Sony Really Did Not Want Crossplay on PS4, Leaked Documents Reveal - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 October 2021 / 4,757 Views

It is no secret that Sony wasn't a big fan of cross-platform play with the PlayStation 4, while Microsoft and Nintendo had no problems with adding the feature on their platforms. Sony originally blocked crossplay on Rocket League and Minecraft, as well as Fortnite.

It now looks like Sony was even more against than we initially realized, according to new confidential documents and emails posted by The Verge. Epic Games pleaded to Sony to enable crossplay on the PlayStation 4 version of Fortnite, according to emails in the Epic Games v. Apple case.

"I can’t think of a scenario where Epic doesn’t get what we want - that possibility went out the door when Fortnite became the biggest game on PlayStation," said Epic Games' vice president of business development Joe Kreiner.

"We announce crossplay in conjunction with Sony. Epic goes out of its way to make Sony look like heroes," Keiner proposed in the email. Epic Games even offered to brand its E3 presence with PlayStation, give something extra special to PlayStation Plus subscribers for a month, and even offered to extend Sony's Unreal Engine 4 license.

Sony’s senior director of developer relations Gio Corsi dismissed adding crossplay at the time by saying "cross-platform play is not a slam dunk no matter the size of the title. As you know, many companies are exploring this idea and not a single one can explain how cross-console play improves the PlayStation business."

Sony in August 2019 claimed that cross-platform play would potentially reduce its revenue and that for any game to enable the feature would require the publishers to pay Sony a royalty fee. It isn't known if Microsoft and Nintendo have similar agreements in place to enable crossplay on their platforms.

Sony also has a policy that publishers aren't allowed to transfer virtual currency to or from PlayStation platforms, and that there must be a setting to disable crossplay.

Sony has since allowed crossplay on some games following backlash with Fortnite not having it on the PlayStation 4.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

34 Comments

KLAMarine (on 03 May 2021)

Nothing pro-consumer about hijacked Fortnite accounts.

Signalstar (on 03 May 2021)

The only way this benefitted Playstation as a business was by stopping an endless barrage of negative PR and comments on the internet.

Libara (on 04 May 2021)

What a scumbag move by sony, no wonder they were desperate to keep those documents hidden.

The Fury (on 03 May 2021)

Why is this even being discussed anymore? Cross play is here and half the time we turn it off anyway.

KLAMarine The Fury (on 03 May 2021)

"half the time we turn it off anyway"

why?

method114 KLAMarine (on 04 May 2021)

I turn it off to avoid PC players. They cheat non stop in online games it's to easy to do. I love my gaming PC for solo play or online play PVE style but other than that I'm on a console.

SvenTheTurkey The Fury (on 03 May 2021)

Who is we? I always see people on ps when I'm playing pc games.

Dallinor SvenTheTurkey (on 04 May 2021)

Anyone trying to play competitively on PS, like for Warzone or Fortnight, cross play is turned straight off.

Dallinor The Fury (on 04 May 2021)

Half? More like 100% of the time, unless you invite a PC player to your lobby and its unavoidable.

DonFerrari (on 03 May 2021)

Shiken DonFerrari (on 03 May 2021)

The talking point was about crossplay between consoles, which Sony was openly against. PC crossplay has nothing to do with it. Nice try though.

DonFerrari DonFerrari (on 03 May 2021)

Except you being wrong that even on the start of the gen the reports we had was that MS was the one against the crossplay (reason why FFXIV didn't show up on Xbox), and PS3 was also open for crossplay while X360 wasn't.
This "document" just shows that after PS4 had a big dominance of the market they didn't want crossplay with Xbox anymore.

AFattyGamer DonFerrari (on 03 May 2021)

This right here. People tend to forget that during the 7th generation when Microsoft was the industry leader and Sony wanted cross play between PS3 and 360, Microsoft flat out said "no." Now with 8th generation when Sony gains back its crown and says no cross play to Microsoft and Nintendo they're the bad guys? Nah man. That ain't cool.

Shiken DonFerrari (on 03 May 2021)

You are right, at the time MS dropped the ball. Sony did not care one way or the other. But this article is not about one game in 2013, but rather when console crossplay was starting to become mainstream and it was Sony fighting it tooth and nail.

Overall MS was ignorant during those times, just like Jim Ryan is now.

DonFerrari Shiken (on 04 May 2021)

Nope, not ignorant, just protecting their interest and pockets as any company do. The reason MS was using this was for PR and to try and paint itself as pro-consumer. But sure keep your eyes clouded to console war.

Shiken DonFerrari (on 04 May 2021)

There is no console war. Only hard headed fans that cannot accept when their console maker of choice is not being pro consumer or shady, all for the sake of feeling more secure about their console. It happens with all three, and yes I am sorry to inform you that includes Sony.

-3

AFattyGamer (on 03 May 2021)

Paatar AFattyGamer (on 03 May 2021)

Sony is not the industry leader.

Cerebralbore101 Paatar (on 04 May 2021)

They've sold the most consoles last gen. They are the industry leader.

-4

AFattyGamer Cerebralbore101 (on 04 May 2021)

Be careful there my man. That fact will upset certain people.

Cerebralbore101 AFattyGamer (on 04 May 2021)

Clearly I already have. This site is becoming more and more Xbox + PC biased everyday. Sony fans outnumber Xbox fans and PC fans individually. But they don't outnumber Xbox + PC fans combined. Especially not on this site. Hence the downvotes for stating a simple fact. :D ;)

AFattyGamer Paatar (on 04 May 2021)

Sony's been the industry leader since November 15th of 2013. I know certain demographics of gamers are upset by that but Sony's PS4 gained its crown back for the 8th generation of consoles and 9th gen looks to be the same. I give you a Mr. Jim Ryan response to it: ¯(ツ)/¯

Legit AFattyGamer (on 04 May 2021)

What ?? Since when is Sony industry leader ??

DirtyP2002 AFattyGamer (on 04 May 2021)

ehm, no.

Vengeance1138 (on 03 May 2021)

Shiken Vengeance1138 (on 03 May 2021)

Dunno if you have been following Switch sales, but it is on track to possibly pass the PS4.

They have a player base at minimum comparable to Sony with market timelines aligned.

mjk45 Shiken (on 03 May 2021)

Total player base v total online player base are two different things and online 3rd party player base is different again .

To gain a better insight and understanding about the reasons for those differing mindsets it's important that the debate be referenced against the backdrop of the size of the player bases playing Fornite and similar 3rd party games at the time when the latest crossplay debate started. because you can bet they were looking at those stats and not focusing on numbers from their past to make that judgement
This insight while not resolving anything from a right or wrong standpoint , gives us a better perspective on what drove those decisions and that may be the best we can hope for. since this isn't something that can be easily answered in such terms, as an example you may want Sony to engage but understand their reluctance, or on the other hand not wanting crossplay but see why MS and Nintendo do.