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Wargroove developer Chucklefish claims that Sony told them NO to Cross-Play

Shin

Banned
A third Developer has now decided to speak out regarding Sony’s cross-play program, as the CEO of Chucklefish claims that Sony has repeatedly told them “no” when asking for cross-play support for the recently released Wargroove.
‘Tiy’ took to ResetEra to debunk Shawn Layden’s recent comments that all a developer needed to do was ask to be part of their cross-play program.

Hi all,

CEO Of Chucklefish here, we just launched Wargroove with crossplay between PC, Switch and Xbox so I wanted to chime in.

We made many requests for crossplay (both through our account manager and directly with higher ups) all the way up until release month. We were told in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen.

From our side, we can *literally* toggle a switch and have it working. Of course policy work might be more complicated for Sony.

Just wanted to provide some balance on the issue and say that it certainly isn't a question of developers having not contacted their account managers or having dropped the ball. We were told no.

Credit: PlayStationBrahs
Source: Reset

Note: posting this because Shawn said it's not Sony's fault and they have been open arm to cross-play and all that, but we know from various developer that they pick and choose in reality.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I believe Chucklefish. Who wants those inferior online opponents anyway? If they didn't buy a PS4, why should entitled gamers get to play against them?

(please don't take the bait. In truth, Sony should be open-armed to this. It's clearly a thing of the next generation of games. Why not embrace it now?)
 
Well that’s suprising..not
Seriously the excuse of being market leader is only going to last for so long...it took ms 1 generation to fuck things up because they didn’t listen to consumers and Sony have been ticking those boxes as of late.
 

Shin

Banned
Sony gonna sony 🤷‍♂️
This is basically the problem IMO, their corporate culture is old fashioned and it might catch up to them if it hasn't already.
Consumers (whether you care about it or not ATM) can only be so forgiving until even the most of loyalists move on.
Might not happen over night but continuation has arrived within the console space and is a bish that could cost even the market leader their position.
 

Hinedorf

Banned
Got a problem with it? Stop buying Sony.

Unfortunately you'll be missing the best games because of your commitment to pettiness but good luck with that.
 
Got a problem with it? Stop buying Sony.
This is the solution. It's all they'll listen to.
They will happily continue to lie to our faces as long as we continue to open our wallets.
Unfortunately you'll be missing the best games..
Speaking as a Sony fan, this is subjective.

But, sure, prioritise accordingly and work out what matters most to you.
I have no friends and don't like other people in general. So cross-play is a non-issue for me.
 

Virex

Banned
The whole cross play thing is becoming pretty petty to be honest. A lot less people care about cross play than people think. But empty cans do make the most noise after all.
 

Shin

Banned
The whole cross play thing is becoming pretty petty to be honest. A lot less people care about cross play than people think. But empty cans do make the most noise after all.
I don't care about it personally, yet it's part of a bigger picture which I mentioned in a previous post.
Sony can move around to gain benefits and/or try and westernize or whatever the hell made them move to Cali, but if the people running the company are stuck in the past what good will it do?
And how much do they need to take away/alter/change/force before it affects us personally until we start to care?

Extra: dat headline though - https://twistedvoxel.com/sony-executive-caught-red-handed-in-a-lie-over-allowing-crossplay-on-ps4/
 
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DonF

Member
Its super lame and anti consumer, but I can see why sony is doing it. They would win nothing out of it.
 

mejin

Member
Like I said before sony is delaying this shit as much as they can. probably because they don't know or don't see how to get an advantage from this. Layden was played this time, really dumb answer so easy to refute.
 

Kamina

Golden Boy
I thought it was well know that it is only Sony who doesn’t want crossplay?
 
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Phobia

Member
I think the issue here is that he straight up lied. If they were to just come out and say they don't see any benefit of cross play instead of trying to shift blame to developers, they wouldn't be getting shit over crossplay. I don't care about crossplay because I own every system this generation so if I want to play with specific people, I just boot up the console we all play on.
 

DiscoJer

Member
From Sony's point of view, all cross play does it help their competition by providing other console users with a much larger user base, negating one of Sony's advantages.

With that said, they probably can't come out and say that.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
From Sony's point of view, all cross play does it help their competition by providing other console users with a much larger user base, negating one of Sony's advantages.

With that said, they probably can't come out and say that.
That assumes Sony thinks PS4 gamers will jump ship to MS systems (no confidence in their product).

The same thing can be in the reverse..... if Sony opens up crossplay with MS, Sony can scoop up millions of MS gamers to join the 90 million gamers and put Xbox on it's deathbed.

That 40 million Xbox gamers with record MAU $$$ would drop like a rock if MS gamers realized how good PS is and transitioned to Sony.
 

Phobia

Member
More likely people would buy a PS4 as well once they talk to PS4 players about the games that are exclusive there. Pretending like crossplay could be the death of Xbox is hilariously fanboyish of you.
 

Phobia

Member
They're still in the lead in consoles sold, so they don't feel the need to include it. It doesn't bug me one way or another, but I would at least respect it if they just told the truth about not wanting to.
 

Three

Member
Well that’s suprising..not
Seriously the excuse of being market leader is only going to last for so long...it took ms 1 generation to fuck things up because they didn’t listen to consumers and Sony have been ticking those boxes as of late.

MS was the one in that generation not listening to consumers. The generation that MS 'fucked things up' was the generation MS blocked crossplay. It's just that people didn't make a ruckus back then.
 

Phobia

Member
Microsoft has really fixed a lot of issues they had at the start of this generation. Cross play, backwards compatibility between both OG Xbox and 360, Xbox One X, getting Xbox live on other platforms in the future, cross buy (even if you have to use Windows store), and signing multiple gaming studios to develop first party titles.

Say whatever you want about their stance the past generation, but unlike Sony they have tried to really improve their brand by listening to their core audience and constantly improving the Xbox experience.
 

Shin

Banned
Microsoft has really fixed a lot of issues they had at the start of this generation. Cross play, backwards compatibility between both OG Xbox and 360, Xbox One X, getting Xbox live on other platforms in the future, cross buy (even if you have to use Windows store), and signing multiple gaming studios to develop first party titles.

Say whatever you want about their stance the past generation, but unlike Sony they have tried to really improve their brand by listening to their core audience and constantly improving the Xbox experience.
It's apples vs oranges comparison at this point if one is to cast any loyalty or need to defend Z or Y company, but let's not get into that in this thread or it will be derailed.
 

Hudo

Member
I too didn't want to share my Legos when I was young. But then, on one fateful day, it happened. I was forced to go to a girl's house because my Mom was friends with hers. In wise foresight of what toys a girl would have, I decided to bring along one of my Lego sets to occupy myself properly. Little did I know that the girl in question had Lego sets as well! Because she maxed out her stats on "Charisma", I relented and we decided to put our Legos together and build something. It was an interesting experience and what we produced was legendary: A submarine that with the front-half being a full-blown battle-ready piece of awesome (I was ready for anything. We could carry nuclear rockets). While the latter-half had a goddamn swimming pool. Fucking genius.

However, everything fell apart once her little sister came along with her Duplos...

Now, Sony, are you the girl or are you her little sister?
 
Sony should have either:

1) Kept saying no, just like Xbox did when they were the console leader last generation.

2) Said yes, and then fully committed to working with all developers for cross-play.

Because right now, Sony just doesn't want to be the console where a PC user playing Fortnite wants to play with a friend, and so they tell the friend to buy an Xbox instead of a PlayStation. But they also don't want people dropping their Plus subscription because every 3rd party game can still be played with their PlayStation friends, and they have a good gaming PC.

Sony is trying to have the best of both worlds, and they're outright lying to their customers to get it. That should be loudly challenged by gamers and critics alike.
 

KingT731

Member
Perhaps it's an issue with the way they planned to implement it? I know there's plenty of technical caveats with things of thathat nature.
 
