-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Shawn Layden blames publishers and developers for lack of PlayStation crossplay (Up: Wargroove dev Chucklefish responds in thread - "We were told no")
- Thread starter Aokiji
- Start date
It's beginning to blow up. A couple of news outlets have already reported and it's trending the top of r/PS4 right now
Yeah, it seems like some places have picked it up:
Not talking about on here, but Im looking at pro-sony sites on the internet, and the way they defend sony is just embarassing. It also means we're not going to get crossplay if so many people are just indifferent or defensive over it
Some places makes you think if they even want to breathe the same air we breathe.
Thank you for speaking up. I know it's not always easy to do the brave thing considering how much power console makers hold.
Sony, we get it, you're on top, you can afford to say "fuck that" to crossplay. But pinning the blame on devs is monumentally shitty.
Cross play has no direct cost associated with it, all traffic for the games run on the developers own infrastructure. The only thing Sony needs to have implemented is developer API access to PSN to facilitate validating PSN accounts with external services, they already have that in place and services like Destiny uses that to allow you to log in to their site with your PSN account.
This is purely a Sony internal policy that they are reluctant to change, games are not running on PSN servers that PS Plus subscribers pay for.
I'm sorry to attack your work so blatantly, but this article reads very sensationalist.
If Sony is open for business, then it's the type of restaurant with an email list and an unknown location only told through riddles.
The top comment:
*Sigh* This infantile tribalist trash will never, ever end.
Why doesn't Microsoft, Nintendo, and PC just have cross-play And just leave Sony at a competitive disadvantage? If there is a technical issue with it just disable multiplayer on Sony platforms.
Why do people put so much energy in keeping corporations in business. If cross-play is the future let it be a future without Sony.
Why do people put so much energy in keeping corporations in business. If cross-play is the future let it be a future without Sony.
Further clarification
We will be releasing it on PS4, we have finite resources and prioritised platforms that could crossplay as it was important to us to get the online nice and healthy rather than divide the player base.
Work is going into the PS4 version now, it won't have PS4 to PC crossplay as that would have forced us to attempt some sort of inelegant system to try and ensure Xbox/Switch players wouldn't see each other despite both being able to play with PC players.
PC lobbies becoming unavailable to Xbox/Switch players if a PS4 player joins maybe? There are no nice solutions.
As far as just flicking a switch goes, just to clarify, this is entirely from a technical perspective. I'm sure that if crossplay opens up it will come with lots of policies to adhere to (and these are a good thing) that could require work on our part. Aside from policy, there are no security or technical concerns I'm aware of hindering us. Because Wargroove runs on our own servers, any security needs to be in place regardless.
It's actually more work for us to restrict crossplay, to isolate platforms, than to just let it function.
Glad to see Chucklefish speak out. I hope other Devs call them out too. I kinda think it's nonsense to say Fortnite and Rocket League can but others can't. I get that they are a business and don't want to lose money but I can't imagine that if you have more than double the install base of the competition that you are really losing anything from crossplay. If anything you are allowing games to have a bigger player base which would most likely lead to more sales of season passes mtx ect. But I don't run an entertainment business so what do I know. Hope we get some Apex crossplay
Thanks for clarifying again.
Hope that the PS4 launch for Wargroove will go well!
It's crazy. This has to be one of the most clear cut obvious things to be for in gaming I've seen. How can someone have any pushback AGAINST crossplay? It makes literally no sense as a consumer, it only helps developers and playerbases flourish. But even that still brings the maniacs out.
Exactly this, I think Nintendo and Microsoft should continue on using it as an advantage and leave Sony in the dust. This is ridiculous at this point, just as ridiculous as any defense of it.
Sure has been slow when all the devs that go to them since launch can do it if allowed.
well, no. Technically THIS is the top rated comment:
Must be very, very frustrating for yourselves then.
Keep on at it though, I love Wargroove!
Because it's good for devs of all sizes but especially small ones. Right now it's great for Microsoft and Switch but come Next Gen when the Switch won't be able to handle some of those future games? That's where Sony needs to step up
Thanks for the clarification.
I sure hope that Shawn Laydens BS gets picked up by the gaming outlets.
Welp....thanks for the inside - there really is no defending this, especially if it results in more work for devs to keep the PS4 version a cross-play free zone.
To be fair, this work needs to be done for every platform as users are generally able to opt out of crossplay on each console. It's not PS4 specific. I'm more explaining why this is a 'switch flipping' scenario. We'd just be disabling the restrictions.
So clearly an indie studio like yourselves are not a big enough voice to get in Sony's ear about this. Have you heard anything about the bigger voices doing it in your place? Like an EA or an Acti-Blizzard for example?
What a disaster....first Jim Ryan of all being, the king of gaffes becoming CEO, and now Shawn Layden clearly lying about devs access to crossplay....
I dont know what department are in charge of the decision making in this area, but they need to be fired immediately
I dont know what department are in charge of the decision making in this area, but they need to be fired immediately
Arrogant Sony has been back for a while.
Seriously?
Making the CEO look bad is no bueno. I can imagine some VP is shaking in their boots that their CEO said one thing in public and they've been telling their reports something else in private.
I wouldn't immediately put the blame on Shawn but it's definitely his accountability. If things are meant to be how he says he needs to go rattle some heads.
I wouldn't immediately put the blame on Shawn but it's definitely his accountability. If things are meant to be how he says he needs to go rattle some heads.
I think they can release Wargroove on Google Play Store when they feel like it. This discussion won't affect that.
