PlayStation wants more cross-play in games, says Jim Ryan

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan, in an interview with Axios, has revealed that Sony wants more cross-platform play in games, marking a change in stance at the company.

Ryan told Axios that “we support and encourage cross-play,” noting the cross-play seen in titles such as Fortnite, Call of Duty and soon, Destiny 2. “That number will continue to grow,” added Ryan.

This marks something of a change in stance regarding cross-play, which Sony has been somewhat more reluctant to embrace than its rivals. PlayStation was the last to support cross-play with other consoles, and had previously even blocked Fortnite PS4 players from using their accounts on the Nintendo Switch.

In fact, during the seemingly endless Apple v Epic court case, it was indicated that Sony was effectively charging for cross-play in Fortnite, demanding a cut of the revenue from PlayStation players who buy in-game items on other platforms.

Good news or bad news first? Good News: An update for Borderlands 3 has been prepared for release that includes full crossplay support across all platforms. Bad News: For certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove crossplay support for PlayStation consoles.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 27, 2021

Sony’s cross-play woes have continued more recently, with Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford Tweeting that they had been required to remove cross-play support for the PlayStation 4 and 5. When asked to clarify on the vaguely-worded Tweet, Take-Two did not specify to Axios what the specific issue was, but added that “our teams are exploring crossplay functionality that will enable fans to play with their friends across multiple platforms.”

Ryan himself would not be drawn into specifics regarding Borderlands, saying that he didn’t want to discuss a “live business issue with a long-standing partner,” but noted that “our policies are consistent across all of the publishers.”