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thismeintiel on 31 August 2018
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pokoko said:
Liquid_faction said:

Of course, Fortnite doesn't need any help in the playerbase area. But what happens when another game that is less popular than Fortnite comes around. Infinite Warfare (or was it Advanced Warfare) for the Windows Store version had so little players, that it had to issue refunds days after the game was bought. It could happen, especially since PSN is 2-3 times bigger than the other competition. Nintendo and Xbox want Crossplay because it benefits them, there is literally nothing for them to lose if they get Crossplay. Sony on the other hand, because of its current dominance in the market, has a lot more to lose. There is a group of 10 friends that want to play Fortnite, 4 of them want to get a PS4. If they all want to play together, the other 6 would have to buy a PS4. Now if Crossplay was implemented, the other 6 could buy a Switch or Xbone. That is six players that could potentially go to the Playstation ecosystem, but because Crossplay was available, go somewhere else.

Don't get me wrong, the whole locking down your account is stupid and I condemn that. It was a scummy move all around, but I'm also a realistically looking at Sony as a business. People seem to forget that these are businesses and they will do everything they can to get money. I don't have any imaginary expectations that Sony will treat their costumers like they are family. No business does that. Period. If all this outrage actually slowed down the sales of the PS4, then Crossplay might be implemented. But it seems like people just want to jump on the bandwagon and post their opinions online while also play and buy PS4 games. 

The overwhelming majority of gamers don't actually care about crossplay itself and it's hard to blame them when they're playing on a platform with a healthy user base.  They'd probably never notice it one way or the other.  That's just the truth.  Many of those who do seem to care would change their stance in a heartbeat if their platform of choice opted against crossplay.

There are situations where it does become intrinsically important to players, such as the beginning of this generation when games skipped Xbox because they refused crossplay.  That hurt the user base because it denied them access to a particular game.  That same situation might come up in the future with Playstation.

The ones who really care are the developers and publishers.  Why?  Because it saves them a lot of money and work.

Personally, I don't give a rat's ass if the person I'm blowing up is on Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, or the Sunway TaihuLight supercomputer.  I just don't care.  However, if it means losing out on games, that's another matter entirely.

As for "Sony is arrogant," sure, why not.  If we're talking about PR then Nintendo and Microsoft are well-known for being "arrogant," as well.  If we're talking about corporate decision making then the ONLY time any of them are NOT "arrogant" is when they've lost market share.  That's business.

Very well said.  The truth is that this isn't hurting them, nor will it.  A couple devs may talk a big game, but they aen't going to give up on a userbase that is going to grow to 100M+.  I do wish they would free up items bought on their console to be used elsewhere, but as far as actual crossplay is concerned, the vast majority don't care.  Sony knows if they keep churning out 1st class exclusives, keep prices reasonable, and offer a dependable online service, people will keep buying their console in droves.  Next gen will be no different.  In fact, with PS5 most likely being B/C out of the gate (hopefully with all the PS consoles), and rumored to be the only console using the new Navi tech, I'd say next gen is looking really good for them.