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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.
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
How stupid do you need to be that you need to ask why? There can be only one reason: MONEY.
PSN has more players than XBL, letting both play with each other benefits Microsoft much more than Sony. Why would Sony do something this stupid?
This is Karma, having abused its leading Windows market share for decades, this is just a small taste of their own medicine for Microsoft.
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.
Sony is the market leader in this generation of consoles, by blocking cross-platform play they keep the players available for online play on the XboxOne version low which further hurts the perception of the console.
For those that are interested Ark is also out on early-access on SteamOS/Linuxflavorofchoice. Though there is no mention in the article. Not too surprising...
Because the article is more about cross play and sony than it is about ark or minecraft.
Wanna buy a shirt?
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Both Sony and XBox One are interested in selling Playstation Plus and Xbox Live subscriptions to access online game play elements and additional content. The cross-platform multiplayer design runs directly counter against that business model. It's all about money. Nothing new.
We'll make great pets
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
If this factored into Player Unknown's Battlegrounds decision to go Xbox Exclusive instead of originally stating planned support both PS4 and Xbox support.
They said cross-platform play was important to them. (Of course being the #1 or #2 most popular selling game on Steam means they could probably get away with segmented players. However, maybe it's easier from a server standpoint with "one" codebase as far as server's clients go?)
The thing is, I thought PS4 had a larger market. Or perhaps Xbox has more "FPS" players?
Granted, a key factor is that Microsoft is "publishing" PUBG on Xbox which means they probably paid a CRAP TON of money to buy exclusive licensing for a year or more. But if you're making hundreds of millions, you'd be damn sure to consider all the factors. And my point is, I wonder if this story is one of those factors.
How does your company pay your wages? Do they have a press in the back that just fucking prints money? No, I'm guessing they don't, in which case... ultimately... it's customers who pay your wages. Without them paying the company, the company has no money to pay you. Dumbass.
Millennial?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Back on PS2 Sony worked with Square to allow
cross platform play with PC for FFXI, 360 had the game too but MS refused to link up and stayed off by themselves.
Because of that FFXIV did not come to Xbox platforms
PS3 Sony partnered with Valve to bring cross platform multiplayer, chat, achievements, etc allowing Steam to work across PS3 and PC. Again MS refused.
Gearbox wanted Borderlands 2 to work across all platforms, and here is what MS had to say via Kotaku:
"Here's a Microsoft spokesperson saying "no," while promoting how awesome the Xbox 360's online service is: "Xbox Live delivers the best entertainment experience unmatched by anyone else, with 35 million actively engaged members. We have a high level of expectation for our game developers to ensure that all Live experiences remain top notch. Because we can't guarantee this level of quality, or control the player experience on other consoles or gaming networks, we currently do not open our network to games that allow this cross-over capability.""
Now this generation, Sony helped launch Rocket Cars as a free download on PSN and it had cross platform play with PC. Same with Street Fighter V
So is it really any wonder now that MS is playing runner up that Sony got fed up of this fair weather crap and gave MS the very same excuse that MS gave back in the day?
So why again is Sony getting shit for this?
Twinstiq, game news