Sony Bows to Growing Pressure & Enables 'Extended Fortnite Cross-Play Beta'

SBFord

Sony Bows to Growing Pressure & Enables 'Extended Fortnite Cross-Play Beta'

Sony has responded to increasing player unhappiness at the lack of cross play between PlayStation 4 and all of the other available Fortnite platforms. As of today an "extended Fortnite cross-play beta" has started for PlayStation 4 "following a comprehensive evaluation process". The news came via the PlayStation Blog penned by Sony Interactive President John Kodera. Most notably, Kodera says that "this represents a major policy change for SIE" going forward.

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Krynt0k

I hope this means Minecraft next.

Kajidourden

I REALLY hope this actually represents a shift in mindset.  It would be great for example to play Destiny 3 with my friends who play on PS4 if I wanted to play PC.

SBFord

Kajidourden said:

I REALLY hope this actually represents a shift in mindset.  It would be great for example to play Destiny 3 with my friends who play on PS4 if I wanted to play PC.

The post read that it is a shift in policy so let's hope so!

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nolic1

Its funny when I read these things about cross play and DC Universe has had it for PC to PS3/PS4 sense launch but not to Xbox. And yet they can not cross play with other games and systems cause ti can cause to many issues. Yet Minecrft has now had cross play for over a year and not any problems that I know of. But hey I am just a gamer what do I know.

Kajidourden

I don't understand the resistance to this.  First it was MS, now Sony....and Nintendo has never been interested.

From a business standpoint it makes more sense to have your platform be more flexible.  It will only increases the demand for your platform if yours is the only system which does this.

koldmiser

It took longer than I thought it would, but they had no other choice really. It was cave, or lose players.

halfmystic

Nyctelios said:

Crossplay is the next standard thing in gaming. People expect crossplay when they purchase something since so many games show how good it works. It also helps console sales, you don't need to be a hostage to play with your friends - it's a win-win to everyone.

Although I don't support non-crossplay, this isn't true. It's not win-win to not have exclusivity on PS4, in fact it hurts sales. The reason why exclusivity has been a thing up until lately is because if they can keep it in their store, that means they control the prices. This is a win for the consumer, a lose for Sony.

I'm willing to bet the absolute only reason they even considered this is because Fortnite's playerbase is so huge that it's actually trickling into their sales because they aren't doing cross-play, which is only because they implemented it so badly in this intense. They literally locked down accounts to PS4 - bad move on their part. No one would have complained and probably could have avoided this if they didn't lock it down. 

Just another bad decision that bit them in the ass finally. Good one, consumers! 

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halfmystic

blueturtle13 said:

halfmystic said:

Nyctelios said:

Crossplay is the next standard thing in gaming. People expect crossplay when they purchase something since so many games show how good it works. It also helps console sales, you don't need to be a hostage to play with your friends - it's a win-win to everyone.

Although I don't support non-crossplay, this isn't true. It's not win-win to not have exclusivity on PS4, in fact it hurts sales. The reason why exclusivity has been a thing up until lately is because if they can keep it in their store, that means they control the prices. This is a win for the consumer, a lose for Sony.

I'm willing to bet the absolute only reason they even considered this is because Fortnite's playerbase is so huge that it's actually trickling into their sales because they aren't doing cross-play, which is only because they implemented it so badly in this intense. They literally locked down accounts to PS4 - bad move on their part. No one would have complained and probably could have avoided this if they didn't lock it down. 

Just another bad decision that bit them in the ass finally. Good one, consumers! 

 Having exclusivity only matters for console exclusives like Horizon Zero Dawn or Spiderman or Forza or Zelda. 
For a multiplayer game that is on every single gaming platform in the world it makes zero difference to your bottom line to 'try' and lock it to your ecosystem. A game like Fortnite or Minecraft is bigger than one platform. 

I'm not so sure, I think if you open the doors for multiple titles in multiplayer games, the consumer is going to shift their gaze from "why isn't multiplayer cross-play" to "why are the games I want only on this console?". 

There's always something to complain about. 

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Kajidourden

Nyctelios said:

Kajidourden said:

I don't understand the resistance to this.  First it was MS, now Sony....and Nintendo has never been interested.