Sony should have either:

1) Kept saying no, just like Xbox did when they were the console leader last generation.

2) Said yes, and then fully committed to working with all developers for cross-play.

Because right now, Sony just doesn't want to be the console where a PC user playing Fortnite wants to play with a friend, and so they tell the friend to buy an Xbox instead of a PlayStation. .

and a gold subscription in order to play "free"to play games
 

Airbus Jr

Banned
Not trying to be lame or something but since I'm the only one with all three systems and everyone around me only own a PS4 to play together this decision have zero impact for me
 
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Toe-Knee

Member
It seems that all the games that Sony allow it for all have their own matchmaking service & friend management system and don't use psn for it.

Maybe that is a requirement that must be met in order to be approved.

II personally don't care if they do it or not but I a sick to death of hearing about it so I guess I'll go on the side of just do it already so I can stop hearing it.
 

Solo Act

Member
The lying isn't a good look. Maybe Sony will "clarify" his remark later, but I don't understand the dishonesty.

Sony doesn't believe that cross-play adds value to their ecosystem because it is already the largest. Microsoft felt that way years ago when the roles were reversed. One of the benefits of having the best selling console has historically been the snowball effect that occurs when customers know that their friends are already on a particular system. Sony isn't keen to give up that advantage, but they can't keep their finger in the dyke forever. I think they're unsure of how to address the problem while looking good; lying isn't the correct answer.
 
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mckmas8808

Banned
Like I said before sony is delaying this shit as much as they can. probably because they don't know or don't see how to get an advantage from this. Layden was played this time, really dumb answer so easy to refute.

Probably until the PS5 launch if it's my guess.
 

Lort

Banned
For game devs that arent triple A it makes a huge difference if you have enough players to match with, it can be the difference between success or failure .. between continuing to make games or going broke.

Lets all just remember whats important here .. that Sony should feel free to do everything in its power to restrict game developers from allowing gamers to play together in order to protect its own stockholders.
 

Tarkus98

Member
I personally do not care about cross-play. Doesn’t bother me one way or the other BUT I can certainly see the value it may have to others that would use it.
What I do not like or appreciate is the lying. Why say that all a developer has to do is apply for cross-play and they will get it when clearly that was never their intention.
They now need to address this because I don’t believe it will quietly go away this time.
Just blows my mind that someone in Layton’s position would allow themselves to get caught in a corner like this.
 

Shmunter

Member
I personally do not care about cross-play. Doesn’t bother me one way or the other BUT I can certainly see the value it may have to others that would use it.
What I do not like or appreciate is the lying. Why say that all a developer has to do is apply for cross-play and they will get it when clearly that was never their intention.
They now need to address this because I don’t believe it will quietly go away this time.
Just blows my mind that someone in Layton’s position would allow themselves to get caught in a corner like this.

Not the first time it’s happened with Layden. He’s been faced with questions regarding crossplay and psn name changes previously and crumbled under pressure over promising with no results or limited results over excruciatingly long time frames.
 
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Mr Hyde

Member
Still waiting for cross-play on Warframe between Switch and Sony but reading this I guess that is just a pipe dream. Sony can be so annoying and stubborn with their stupid ass corporate PR-talk.
 

01011001

Banned
Still waiting for cross-play on Warframe between Switch and Sony but reading this I guess that is just a pipe dream. Sony can be so annoying and stubborn with their stupid ass corporate PR-talk.

crossplqy in Warframe won't happen anyways, they are always behind on their updates, they only recently got Xbox and PS4 to be on the same update cycle, Switch is still a month or so behind, and PC is a month ahead of Xbox and PS4...

sp the devs woukd need to get their shit together first
 

FStubbs

Member
This is basically the problem IMO, their corporate culture is old fashioned and it might catch up to them if it hasn't already.
Consumers (whether you care about it or not ATM) can only be so forgiving until even the most of loyalists move on.
Might not happen over night but continuation has arrived within the console space and is a bish that could cost even the market leader their position.

More old fashioned than Nintendo who doesn't mind crossplay?
 
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