Sony Killed Off Fallout 76’s Cross-play Functionality Before It Could Become A Reality

A couple of weeks ago, I ranted about the latest iteration of Sony’s complete disregard to how important cross-play functionality is for gaming. At that time, it was Fortnite in the crosshair: even though it’s a cross-play title, PS4 gamers found themselves locked to that platform, whereas someone on any other platform would be able to jump on another and play with their same account.

I personally love having the ability to play with my friends regardless of their platform of choice. I wrote in favor of Forza Horizon 3‘s design in the past, as it’s as close to “perfect” as I’d expect from a cross-play title, which is to say, knowing I’m even playing a cross-play title is essentially invisible to the eye. It’s completely seamless, and I’m hoping the upcoming FH4 follows suit.

If there was any doubt about Sony being the stick in the mud where cross-play is concerned, that should be finally settled thanks to some words uttered by Fallout 76‘s Todd Howard. Because of Sony’s asinine view of cross-play, this game isn’t going to offer cross-play at all, because it’s not worth the development effort when all platforms can’t be supported. That effectively means that those people not on Sony’s platform are still very much getting screwed by this, and to me, that’s unacceptable.

Sony is, in effect, a digital roadblock here, and its stance on the matter doesn’t seem to be waning at all. We could begin an era where cross-play is just expected, and not treated as a luxury, but Sony simply doesn’t care, and would prefer to keep being stubborn even if it means annoying half of its loyal fanbase.

As I mentioned in the post from a couple of weeks ago, I just can’t accept Sony’s view on this. Between Xbox and PlayStation, it’s the latter that has the better set of exclusives (as seems to be the general consensus)… so in reality, Sony has very little to worry about. If it continues delivering exclusives that people want to play, then people are going to be playing PlayStation, and if that’s the case, cross-play isn’t a risk – it’s an enhancement. Is Sony scared that its AAA exclusives reign is going to come to an end?

Come on, Sony. We have enough ridiculousness in the world as-is already. Stop adding this pettiness to it.