Jim Ryan, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has said that Sony wants more cross-platform multiplayer in games.
Speaking to Axios, Jim Ryan said: “We support and encourage cross-play,” and when talking about the current library of cross-play enabled games, he said that the “number will continue to grow”.
Cross-play currently works on a number of big titles such as Fortnite, Rocket League, Call Of Duty, and is planned for Destiny 2.
In the past, Sony has been resistant to cross-play. Recently, Borderlands 3 developer Gearbox had to remove a patch that would have enabled cross-play in the PlayStation version of the game.
According to Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford, cross-play on all other consoles will still be available in the update, but they were required to remove the patch “for certification”.
When speaking to Axios, Ryan refused to comment on the Borderland 3 issue, saying that he didn’t want to comment on a “live business issue with a long-standing partner,” before noting “our policies are consistent across all of the publishers.”
A report early in the year suggested that Sony has, in the past, charged developers to enable cross-play to their platform. The information came from documents that were made available during the Epic Games vs Apple lawsuit.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney confirmed as part of his testimony on May 2, 2021 that Sony was the only platform holder that required compensation for cross-play.
