bottom line, though, might be that Sony just doesn't want to partially give away its sizable advantage in console sales by letting Microsoft hook into that vast network of players.
Been there, professional game developer here, we had cross-play working between PS4 and XB1 almost 2 years ago, and it looked like Sony might go for it back then. Today, everyone knows it's not happening. This game developer is looking for publicity, is all. Sony have explained why to them, they're just pretending not to know, and they can't say anyway because of all the NDAs.
The issue isn't getting Sony's network to talk to Microsoft's. The networks don't have to talk at all. Our servers can handle connections from our client on any platform. All we need is basic UDP. (There's no "PC network" that they have to talk to to get PS4/PC cross play working either, of course.)
Sony allow PS4 cross play with PC but not with live chat. They can't have you talking to PSN members unless there's a facility to be reported and blocked. So PS4/PC cross play is missing a key feature already because of this. We dropped it for this reason.
With XBL, Microsoft announced this when it was clear that XB1 had dramatically undersold PS4 globally. It was pretty obvious from day one it wouldn't fly with Sony. Why would they give Microsoft a helping hand? The entire thing is a political move from Microsoft, it never was a feature that would ever happen. Note that the biggest name on the complainants list - Minecraft - is owned by Microsoft.
It's pretty simple. If you've got 4 PS4s for every XB1, Sony want the XB1 user to buy a PS4. They don't want to hand that XB1 user new features on a plate so that they don't have to buy a PS4. Call it lock-in, or call it common sense. They want to capitalize on their market domination, not throw it away. If MS were winning this console cycle, of course, the boot would be on the other foot. MS never suggested this feature between PS3 and X360, even though it was just as technically viable then as it is now. It's just never going to happen between two rabidly competing entities in a billion-dollar market.
Indeed, whoever is so STUPID as to give SONY their money deserves all their grief. Stop supporting companies that have no respect for you or the law, ie: SONY.
How many deliberate rootkits have those three companies sold?
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Don't buy proprietary lock-in platforms, such as PS, XBox, etc.
We need a console that doesn't suck and lasts for a little longer than just a few years. I'm kinda hoping the new Atari reboot will be that. Ouya was a faliure, sadly. The emphasised to much on the "free" aspect AFAICT.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca