War Thunder developer calls out Sony on Twitter about lack of Cross Play with #Crossplay4ThePlayers

[Philly Cheesesteak]

Just looking at some of your posts in here, is it really hard to see why? There's hardly any cherry picking to be done. It really comes off like you are defending Sony's actions through corporate apologism.

I just do not understand the need to make an argument through the lens of corporate when the answer is 99% of the time, a really dumb and very selfish reason.

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Not once throughout this entire conversation did I state that I was in support of Sony not having crossplay and even stated in one of the posts you quoted that I would love nothing more than to have crossplay open so that games that I enjoy would have more people I can play with including Fortnite and others. If me explaining why Sony would feel the way they do is arguing through the lens of the corporation as you say, then that is on me for not stating my position more clearly. From the jump, I stated that all of this is a business play between MS and Sony. Nothing more.

Don't bother with Philly Cheesesteak, just look at his post history. He has been banned numerous times for console wars so you're wasting your time.

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You are more than free to ignore me since I'm wasting your time, but please refrain from meta posting and derailing the conversation please.

 

[Budi]

Good, Sony needs more flack for this.

 

[Raijinto]

Exactly. Being the market leader means they obviously have the power to decide if they want to share their player-base and they have nothing to lose if they don't - especially considering the PS4 was still the highest selling console in its fifth year.

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We know- you've already said this in the thread already.

It's amazing how in a thread about cross play we have to be reminded of how great Sony's 2018 was in terms of games and sales and record sales and Xbox not allowing online for F2P games. It's amazingly transparent.

 

[Dewin]

If you're not for crossplay you're a console warrior first, video game enthusiast second.

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Thats a bit too black and white for my taste. I have nothing against the idea of crossplay. But have experienced numerous games with PC hacks, aimbots and other such garbage i kinda like playing on a console and not have to worry about performance difference, hacks, and other matters.

Its not a popular opinion, but that is where i stand. The Division dark zone was soooo bad. Never again.

 

[MrCarter]

We know- you've already said this in the thread already.

It's amazing how in a thread about cross play we have to be reminded of how great Sony's 2018 was in terms of games and sales and record sales and Xbox not allowing online for F2P games. It's amazingly transparent.

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Yes, I know I have? My point still obviously stands - PS4 is still the highest selling console and its near 100 million sold and that clearly has an effect on Sony's decision about cross-play. Also, what's not transparent is how irritating and passive aggressive you are when you don't agree on something. Back off.

 

[Gnorman]

We know- you've already said this in the thread already.

It's amazing how in a thread about cross play we have to be reminded of how great Sony's 2018 was in terms of games and sales and record sales and Xbox not allowing online for F2P games. It's amazingly transparent.

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It is kind of relevant when a lot of people thought the Fortnite backlash was huge and costing Sony sales. It clearly didn't affect them too much and the number of people upset about no cross play in War Thunder is miniscule in comparison to Fortnite.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

Got to get the free publicity some how I guess. Who would have thought the dominant market leader wouldn't want to share their userbase.

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how come they don't have any problem "sharing their userbase" for the biggest game of the last few years, fortnite?
of course other devs want what fortnite gets, as unlike fortnite which has a huge user base on every single platform, smaller games heavily benefit from uniting the userbases across different platforms.

It's amazing how in a thread about cross play we have to be reminded of how great Sony's 2018 was in terms of games and sales and record sales and Xbox not allowing online for F2P games. It's amazingly transparent.

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yeah it's all very sad, like people have to compensate for this by mentioning other areas where sony is succeeding or doing the usual whataboutism.

 

[Raijinto]

Yes, I know I have? My point still obviously stands - PS4 is still the highest selling console and its near 100 million sold and that clearly has an effect on Sony's decision about cross-play. Also, what's not transparent is how irritating and passive aggressive you are when you don't agree on something. Back off.

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It is kind of relevant when a lot of people thought the Fortnite backlash was huge and costing Sony sales. It clearly didn't affect them too much and the number of people upset about no cross play in War Thunder is miniscule in comparison to Fortnite.

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I agree it's relevant, though I do have to wonder about people actually arguing in said corporation's side on an issue like this, and I thought the vocabulary and the reiteration of the point was undermining it overall and framing it in a different light.

There's better ways to make that point essentially.

 

[Gnorman]

how come they don't have any problem "sharing their userbase" for the biggest game of the last few years, fortnite?
of course other devs want what fortnite gets, as unlike fortnite which has a huge user base on every single platform, smaller games heavily benefit from uniting the userbases across different platforms.

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Because they are a business and are making decisions which best suit them and not their competitors?

 

[Philly Cheesesteak]

Because they are a business and are making decisions which best suit them and not their competitors?

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Eh, at the end of the day, crossplay benefits everyone. Only issue is that unless Sony gets hit hard in their wallet or a major 3rd party title like Fortnite, Sony has no reason to fully implement it at least for the time being.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

Because they are a business and are making decisions which best suit them and not their competitors?

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i don't see how allowing it for fortnite suits them but blocking it for some small irrelevant title is also a good decision.
at the end of the day, it's not like only other platforms will benefit from cross play, some smaller titles have small bases on ps4 as well and they'll benefit from other platforms joining them.
in the end, this is a losing battle and sony will sooner or later open it up for everyone, and at that point the fanboys who where defending them (trying to justify how this is in sony's best interest) will be the ones who will be left looking bad, just like how there were fans saying it'll never happen or that they don't want it to happen and then fortnite on ps4 allowed cross play with other consoles.

 

[Gnorman]

i don't see how allowing it for fortnite suits them but blocking it for some small irrelevant title is also a good decision.
at the end of the day, it's not like only other platforms will benefit from cross play, some smaller titles have small bases on ps4 as well and they'll benefit from other platforms joining them.
in the end, this is a losing battle and sony will sooner or later open it up for everyone, and at that point the fanboys who where defending them (trying to justify how this is in sony's best interest) will be the ones who will be left looking bad, just like how there were fans saying it'll never happen or that they don't want it to happen and then fortnite on ps4 allowed cross play with other consoles.

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I don't know why allowing it for some titles and not others is a good decision either but clearly Sony think it is. Also what's with the fanboy dig? If Sony don't think this suits them best why are they doing it? For spite lol? Crossplay is best for the players but to the companies involved it comes down to money same as every other decision they make. No doubt the War Thunder devs think they stand to benefit financially from crossplay. They don't really give a shit if 2 friends with different consoles get to play together.

 

[Soprano]

Somebody didn't get the memo.

 

[TheGhost]

Thats a bit too black and white for my taste. I have nothing against the idea of crossplay. But have experienced numerous games with PC hacks, aimbots and other such garbage i kinda like playing on a console and not have to worry about performance difference, hacks, and other matters.

Its not a popular opinion, but that is where i stand. The Division dark zone was soooo bad. Never again.

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Ok, let me know next time some mean old Switch and Xbox players use hacks and aimbots garbage on you.

 

[WhySoDevious]

More developers need to do this.

Smite is going cross-play and cross-progression on every platform except PS4. That's disappointing. Hopefully they're working with Sony to get this enabled... other games have done it, why not Smite? Why not War Thunder? Is it just because they're not published by EA or Epic?

 

[Soprano]

I mean, seeing how Sony is slowly adding games, the developer could wait until theirs is. Or you know, do it the professional way and contact Sony about it. Sony made it pretty clear when they announced fortnite crossplay that they're going trough a beta and more games will continue to get crossplay support. rocket league was recently added.

 

[Deleted member 32018]

I mean, seeing how Sony is slowly adding games, the developer could wait until theirs is. Or you know, do it the professional way and contact Sony about it. Sony made it pretty clear when they announced fortnite crossplay that they're going trough a beta and more games will continue to get crossplay support. rocket league was recently added.

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'Slowly' is an understatement, 2 games in how many months? Calling it a "beta" is just a term they are using for "we don't really care about crossplay but want to people to shut up about it so we will allow it in the most popular games".

Perhaps they have spoken to Sony plenty of times already and this was their last resort. You seem very quick to defend Sony and blame the other party.

 

[Soprano]

'Slowly' is an understatement, 2 games in how many months? Calling it a "beta" is just a term they are using for "we don't really care about crossplay but want to people to shut up about it so we will allow it in the most popular games".

Perhaps they have spoken to Sony plenty of times already and this was their last resort. You seem very quick to defend Sony and blame the other party.

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Heh. Whether you believe support is rolling out too slow and the beta is an illusion is irrelevant. PS4 didn't have crossplay with other consoles and now it does. Sony stated their plans. You don't have to like how they've going about it. People cry about no crossplay and still cry even when it's supported.

 

[Railgun]

Heh. Whether you believe support is rolling out too slow and the beta is an illusion is irrelevant. PS4 didn't have crossplay with other consoles and now it does. Sony stated their plans. You don't have to like how they've going about it. People cry about no crossplay and still cry even when it's supported.

