Sony insists it really likes crossplay now, honest

In the increasingly common trend of adding crossplay to every multiplayer game under the sun, Sony has been the one major company to drag its feet on supporting the popular feature. This was seized upon most notably by Microsoft, who now enjoys telling everyone how much it loves crossplay and wishes Sony loved it as much as it does.

The various reasons that Sony doesn't want to welcome crossplay with open arms have been detailed in recent months. Documents released as part of the ongoing Epic vs Apple legal saga showed that Sony's crossplay compliance came with a special royalty that game publishers have to pay up. Basically, Sony wants to ensure that PlayStation players aren't running off to spend their money elsewhere while still relying on Sony's servers/infrastructure.

That demand for a revenue cut is why, last month, Borderlands 3 announced it would now support crossplay—except on Playstation. This was a pretty public calling out of Sony, and the situation there remains murky. 

Despite the abnormal royalty policy, Playstation CEO Jim Ryan recently told Axios that he wants PlayStation to support crossplay in more games going forward. "We support and encourage cross-play," Ryan said, citing various titles that currently support the feature and others, such as Destiny 2, which will soon introduce it. "That number will continue to grow" he added.

Ryan was asked about last month's snub from Gearbox and said he didn't want to discuss a "live business issue with a long-standing partner," but added that "our policies are consistent across all of the publishers."

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In the increasingly common trend of adding crossplay to every multiplayer game under the sun, Sony has been the one major company to drag its feet on supporting the popular feature. This was seized upon most notably by Microsoft, who now enjoys telling everyone how much it loves crossplay and wishes Sony loved it as much as it does.

The various reasons that Sony doesn't want to welcome crossplay with open arms have been detailed in recent months. Documents released as part of the ongoing Epic vs Apple legal saga showed that Sony's crossplay compliance came with a special royalty that game publishers have to pay up. Basically, Sony wants to ensure that PlayStation players aren't running off to spend their money elsewhere while still relying on Sony's servers/infrastructure.

That demand for a revenue cut is why, last month, Borderlands 3 announced it would now support crossplay—except on Playstation. This was a pretty public calling out of Sony, and the situation there remains murky. 

Despite the abnormal royalty policy, Playstation CEO Jim Ryan recently told Axios that he wants PlayStation to support crossplay in more games going forward. "We support and encourage cross-play," Ryan said, citing various titles that currently support the feature and others, such as Destiny 2, which will soon introduce it. "That number will continue to grow" he added.

Ryan was asked about last month's snub from Gearbox and said he didn't want to discuss a "live business issue with a long-standing partner," but added that "our policies are consistent across all of the publishers."

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