Until very recently, Sony’s very stubborn and restrictive stance on cross-platform play had been kicking up a storm in the industry, especially when Microsoft and Nintendo had both been knocking down the walls and declaring that they were “stronger together”. In those months, multiple developers came out to openly criticize Sony’s policies, both big and small.
Of late, however, Sony has relaxed said policies, and some major games have enabled cross-play across all platforms, including the likes of Fortnite and Dauntless. According to Steve Iles of R8 Games, senior producer on the recently released futuristic racer Pacer, the industry leaders’ co-operation is something that is ultimately for the better of the players and the entire industry at large- though Iles also recognizes the need for competition to curb dominance of any one single company, which, after all, is what Sony’s earlier decisions can be attributed to.
“To be frank, we couldn’t possibly hope to wrap our heads around the day to day running of the likes of PlayStation and Xbox – Pacer puts enough on our plates,” said Iles while speaking with GamingBolt. “Sony will do what it does and Microsoft will do what it does. I think it’s fair to say the climate within the games industry has changed recently – we’ve seen Microsoft and Nintendo starting to work together over the course of the last few months – and I think it always serves the player when those leading the industry co-operate. That said, it’s important for the competition within the industry that no one company ever dominates – variety really is the spice of life – and so we enjoy what all three platform holders bring to the market. It certainly makes our lives interesting.”
In recent months, it has looked like Sony’s become less reluctant to enable cross-play functionalities on its platform than it has been in the past. For instance, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will support cross-play across PS4, Xbox One, and PC (a first for the series)- so there’s definitely been progress in this area. Here’s hoping it continues.
R8 Games’ Pacer is out now on PC, and is also scheduled for a PS4 and Xbox One release.