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Except it's not being supported, it was even removed from this game.

 

[Deleted member 32018]

People cry about no crossplay and still cry even when it's supported.

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Because it is half-assed support only meant to stop the bad publicity. Sony don't give a shit about the smaller games (that could benefit from crossplay even more than the larger games) and imo that is poor.

 

[Expy]

It's much akin to people who were crying about not getting into the dreams beta, they didn't get into the cross-play beta.

 

[Soprano]

Except it's not being supported, it was even removed from this game.

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That was before Sony changed their stance.

Because it is half-assed support only meant to stop the bad publicity. Sony don't give a shit about the smaller games (that could benefit from crossplay even more than the larger games) and imo that is poor.

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I highly doubt Sony is going to allow crossplay only for a few games. More will be added over time. As they've said.

 

[Ghostbound]

Heh. Whether you believe support is rolling out too slow and the beta is an illusion is irrelevant. PS4 didn't have crossplay with other consoles and now it does. Sony stated their plans. You don't have to like how they've going about it. People cry about no crossplay and still cry even when it's supported.

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They've only added two games to their "beta" in the last four months. They're doing the bare minimum.

It's much akin to people who were crying about not getting into the dreams beta, they didn't get into the cross-play beta.

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What are you even trying to say?

 

[Eolz]

It's much akin to people who were crying about not getting into the dreams beta, they didn't get into the cross-play beta.

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I know you can make small games with Dreams but let's not mix up players trying to play a game and developers trying to have their game work like on other platforms.

 

[Railgun]

That was before Sony changed their stance.

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Why do people keep saying this, no, it was after Fortnite got PS4 cross play.

 

[Deleted member 2145]

I highly doubt Sony is going to allow crossplay only for a few games. More will be added over time. As they've said.

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they haven't even cleared the threshold for "a few" games yet. they're still stuck on "a couple"

 

[Deleted member 19274]

Not really - it was mostly lipservice and allowing Fortnite so that the negative press would slow down.

Unless you game is a massive title also available on Switch - i doubt Sony is all that interested in opening up those gates. It will be difficult for titles that are only PS/Xbox - i guess because they assume only MS would benefit from it.

So yeah....probably wanna reach Fortnite/Rocketleague numbers before even adressing Sony about crossplay lol.

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That kinda sucks. Crossplay and the ability to use your account across platforms is such a cool feature. Hopefully it becomes more standard going forward.

PS4 also has no early access program yet has fortnight on their platform.

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I guess it makes sense to give Fortnite special treatment. Can understand why some devs would be frustrated with the situation.

 

[GodofWine]

Except it's not being supported, it was even removed from this game.

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Wait, they removed PS4 / PC cross play?

 

[Sacul64]

That kinda sucks. Crossplay and the ability to use your account across platforms is such a cool feature. Hopefully it becomes more standard going forward.



I guess it makes sense to give Fortnite special treatment. Can understand why some devs would be frustrated with the situation.

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They actually did this before fortnite was fortnite IIRC. It was more Epic got special privileges.

EDIT: Meaning when it was the save the world stuff.

 

[Kerotan]

There's a different thread to discuss that very issue. No need to derail.

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Yes you're right that was wrong of me to say.

On topic then: the developers want crossplay like Rocket League and Fortnite have. I hope Sony do it for them and step up their crossplay efforts to make the process faster in future.

 

[Railgun]

Wait, they removed PS4 / PC cross play?

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They removed PS4/Xbox One crossplay which was in the game already.

 

[Komo]

Good job Sony. Truely empowering developers.

 

[Soprano]

They've only added two games to their "beta" in the last four months. They're doing the bare minimum.

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The bare minimum is better than before with no console crossplay, no?

Why do people keep saying this, no, it was after Fortnite got PS4 cross play.

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In that case then, Sony didn't give the ok for that game yet i guess. They probably have select games they're doing first.

they haven't even cleared the threshold for "a few" games yet. they're still stuck on "a couple"

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*shrug*

They've said what they plan to do. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[ckareset]

Because they are a business and are making decisions which best suit them and not their competitors?

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Never underestimate resetera users arguing for corporations.

Is there any evidence crossplay is bad for business?

 

[Falchion]

Good, keep the pressure on Sony.

 

[Deleted member 2145]

*shrug*

They've said what they plan to do. We'll just have to wait and see.

