Back in September, Sony finally opened the gates for cross-platform play on PlayStation 4. The first game to take advantage of the possibility is Epic Games’ Fortnite, but it seems like Overwatch may be among the games that will support the feature.
Speaking with Eurogamer, Overwatch lead designer Jeff Kaplan spoke about cross-platform play, saying that they would be excited to pursue it.
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Are you working on enabling PS4-Xbox One cross-play in light of Sony loosening up?
Jeff Kaplan: We’re super-excited about what’s going on with cross-play in all sorts of different games, from Rocket League to Fortnite, and we are constantly in discussions with the first-parties, Microsoft and Sony, to see where they’re at and gauge where their temperature is at. It’s something that would be very exciting for us to pursue.
Currently, Blizzard is only talking about how they’re interested in crossplay support for Overwatch. There are many challenges to tackle, but they would love to do it regardless.
Is it something you are pursuing?
Jeff Kaplan: We are definitely having conversations that we’re interested in the thought of it.
It’s very complicated – from a technology standpoint, a game design standpoint, and from a business relationship standpoint. But we would be excited to tackle all of those challenges; we would love to try. We’re gamers; “Why can’t my buddies on this system or that system play together?” We sympathise with that, we want to be able to do that too.
Sony has been against cross-platform play with other consoles since the beginning of the current generation, changing its stance on the matter only recently. Nintendo and Microsoft, on the contrary, have always been open about the matter, allowing cross-platform play between Xbox One and Nintendo Switch for several titles.
For 24 years, we have strived to deliver the best gaming experience to our fans by providing a uniquely PlayStation perspective. Today, the communities around some games have evolved to the point where cross-platform experiences add significant value to players. In recognition of this, we have completed a thorough analysis of the business mechanics required to ensure that the PlayStation experience for our users remains intact today, and in the future, as we look to open up the platform.
This represents a major policy change for SIE, and we are now in the planning process across the organization to support this change. We will update the community once we have more details to share, including more specifics regarding the beta timeframe, and what this means for other titles going forward.
