Fun fact, adding an ‘s’ at the end of a word can fundamentally change the gravity of a title. Kyle Orland writing for Ars Technica:

 Back in March, Microsoft announced that it would allow generic cross-platform play on its Xbox Live network. The move was essentially a public challenge for Sony to similarly open up the PlayStation Network 

So far, so good, and Kyle is right. Microsoft has been in need of any publicity win it can take with Xbox and calling out Sony for something that is ‘seemingly’ pro-consumer was a smart move by them.

 Now, some major game developers are stressing that any technical hurdles to this cross-platform play have been overcome. 

Now let the eye rolling begin.

So who are these ‘developers’ that are lined up, ready to begin a crusade to bring cross-play to Xbox and PlayStation? Just Jeremy Dunham, vice president of Rocket League developer Psyonix and CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwiński, the developers behind Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Hadn’t heard of it? Yea, me neither. Here is Dunham:

 Right now, we’re literally at the point where all we need is the go-ahead on the Sony side and we can, in less than a business day, turn [cross-platform play] on and have it up and working, no problem 

Dunham’s statement is the equivalent of seeing hacking portrayed in movies. “Let me just hack their network by pulling out this tablet and we’ll own their security cameras.” Dunham continues:

 It’d literally take a few hours to propagate throughout the whole world, so really we’re just waiting on the permission to do so… It could be tomorrow, it could be longer than that. We just don’t know—we’re anxiously awaiting that, just like the rest of our fans. 

It’s not that I doubt Dunham’s sincerity that it might take THEM a day to do it but let’s not kid ourselves. There isn’t a ‘cross-platform play’ button that most developers can initiate that’s baked into their game engine. This is something that for a majority of studios could take months and even when completed, there are other complications. Will both games be released at the same time? If not, in the case of Tomb Raider, is it worth the developers’ time to implement something that won’t be used for a game that’s being released nearly a year apart on Xbox One and PS4? Does one side have exclusive content as is the case with Destiny? What if the title inherently runs better on one platform, versus the other?

It’s worth remembering that when it comes to cross-play, Sony was actually there first – having allowed gameplay between PS4 & PS Vita titles as well as MMORPG’s like Final Fantasy 14. In fact, I played Final Fantasy 11 on both PC and PS2.

Now don’t take this as me thinking cross-play between PS4 and Xbox One is bad or that it’s technically impossible, because I don’t. But to portray the initiative as something simple to implement is terribly naive and one sided, in that Microsoft is the only one that will truly benefit from this move. Kyle writing:

 Even if Sony doesn’t take the hint, though, the increased pressure from developers could have an impact on how those developers start thinking about their relationships with both console makers. 

is a stretch at best. I don’t see EA, Activision, Blizzard, Take Two, or Square Enix to name a few rallying around this. So when you read ‘developers’ want this, it’s really just two small teams and not some roll tide that Sony is trying to hold back.

Discuss:

Do you think Sony is holding back cross-play and which console maker do you think it would benefit the most?