Will Cross-Play Hurt the Future of the PlayStation Brand

On this week's episode of The Trophy Room hosts Joseph and Kyle, welcome Patrick of Nintendo to the show. The gang talks about Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy's success on the Nintendo Switch, whether or not there is a true hunger for the return of the mascot platformers. The gang weighs in on whether or not cross play is really as big of a deal as Microsoft and Nintendo lead on. Whether cross play, can help the next generation of Xbox and Nintendo an edge over Sony's next PlayStation. Shuehei Yoshida, talks about the company's mistakes with there previous line up, Blizzard's Overwatch Charity makes a big impact for a great cause, and Fortnite's marketing is invading the real world.

[FallenAngel1984]

This is getting out of hand

[SuperSonic91]

Its a Nintendo podcast so its expected sour graping

[Skull521]

No, but lack of crossplay will

[Skull521]

Because you people can't criticize the PS4 is why you'll never get a PS5. You're going to get a PS4 Pro 2.0 that is just the PS4 with more powerful hardware, you'll get no evolution in the system because you've been very vocal that the PS4 is already perfect in every way.

[naruga]

how can hurt it if it cannt touch it???

[TheGoodestBoi]

@Skull
"You're going to get a PS4 Pro 2.0 that is just the PS4 with more powerful hardware,"
That is a tad hyperbolic, the system is built by Sonys R&D which includes consulting with studios on what they're requirements would be. It is not designed by the fambase

[darthv72]

i'd say no, this will not hurt the brand. It would be nice if they decided to embrace that change but PS gamers will be fine playing with themselves.

[blackblades]

That's what I said when I seen the title. Best thing to do is to ignore these topics and let them fade away.

[cyber_daemonx]

@fallen, not to mention boring as hell too yawn.

[lxeasy]

Sony should just do what's right for us gamers and give us cross play.

[TheEnigma313]

Sony is a business. They're on top and don't need to help nintendo and MS feed off of their base.

[Lockdown555]

Dang straight, how is Sony so anti consumer when they started this gen the complete opposite. Really wish my PS4 had more features not less...

[TheCommentator]

Agreed. Sony should allow console crossplay and reverse the damage already being done to their brand image.

[emiyaxtousaka]

Yes it will. The backlash is enormous. Deserved or not they’ve made their own bed

[OB1Biker]

That's hyperbolic really.
Any way Sawn Layden promised an opening somehow and I believe there's going to be some sort of cross play announcement next year

What's astonishing is that's become a trend all of a sudden, literally out of nowhere.

[Transporter47]

If Soiny does XPlay, they will do it with PS5 in order to all start in the same place. If they do it now, they just lose potential customers.

[OB1Biker]

S Layden did say cross play is more than just a few games. A general opening at the start of a new gen makes more sense and more beneficial for the community. I just hope the press push for the real thing then (when a new gen is announced) like they should have done at the beginning of this gen.
The little 'outrage' attitude for a few games, all of a sudden, are just hypocritical.

[ILostMyMind]

Simple as that.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

Lol no it’s not what you think n4g host the majority of console owners news flash they don’t not even close

[cyber_daemonx]

@emiy, what backlash? Lmfao.

[GTgamer]

Where? 😂😂😂 The backlash so big that Ps4 are still flying off the shelves

[rainslacker]

The backlash is overstated and manufactured.

Fixed that for you.

Trust me, the number of people that would allow lack of cross play to affect their console purchase numbers in the hundredths of a percent of the total user base. Even if it was a consideration, what would choosing a console that allows it really achieve, when you still couldn't get cross play with another console which you may not buy that doesn't have it. Particularly when said console still allows you to have cross play with other systems that aren't consoles.

It's not like many games support cross play anyways, and to date, the inclusion or lack thereof of cross play has never been a major, if any, factor in people buying a game. No one brought a PS2/3/4 for PC cross play. No one didn't buy a 360 because it didn't support cross play. It's extremely unlikely that this current "backlash" will amount to anything when it comes to sales, because to date, it hasn't, and those that didn't care before, still don't care, those that do care either already play on other systems or don't care enough to use it as a deciding factor.

[Skankinruby]

Lol no...it won't. The only thing that will be 'hurt' are the reputations of journalists who cling to this nonsense. This will be a dead subject in a matter of months.

[OB1Biker]

They all pat themselves in the back for some juicy topic to write about. There's no reputation to be hurt. Writing nonsense is what they do for a living.

