At this year's QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas, I sat down with Pete Hines, Bethesda's senior vice president of global marketing and communications, to talk about the forthcoming console version of The Elder Scrolls Legends. My first question was for Hines to give a general overview of what console players should expect from The Elder Scrolls: Legends when it eventually hits on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch.
"[The Elder Scrolls Legends] is a strategy card game that encompasses both single and multiplayer," Hines said. "It is both cross-platform play and cross-platform progress."
I cut him off at this point to clarify that the cross-play would only be on "certain systems," since I figured this wouldn't apply on PS4.
Hines replied, "It is our intention in order for the game to come out, it has to be those things on any system. We cannot have a game that works one way across everywhere else except for on this one thing. The way the game works right now on Apple, Google, Steam, and Bethesda.net, it doesn't matter where you buy your stuff, if you play it on another platform that stuff is there. It doesn't matter what platform you play on, you play against everyone else who is playing at that moment. There's no 'Oh, it's easier to control, or it has a better framerate on this system.' It's a strategy card game. It doesn't matter."
https://www.gameinformer.com/2018/0...-legends-on-systems-that-dont-allow-crossplayI asked him if that meant there's a chance it won't come out on PlayStation 4 if Sony doesn't change its stance. "We continue to talk to all of our platform partners," Hines added. "But those [terms] are essentially non-negotiable. We can't be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version where you stay within that ecosystem or its walled off from everything else. That is counter to what the game has been about."
I told Hines that Sony isn't letting Fortnite offer cross-play, and that game is the biggest thing out there right now. "I am aware," he said. "I'm just telling you that's our stance. That is our intent. And that is our message. Not specific to anyone in particular, but to everyone we are talking about. This is 100 percent clear. This is what we are doing, what we need, and what we intend."
Hines didn't outright name Sony in any capacity, but unless Bethesda is doing something different with its cross-platform efforts that conflicts with the freedom Xbox One and Switch currently allow, it has to be PlayStation 4.
