The Minecraft community should be united with cross-play between console, mobile, and PC. Sony apparently does not want that and declines.
During Microsoft’s E3 press conference, there were many interesting reveals for fans and viewers. For example, many games were presented and it was shown how to improve “old” games.
The popular building survival game Minecraft is supposed to support multiplayer across various platforms, thereby uniting players on consoles, mobile, Windows 10, and VR devices. It seems that Sony is not joining this alliance.
Cross-Play with Switch, but without PlayStation
The Nintendo Switch has been confirmed as one of the cross-play-capable consoles. This allows players on the new Nintendo console Switch to play together with players on other platforms.
However, nothing was said about the PlayStation 4 or PS Vita. Many fans thus wondered why Sony’s consoles were not mentioned.
The blogger Jez Corden from Windows Central gave the answer on Twitter: Sony did not want to. He claims to have learned this from his sources. Allegedly, Microsoft approached Sony about cross-play, but they declined.
In response to this tweet, Corden also writes: “Microsoft’s hope is that all modern versions can be linked together. Through another piece of information, I learned that Sony declined.”
It is confirmed according to Jez Corden that the PlayStation version cannot connect to versions from Nintendo, Windows, and Xbox.
In an interview with GamesBeat, Aubrey Norris from Minecraft stated: “We cannot speak for Sony, but as we have said before, we would be very happy to welcome our PlayStation 4 community into the [cross-play] alliance.”
Players are disappointed with Sony
Many players on Sony’s platform are disappointed with this announcement. They would like to play with players on other platforms. On social media, one can read statements like “Whatever conditions Sony declined … They can’t have been that bad, since Nintendo agreed.”
Sony has behaved similarly in the past, when the car soccer game “Rocket League” introduced its cross-play feature. The connection between PS4 and PC players works there. However, PS4 players cannot connect to opponents on Microsoft’s competing consoles in Rocket League.
Even with MMOs like The Elder Scrolls Online or World of Tanks, developers had said that it would not be a problem to allow PS4 and Xbox One players to play with and against each other via cross-play. But for that, Sony and Microsoft would need to talk. Apparently, they are not doing that.
More from the Xbox press conference at E3 can be found in our E3 2017 overview article