[TGG_overlord]

Who even started this subject in the first place? Because now it's all over the place...

[rainslacker]

I wish that were true, but this topic has been going on for a couple years now. Since the Rocket League dev decided it was Sony's fault for denying cross play on his game. Spencer from MS decided to latch onto that brief outrage of it's loyal fans to try and garner some good will, and it's been ongoing ever since. It just blew up more now that MS finally has some games which are cross play with Switch.

This issue really isn't about cross play though. It's about cross play with other consoles. Sony already supports it with PC, so there is no issue there. Sony is just preventing it with other consoles right now.

This is unlikely to just go away, although I expect the articles to become less frequent over time. It'll flare up every time a new game comes out support it, kind of like we see with X1X games getting enhancements for multi-plat games. Basically, whenever it is a good way to make Sony look bad, which is about all this amounts to for the time being.

[ThatGuyDart]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

That should cover the inevitable next 30 submissions asking this same stupid question.

[bluefox755]

Nope, people outside of n4g simply don't care, sorry. People buy the console with the best games, not the most features. That's just the way it is regardless of how loyalists feel about it.

[TheGoodestBoi]

For the umpteenth time, no.

[ChristopherJack]

I'd like to see one major player make a point about crossplay. Microsoft is showing some encouraging signs with their own exclusives but to actually open the floodgates & announce that all future XB1 games will be xplay enabled (if the publisher/developer chooses to implement it).

I can only see it as a win-win-win for the manufacturer, publisher & consumer. Sony may not benefit as much but I'm sure they could work out fair ways to slice the cake (their major concern), there are other ways to remain competitive rather than fencing off consumers.

Yes, I'm aware of the history, Sony dipped their toes in, in the past, & they've done so several times since but let's not pretend that they ever truly embraced it. Besides, I don't see how Microsoft not playing ball a decade ago is relevant unless you have the logic of a toddler.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

So why is it relevant that Sony plays ball now just because MS says so I’m sorry that’s not how it works

[shinoff2183]

Exactly. It's also the way ms has went about this definitely a matter that shouldve been talked about behind closed doors. Sony didn't put ms on blast last gen. Ms=punks

[ChristopherJack]

It's not relevant because it is history. No one has truly embraced crossplay but I will applaud whoever puts their hand up first & right now it seems Microsoft is slowly raising theirs but if Sony beats them to the punch, all the better -
most my mates own PS4s so it'd be nice to play with them without plugging mine back in, I'm too ingrained with my Desktop & laptop.

Just because I am interested in Microsoft's supposed interest, doesn't make me a fan. Just wish this site would put their allegiances aside, I like the format but the discussions are out of control. Sure the countless Sony fans derail every discussion but the Xbox ones are just as bad.

Everything becomes about Sony vs Microsoft & the legitimate conversations get negged to hell. Yes Sony doesn't need xplay right now but there's still a legitimate discussion to be had about the potential pros, cons & potential impacts.

[Alucard_420]

ok lets looks at pro's and con's

Pro: the only one I can think of, is playing with anyone. oh and given the choice to not play cross play because I don't want too.

Con: 1 potential player base lost
2 always cross play on making me having to play against pc players all the time
3 not being able to do proper chat parties due to the fact it will be on multiple platforms
4 bad security in terms of players breaking online policies
5 having to deal with dumb fanboys because i'm not playing on their platform of choice
6 Having multiple friends list due to having to create an account with EPIC or whatever company that
makes the game, (I'd much rather just play with my friend list on PSN)

That is how I look at cross play right now. It's fine the way it is at the moment, of course you always try to improved things but why fix something if it ain't broken. The small demographic of people that has a problem with this is too small for me to care about

[Christopher]

***5 having to deal with dumb fanboys because i'm not playing on their platform of choice ***

How if there is no "proper chat parties due to the fact it will be on multiple platforms"?

[RauLeCreuset]

"Sony may not benefit as much but I'm sure they could work out fair ways to slice the cake..."

Sony cannot dictate how the cake is sliced. Sony can only withhold their slice of the cake or put conditions upon their willingness to share their slice. Sony's slice is over half the cake. They would be sharing more of their cake than they stand to gain if they agreed to share the whole cake evenly with their competitors. The only way Sony benefits is if there is a revenue sharing mechanism in place that proportionally rewards Sony for sharing the most cake (customers). That's not something they could dictate, but something that would have to be agreed to by all parties involved. Somehow, I don't think MS and Ninty are as eager for cross-play under those conditions as they are when they benefit from mooching off of PS4's larger customer base.

