I for one would love to know why. How dare someone want to talk to someone else playing a different game, or even have the option to do so. Right? *facepalm*

According to various developers on gaf, this feature has actually been in the ps3's SDK since mid-2009 or so.  Nobody knows why it hasn't made its way into firmware released to the public, however.

It was quite clear back in June that SCE had intended to include the feature in PS Plus, but removed it at the least second (without informing the smaller arms of SCEE, apparently, which is why it appeared on the PS Plus feature list for numerous countries for a few hours before they rectified the problem).

I hope that they removed it from PS Plus due to the backlash over the mere idea of limiting it to the plan, with the intent of guaging the reception of PS Plus without it, which will hopefully lead to it being made available to all PSN members in the future.

Edit:

Honestly, at this point I'm thinking they may be saving it for some sort of PSP2 announcement.  They may be planning to make a big deal out of the feature by not only announcing cross game chat, but also cross platform chat.

I think SCEJ's focus on PSP2 is the reason PS3 firmware updates have slowed considerably this past year.

I doubt it ever will. I always have wondered though if it iwas because the console cannot handle it, copyright issues(doubt it), or they just don't wanna.

me too!

If people want it I guess they should have the option. I think its retarded. If im playing SSF4 why would I want to talk to someone who is not playing the same game as me??? Even if I wanted to speak to my friend I would pick up my phone (which i pay the bill for) and call him/her. Sony throw that crap into PSNPlus and let whoever wants it pay for it. IT cant be worst than LIVE that way. They have to pay to even play online

I wonder if theres actually many person who use this feature. Does someone have a percentage of Xbox users using the feature? I know that personally, I would never use the feature. Unless im proven wrong by the percentage im askin for, im pretty sure the feature was use to troll more then their is actual person using it.

well whenever im playin my xbox i always use this feature to talk to friends. even if we are i the same game because a lot of the time we end up muting a lot people because we dont really want them part of the conversation.

I do agree it is a feature that PSN should have. However, it is small.

Cross-Game chat just annoys me...last thing I want is the people I'm playing with talking to people that aren't even in the same game as me...nor do I need to bring my friends into my single player games...That'd be so annoying...

I definitely would Not use it if it was available...but if others think it's necessary, they can fight for it

Because to me it's like chatting while watching a film - something I'd personally make sure people get chucked out the cinema for.  I just find it a waste.  Why would you play, say, Uncharted 2 SP and want to chat at the same time to someone playing God of War?

On another note, so far as I am aware, since the launch of PSN Plus cross game chat has been worked out but not released for some reason.  Not sure why.