Right now, there is a lot of buzz in the gamer community because those who have registered Fortnite on PlayStation cannot play it on Switch anymore. Therefore, fans are now finally demanding crossplay and cross-progression from Sony. However, according to our guest author DevilRon, Sony is doing everything right!
To put it right from the start: No, I am not a “Sony fanboy”! I grew up with the good old Super Nintendo. Then came the GBA, N64, PS2, Xbox, laptop, NDS, PSP, Xbox 360, 3DS, PS4, PS Vita, PC, and finally the Xbox One in pretty much that exact order.
Crossplay as a Constant Topic
For about two years now, a certain discussion has caught my eye in numerous forums again and again. It’s about the topic of “crossplay.” Crossplay between various systems, between mobile phones and PC, between PC and Xbox One, between PC and PS4, and even between PS4 and Xbox One.
Everything should be interconnected as best as possible. The topic is all the rage and has reached a new peak with the announcement of Fortnite on the Switch. Why? Because now everyone can happily play Fortnite together, only Sony refuses to play along, preventing players from landing on a server with players from other consoles.
A shitstorm is brewing: Twitter and other social media are exploding because of this: Numerous players are complaining, denouncing Sony, and throwing insults.
Rightly so? No, I don’t think so. I am, in fact, quite clear in my opinion that Sony is currently doing everything right. Why? I would like to explain this to you with some arguments.
“This is for the players” – Maybe, but it’s about much more…
…namely clearly about money and this is repeatedly forgotten by passionate gamers. Sony or the Sony Corporation is primarily a company that was founded in Japan in 1946 and specializes in entertainment electronics.
A company always pursues economic goals, wants to secure a place on a national or even international level, make a profit, and grow. Sony is achieving this quite well, especially with the PlayStation. This includes nearly every console that bears that name.
There have never been any real flops with PlayStation, even though now and then there were candidates like the PS Vita that did not manage to establish itself particularly successfully in Europe and North America.
Great Numbers for PlayStation
The current console generation around the PS4 is selling tremendously. At the end of 2017, Sony released some numbers indicating that they:
- sold 5.9 million console units and over 55.9 million PS4 games during the Christmas season of 2017.
- since the launch of the PS4, over 73.6 million PS4 models have found a new home.
Microsoft Clearly at a Disadvantage
The competitor named Microsoft wants to keep the sales figures of Xbox One exact, but mentioned in May 2018 that they observed an increase in sales of about 15%.
However, we get slightly more accurate numbers from EA. The financial manager of EA named Jake Jorgensen commented in the trade magazine “Variety” on the console war we know and mentioned that Microsoft has not even come close to Sony’s sales figures.
It’s assumed that Microsoft has sold around 30 million units in total, which wouldn’t even be half of the 73.6 million achieved by Sony with the PS4.
Why Should Sony Share Its Success?
But what does this have to do with crossplay? Well, the thing is quite simple: Sony and Microsoft want to win over the same customers: namely us gamers. Whether you like it or not, Sony and Microsoft are clearly competitors from an economic point of view.If a company manages to come out on top, why would they want to share with the second-placed? Why would the king want to share his realm? Because that is exactly what could happen with crossplay!
Boundaries Would Blur
I know many friends, for example, who consciously chose the PS4 because they grew up with PlayStation from a young age. Exclusive titles are not even that important to these people, as they “just want to play FIFA or Fortnite anyway.” At the same time, many friends mention that there’s one thing that is clearly better with the Xbox One, namely the controller.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve heard how extraordinarily good this feels. Nevertheless, they don’t want to switch to Microsoft because over time they have built a whole base of social contacts on PlayStation 3 & 4.
Microsoft Would Benefit More from Crossplay than Sony
Let’s assume crossplay is established. What’s stopping these friends from switching to Microsoft? Nothing, because they could play together with old acquaintances from PlayStation times through crossplay and my friends would also still have the better controller in their hands.
Who would win in this situation? Clearly the second-placed, namely Microsoft or number 3 of the consoles, the Nintendo Switch. These two would benefit from the enormous player base that Sony has built over the years with the PS4.
A Risky Game with Little Gain
There would be a shift in power, with Sony also bearing the greatest risk. Of course, it could also happen that Sony could gain players in this process, but why would they want to bet on this rather dangerous hand of cards if they are currently winning?
The players’ response to Sony’s crossplay policy:
- Boycott Sony!
- Sony will regret this!
- Sony will fail!
But let’s be honest, nothing of this is currently felt. Even the falling stock price by 2% cannot yet be attributed to the crossplay debate, as these numbers are too fresh.
At present, there is absolutely no indication that…
- Players will actually boycott the PS4 for the foreseeable future.
- The sales figures of the PS4 have dropped and customers are switching to consoles that handle crossplay more openly.
- Crossplay is more a buying argument for a specific console than, for example, exclusive titles.
Outbursts of Anger are Not Constructive!
For Sony to engage in crossplay, facts must follow and this does not mean angry outbursts on Twitter, but clear changes that prove that crossplay is a very important issue for people. Only then will Sony act.
That Sony does not just want to annoy the players with this crossplay debate and that there are indeed economic goals behind it has already been shown by the past.
Microsoft Would Do the Same!
Final Fantasy 14 can be played without any problems together with people on PC. But why didn’t this game appear for Xbox 360? Naoki Yoshida, producer of the successful title Final Fantasy 14, hinted that the game was also planned for Microsoft’s console, but this idea had to be discarded because the then Xbox 360 did not support crossplay and Microsoft did not want to make changes to its corporate policy.
Back then, Microsoft also didn’t want to Share
Why didn’t Microsoft want to know anything about it back then and today, several years later, is it different? Well, you only have to take a look at the sales figures of 2013 and it becomes clear that there was always a balanced power relationship between the PS3 and the XBOX 360.
Both console manufacturers sold around 77 million units at that time, it was a neck-and-neck race without a real loser. Microsoft saw no reason to tinker with the successful formula as it was enough to win alone.
The Turning Point in the Console War
The Xbox One and PS4 were released in the same year, thus starting the race from the beginning. While Sony clearly focused on video games, Microsoft developed a bit… um “differently”. Who doesn’t remember the presentation of the Xbox One, where nearly only topics like “sports” and “TV” were presented and video games completely fell into the background?
With this strategy, Microsoft failed and fell behind, while Sony was able to gain distance. Of course, Microsoft had to make changes to win back the favor of gamers, who still remember “Always-Online”, “Region-Lock” and further aspects of the planned Xbox One. This led to a breach of trust.
Microsoft Wants to Gain Favor with Gamers Again through Crossplay
So, there are not just one reason why Microsoft is relying on crossplay and it’s not just the clear lead of Sony, but also because they want to win back angry players. This strategy seems to work, because as we can see, it is no longer Microsoft being portrayed as unfriendly towards customers, but Sony, the electronics giant from Japan.
What results this will lead to sooner or later, we do not know. However, I believe that Sony’s current disinterest in crossplay is justifiable at least from an economic perspective. Of course, I can also understand the impulsive behavior of people who vent their frustration on Twitter, etc., but whether this alone will suffice for Sony to make changes, well, I don’t think so.
It also raises the question of whether Microsoft would have reacted differently regarding crossplay if their current console generation were doing significantly better, like in 2013 when the balance between PlayStation and Xbox was significantly more even and they didn’t want to support crossplay with FF14.
I would be very interested in your opinion on this.
This article was written by guest author DevilRon1989. The opinion does not necessarily reflect those of Mein MMO.