[ChristopherJack]

If 90% of consumers play on PS4 then logically roughly 90% will purchase the content on PS4. The only real outliers come down to special deals their competition offers but nothing is stopping Sony from offering their own deals.

Big picture there's very little to lose by xplay, but there's also not that much to gain by the manufacturers which is why they've been grinding their feet for so long but whoever does go all out puts their competition on an interesting position next gen when people start asking "how will I play with my mates":

For example,
Sony surprises everyone & says that
"all future 3rd party games will be xplay enabled with PS4, PC, Nintendo & supported phone devices"
Microsoft responds with
"Xbox Two only"
That'll clearly put Sony in the better position next gen when you almost don't have to worry about what device your mates play with but you'd be far less likely to recommend the Xbox.

Of course in the seemingly more likely reverse scenario it wouldn't hurt Sony as much if they say PS5 only, but there's only so much momentum to carry them, we saw how complacency cost them last gen but I'm not complaining, they really turned it around by delivering countless AAA games towards the end.

[RauLeCreuset]

Not so, my friend. Let's use your stat, but turn the percentage to whole numbers. Say Sony has 90 customers. The competition has 10 combined. Sony has to maintain 90/100 customers just to break even, and 91/100 more to gain from the arrangement. By contrast, the competition needs only have 10/100 customers to break even, and anything over 11 is a win. That stat is obviously exaggerated, but the point scales.

[rainslacker]

Sony has a fully working, system wide API for the implementation of cross play. It's included in their SDK with every dev kit. It is fully documented and supported by Sony. They worked with several major publishers to implement cross play so they could get certain games on the system, and extended that to be available for all developers who make games for the system. Not just the big pubs, but the small indie developers. No extra steps involved except implementing the API which meets their compliance standards on how to handle cross play with other systems.

How is that not fully embracing it?

Just because they don't allow it with other consoles does not mean they don't embrace it. My guess is that MS and possibly Nintendo, won't embrace the API's that Sony has made for this to be possible, or that MS and less likely Nintendo, want Sony to use their own API's for its implementation, which MS and certainly not Nintendo have even bothered to write yet, and have left it up to devs to implement their own solution for cross play.

As far as relevance...I'd say it's relevant because MS not playing ball a decade or so ago(longer than that really), stalled any progression to the API's which would have allowed it. I can only assume that Sony isn't going to allow something like this on an singular implementation basis, since they don't do that now. They'll want the API's, and policies to be in tact, not just on their end, but across the board. That's what Layden indicated when he said it had to be a system level thing, and not just sporadic devs deciding they want it. When it comes to system wide implementations, Sony isn't going to just change their API's on a whim, and it's highly likely that any talks on the back end about this have stalled. As to who's fault it is they stalled one can only guess, but it's likely on both companies wanting their own control over the process.

I hate to say it, but Sony has the most full on implementation of cross play on the market. Because of this, they can exert more control over how it will be implemented elsewhere. Because of this, MS is probably going to have to play by Sony's rules if they want cross play with the PS line consoles.

That is why MS denying it last gen is relevant. They were late to the party....as they often are...and can't exert the control they like because of it. MS has a ways to go before they can exert control, and as it stands, they only just begun. The way they have it implemented now is a long ways from what Sony has already established and accepted by the dev community who hasn't had a problem implementing it when they wanted to.

[twiggytree12]

No, Playstation will be just fine.

[Persian_Immortal]

Nope if anything the PlayStation brand is bigger then ever its getting a lot of traction in West Asia and Central Asia even with all the wars people want to play on PlayStation.Its also the premier console in the Chinese market and PS is leading in China a notable example being in which God Of War sold over 150K units in China, not to mention the boom in India PS4 is dominating the charts and Amazon in has PS4 taking all the top spots, both aforementioned markets will be huge in the future, and with North and South African markets reflecting great affinity towards PS. Europe is already Sony land so much is not needed to say there the brands the strength can potentially sky rocket even more if they started supporting West Asian and South American game development .

Then there is also this https://today.yougov.com/to...

[shinoff2183]

I doubt it us treat playstation buyers will still buy them because we know sony has the best games. I don't play online, but I'm sure sony will have it done by next gen

[Inzo]

No, now lets move on.