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correct and this is us seeing while we wait that they're still the lone holdout for the majority of games that want to add crossplay

 

[crimsonheadGCN]

This is good. Hope more developers and publishers put pressure on Sony.

 

[Deleted member 34385]

well, just uninstalled war thunder...screw them..i really hate this kind of call outs regardless who it is. ofcourse sony should add crossplay but this just looks really unprofessional.

 

[Airbar]

Never underestimate resetera users arguing for corporations.

Is there any evidence crossplay is bad for business?

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It's not bad for business per se but they don't benefit as much from it as Microsoft would so their stance is that they only do the bare minimum to stop (a large part of) the bad press.
Watch them announce crossplay as a huge feature during the PS5 reveal and everything will be forgotten, much like charging for online play starting with the PS4 release.

 

[NLCPRESIDENT]

well, just uninstalled war thunder...screw them..i really hate this kind of call outs regardless who it is. ofcourse sony should add crossplay but this just looks really unprofessional.

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This, plus I've been waiting on the VR for mode.

For one, just come out and say Xplay is good for your games bottom line and stop bringing the players into this shit. Having them console war on Twitter for your cause.

At least you could do is be creative with it; #CrossplayAwaits or something..

 

[Soprano]

correct and this is us seeing while we wait that they're still the lone holdout for the majority of games that want to add crossplay

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Yes because as they've said, they'll be adding games over time. Like wow i get it's annoying all games are not supported immediately, but we already knew how this was going to play out from the announcement of fortnite crossplay.

 

[fiendcode]

Never underestimate resetera users arguing for corporations.

Is there any evidence crossplay is bad for business?

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No. That resetera poll the Sony evangelists love citing sort of implies little impact either way.

I'm not even sure the userbase argument even makes sense for paid games now given the PSN+ (32m) and NSO (8m) playerbases. If XBLG is 24m they're dead even but even if they're less it's still probably close enough not to matter.

 

[TJ_Electronica]

Is War Thunder popular? I've never heard of it until now.

It seems like Sony is adding the most popular titles to it's cross-play beta (Fortnite and Rocket League). So unless is pulling numbers like those two games I don't see why Sony would add it.

 

[headspawn]

well, just uninstalled war thunder...screw them..i really hate this kind of call outs regardless who it is. ofcourse sony should add crossplay but this just looks really unprofessional.

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It ain't going to happen by people being quiet and all respectful like. Clearly advocating for it behind closed doors isn't having the desired effect.

Also, I'd love to see receipts here. Did you actually recently play this game a meaningful amount and uninstall just like that because someone dared to slight Sony by challenging their stance?

 

[Sonicfan059]

Microsoft is not the one who went from allowing it to disallowing it

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Neither is Sony, what's your point?

 

[Deleted member 2145]

Yes because as they've said, they'll be adding games over time. Like wow i get it's annoying all games are not supported immediately, but we already knew how this was going to play out from the announcement of fortnite crossplay.

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we can only go off of what we know and what we're seeing happen. when they start adding games over time we'll most likely start to see the dialogue change. however as long as developers keep insinuating that Sony is still actively blocking crossplay expect people to be annoyed and express that annoyance.

 

[headspawn]

Is War Thunder popular? I've never heard of it until now.

It seems like Sony is adding the most popular titles to it's cross-play beta (Fortnite and Rocket League). So unless is pulling numbers like those two games I don't see why Sony would add it.

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What is Sony actually testing? The magic that enables crossplay in games is in the hands of developers and obviously functional for years in those games. I'm curious as to how Sonys involvement here should be anymore than pushing a pen.

 

[IvanSlavkov]

Public backlash is a pretty surefire way to get a response.

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And this is not how you do business! I am sorry, but the way the dev is asking on tweeter is just stupid and ignorant! They do have a way to communicate with Sony and since they are asking via a tweet, it just screams PR stunt for a dying game.

 

[VeePs]

Why are they tweeting about this? They should ask Sony and share the response.

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They probably have asked Sony, and are tired of waiting.

Better question, why doesn't Sony just open up cross play now? Like why is it in "beta", does crossplay require more work on Sony's end or something? If Nintendo can allow it I don't see why Sony can't.

 

[Gnorman]

No. That resetera poll the Sony evangelists love citing sort of implies little impact either way.

I'm not even sure the userbase argument even makes sense for paid games now given the PSN+ (32m) and NSO (8m) playerbases. If XBLG is 24m they're dead even but even if they're less it's still probably close enough not to matter.

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PSN+ is irrelevant for ftp games.