Random E3 thought, Is this the year cross console multiplayer becomes a thing?

Unfortunately, I think not. I hope so, but I can't see Sony allowing it, even is MS wants to. It'll only happen when both consoles are locked in popularity. That may never happen.

Sony doesn't want pc and xbox players "Defiling" there Sony multiplayer feel. What a bunch of Bourgeoisie pricks! Raise the price of PSPlus again fucking.......

Good on Microsoft to at least let me play horde mode in gears4 with Xbox players.

Microsoft already tried this last year when they made it so that every version of Minecraft could play with each other, which the one exception being Sony because they didn't agree.

And they won't because they're the market leader and as far as they see it, they've absolutely nothing to gain from it.

I've lost all hope in this. Especially now that each platform has a lot of players. Sony doesn't need it, and Microsoft probably doesn't either, which means it's likely not happening.

I’m half expecting a Fortnite on Switch announcement, which also means Switch-Xbox cross play. But PS4-Xbox cross play? No way.

AHAHAHAHA that poll question is funny

(I voted no) cause in no way Sony is going to throw all their lead up to this point. We might see it with PS5 if sales don't go the way they want to, but if MS gets out of the "console manufacturing" business, it paves the way for Sony to never allow Cross platform play, it would hurt their business.

@alvarofaraujo: it wouldn’t hurt their business, it just takes away a bargaining chip for the future if they lose ground. Cross play would only encourage more purchases on their platform as people could buy for their preferred console. As the market leader they would gain more software and hardware sales than they would lose to MS.

It likely would be a small difference and that means they would rather not until they have more reason to entice people.

It would also be very good for developer relationships. Being able to consolidate player bases across platforms would benefit many developers and could bring more support to Sony as a result.

almost certainly not. the most people are on ps4, and won't be leaving one way or another, so what's sony's motivation to do so? they're not in a position requiring damage control. no make-good is currently necessary.

I don't know if I agree with that.

Suppose Sony open it up and agree to let people play third party games between MS and Sony consoles. Now we can all play FIFA together. Sony have just lost something over you, your friends in their ecosystem. I have a friend who was playing exclusively on Xbox One this generation, up until he eventually bit the bullet and bought a PS4 because the rest of us all played multiplayer games together on PS4. If he was able to play TF2 and GTA V with us on our PS4 and him on his Xbox, Sony would've never made that sale. They'd never have sold him the console, additional controllers and software copies of the games he bought. He would've just kept playing TF2 on his Xbox while we played on PS4.

Look at people like Jason - he buys multiple copies of games on Xbox and PS4 because he has friends on both and he feels he needs to buy two copies of Monster Hunter so he can play with both groups. If he didn't have to do that then either Sony or MS lose a software sale.

Depends on what you mean i think its already going on in some ways with Minecraft. I could see more happening with microsoft and Nintendo, but with sonys war against it i highly doubt they will ever support it (until financially necessary). With sony going after retailer discounts as well i think there is good chance they will try and keep most things in house for the foreseeable future.

Sony won't. Amazingly, Nintendo will, if Minecraft is any indication.

@opusofthemagnum: As @jesus_phish: mentioned someone will take the software hit, and since they make their money on software sales while taking a hit on hardware (that still happens though less since they changed the build to reassemble a PC) I can't see them having the interest on doing so.

Now the real move by Sony would be release a PS5 that has backward compatibility from DAY 1 so that users acquired by the huge popularity of PS4, if they should migrate would have the option of playing with PS4 friends, and thats a very big thing cause with popular games like sports games and concurrent games , for example FIFA and Fortnight, where the hardware bump isn't much needed, and still lock them from the Xbox/switch/pc users.

I wish. I bought multiplatform games on the PS4 all generation, but now that I got an X I'll be buying them on Xbox. My understanding is the PS4 has a higher population online so I'd love a combination of the two now.

That would be cool and I think that it definitely should happen. But in reality it's not going to happen. I hope, no I wish, I would be wrong but if that actually happened that would honestly be one of the craziest reveals in years. But it would be so nice if you could just play with your friends no matter your choice of console.

I discovered relatively recently that the PS4 and PC versions of Final Fantasy 14 play together, which I was amazed at. So I guess there's hope for non Xbox Store games to work with PS4, providing they do all the backend work. It also occurred to me that there's a problem with console exclusive content, specifically thinking of Destiny 2. They have that exclusive strike and sniper rifle, so that version actually can't work with the others. Maybe as long as Sony keeps going after console exclusive content like that, they'll never back down from their decision. And as long as they're the most popular console on the market and can make those deals, I don't know if they would ever stop. But now that the One-X is out, people that never bothered with the Xbox this generation before want the most powerful thing, so maybe we'll start seeing a market change and Sony will make the decision to keep their user base?

Never gonna happen with Sony in the lead. They hold all the cards in this scenario. Nintendo don't give a fuck because they are so confident - and rightfully so - in the uniqueness of their hardware and software that they know people are gonna buy a Switch at some point no matter what. So third party cross-platform play does nothing but help them.

I think Microsoft's willingness obviously comes at least in part from desperation so they'll make all the concessions companies want especially since cross-platform would also only help them in most cases. However, I also think they're playing the long game with getting back into PC gaming and want to give you options in where and how to play, so rejecting cross-platform play would only contradict that philosophy in the eyes of the masses. I personally don't think consoles are going away for a long, long time, but I also think they clearly realize PC gaming is only getting bigger so they'll slowly become a bigger player in that market as well so they don't have to rely solely on the Xbox like Sony relies on the Playstation.

Cross-platform play arguably has the largest negative impact on Sony for obvious reasons and they don't want to give up an inch to the competition. I think if the positions are reversed next-gen, they'll open up for sure, but if Sony announced that this year at E3, that might honestly be the single most surprising thing at the show.