[lio_convoy]

I'm considering going a different route than Sony next gen. Only because cross play would breate a bit more life into some online games. When the numbers start to drop off on online matchmaking, that's where cross play helps. Haven't made up my mind yet, I've gotten a PlayStation since they first came out, but it's on my radar.

[Aceman18]

They offer games I love so I'm not dropping them over silly xplay. Besides I hate competitive online shooters, I'd rather play coop games with my friends.

Xplay will not get me buy another console because they offer it. Hell I have the Switch, and don't give two sh*ts about it lol.

[J-DARKnes]

Nope

[AK91]

No

[Platformgamer]

no it will not, awesome exclusives and awesome hardware says otherwise

[Artemidorus]

It might lose a small crowd but I can't see it being a game changer.

I am returning to Xbox at some point because the cross play is handy for me though.

[Magic_Spatula]

I wonder if the people who write these articles fail to see or deny the fact that PlayStation does have cross play, just not with Xbox and Switch. So no, Sony is not against cross play (seeing as how there's cross play with PC, iOS, and Android with specific games), and they see no reason to enable it with their competition. I believe someone from Sony stated that they don't see the PC space as competition so they don't have to worry about that. Seriously, these so called "journalists" are blowing things way out of proportion and I don't see Sony losing sales over the whole no cross play thing. It's not their focus. They've already stated their focus for the remainder of this gen and that's delivering amazing games, and with their future line up. That's exactly what they are doing.

[TheEnigma313]

People don't understand this. Why would Sony help the competition? And yes Sony cross plays with PC. I play SFV all the time with people on pc.

[Magic_Spatula]

Exactly. I play Rocket League with people on PS4 and Fortnite with my cousin who plays on PS4. Hell, I even played Final Fantasy 14 for a time with my brother who has it on PS4. It's not like they're against helping their competition either. Their music division did start up a small label to publish indie games, and they are publishing a title that not only will be on PS4 and PC but also the Switch as well. Sony has never been against cross play. They have been for it since before Microsoft and since last gen. Even earlier than that with Final Fantasy 11. So all of these "journalists" who claim that Sony doesn't care or want cross play really REALLY need to check their facts before writing stupid articles saying that they don't.

[Ninver]

Will poor journalism die and their websites burned? I sure hope so.

Enough with the tired questions. Playstation will still dominate based on games and variety not found on other platforms.

Put this recycled argument to rest.

[ironmonkey]

More like adult whining. Ps4 doesnt need cross play its fine where it is now and years to come.

[King_Lothric]

The cross play subject is being used by the competitors who are loosing just to attack the company who is dominating.

Is very ridiculous, but since these companies cannot compete against Sony face to face they will look at anything to attack.

Microsoft and Nintendo are... Surviving and begging together.
Sony is.... dominating without help.

[Mroc13]

Simple answer is no. I will be getting a Playstation console next gen and it's likely to be my main system

[TheEnigma313]

Just give this a rest. Sony is a business and dominating. They cross play with PC. They won't cross play with a competitor because they have no need to. It doesn't make business sense.

[shauzy]

No.

[ILostMyMind]

To be on par with the XBox brand, Sony needs to put PlayStation on the PC as an application. So they can do CP equal to equal.

[Phoenix76]

Is this horse not dead yet? Keeps on getting beaten

[Miacosa]

No. They'll fix it if its a really fiscal issue in the future.

[DefaultComment]

The corssplay isn't the issue and it will not hurt any brands, it's the stubborness from sony just because they are wining the console race thios generation that will hurt their own brand. Sure they got their exclusives and third party support indeed but when the next big game co-op online hits the market...guess what will happen? Customers are loyal but you can only push them this far, once that they will turn your back on you and move on to the next thing.
Ienjoy my ps4 and all but I prefer my switch even more because it's not shy from the crossplay experience with Xbox and PC......sink that in for a min.

[DrumBeat]

What, cross-play again? Really? Sony has been the undisputed king this generation because of their focus on games. It's that simple. I'd say 1% (maybe even less) of consumers give a tuppenny fuck about cross-play. They're not even cross-play conscious. This shit isn't on their radar. Nobody's thinking about it. It's off in some distant galaxy. I know that. YOU know that. Although I've seen good arguments from proponents, I'd say that most of this push is probably just good ol anti-Sony fanboyism at best. I promise you, the average gamer isn't wishing he could play against players on other consoles.

What I believe Sony absolutely MUST do? Keep the focus on games, and make backward compatibility a priority for next-gen. That's a MUST, and I'll be genuinely vexed if it's not a thing for PS5.