From a business standpoint it makes more sense to have your platform be more flexible.  It will only increases the demand for your platform if yours is the only system which does this.

Ahm......... Switch has crossplay in countless titles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_that_support_cross-platform_play

Far less switch than any other platform.  Sort by descending in each column. 

Edit: And also, Sony has the most titles on that list of the three. 

MadFrenchie

blueturtle13 said:

haha and so many people said "Sony doesn't have to add crossplay they are dominating the console space!"
Well this is what happens when a single game is bigger than your platform.
Console leads shift per generation and this one comes to an end soon.

I didn't think they would change things until the next gen.

Still surprised they did so mid-generation.  I saw it being used to leverage consumer Goodwill in the run up to next gen release.

ConstantineMerus

SedrynTyros said:

Can you use a keyboard and mouse with the PS4? Because if not, the PS4 players are going to get absolutely destroyed by their PC opponents.

You can use keyboard and mouse with your PS4, the device supports it. The games don't support K&B to provide a fair battleground. For the very same reason, it would be stupid to match PC players vs console players in a shooter game. 

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cheyane

Yes be a willow not an oak.

MadFrenchie

Torval said:

If you ever play against tournament winners and top tier players, let me know how it goes and what input device you used?

His point is, for any given level of skill, the mouse user can make more precise twitch movements.  That's not knocking a player group, it's a fact of the precision of the instruments used.

Any given player can learn to become more skillful with either one, but I have large doubts the skill in time to acquire targets once spotted is comparable.  I've never seen a console player play with the stick sensitivity so high they can do a 180 in less than half a second.

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MadFrenchie

blueturtle13 said:

Well unless that person is Bearzly though right? I mean he beat Dark Souls on it's hardest setting with 9 different controller methods. One was a guitar hero controller. Another was a racing wheel.
Or Rudeism who built a controller for Overwatch.....with bananas 
Or twerkingyoshi who beat Dark Souls 3 with a video game fishing rod. 

Sometimes it is just the player

Why do you guys avoid the relativity of the issue like the plague in making these jabs?

I'n sure folks could beat Dark Souls with multiple control schemes, but that doesn't really mean anything in a comparison of two control schemes against one another competitively.

A dude beat the original Super Mario Bros blindfolded (iirc).  Are we to say that's evidence folks could win a Counter-Strike tournament blindfolded against players who aren't?

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Dragnelus

This was never about how hard or easy it was for Sony. Did you forget, last generation when Microsoft was dominating sales, Sony tried to do cross play and Microsoft told them and the fans to fuck off.

Now people care about it more and there are more games allowing it, but Sony execs sure didn't forget what Microsoft did. No one wins, but it was a totally understandable position for Sony to take after that.

MadFrenchie

blueturtle13 said:

MadFrenchie said:

blueturtle13 said:

Well unless that person is Bearzly though right? I mean he beat Dark Souls on it's hardest setting with 9 different controller methods. One was a guitar hero controller. Another was a racing wheel.
Or Rudeism who built a controller for Overwatch.....with bananas 
Or twerkingyoshi who beat Dark Souls 3 with a video game fishing rod. 

Sometimes it is just the player

Why do you guys avoid the relativity of the issue like the plague in making these jabs?

I'n sure folks could beat Dark Souls with multiple control schemes, but that doesn't really mean anything in a comparison of two control schemes against one another competitively.

A dude beat the original Super Mario Bros blindfolded (iirc).  Are we to say that's evidence folks could win a Counter-Strike tournament blindfolded against players who aren't?

No, yet it may be for a 3rd person shooter like Fortnite

Touché!  Still, though, Sedryn was making a comparative point, not an absolute one.  Where target acquisition time and recoil control are important to success, a mouse simply provides a more precise control scheme.  Folks who have spent comparable amounts of time learning the game and are considered roughly equal in their respective skill pools with two different control schemes would illustrate this (or, an example of two players facing off with the other factors controlled could prove it wrong, for the flip side), but examples of players merely accomplishing singleplayer feats or feats against other players using the same control scheme doesn't really speak to the comparison.