lol didn't they just post a quarterly profit of like 6 billion? Yeah breh, they totally are beyond desperate for the people who play Minecraft on PS4 online. Its like.... gonna turn around the whole division, if not the company. Also, these posts using MAU and stuff as excuses still don't explain why Sonys blocking cross play with consoles in Rocket League.

Microsoft doesn't count Android and iOS Minecraft accounts in their MAUs, no reason to assume they would for PS4 either. Rather than "desperate tactics", the XBL account is likely just the most practical way to make sure everything you buy and do is accessible on every device. That is, after all, the point of this update. I might be wrong but I think this means PS4 owners won't get the 4k update either.

And none of that came from the Xbox division.

Bwahaha. Better Together? MS really is playing that up. Of course, it's only for this one game. And it's really all they got in terms of PR. And like all their other PR moves, it's still not working.

Of course, also ignore all the games that could be cross play with PCs on Xbox, but MS didn't want it. Oh, and ignore all those that are PS4/PC cross play. And the faithful just eat it up and regurgitate it back.

does not effect me, I don't even play minecraft or rocket league.

I really hope they bring the update to the ps4 version. My kids have minecraft on xbox one but my niece has it on ps4. They are always asking me if there's a way they can play together online. This would solve this issue for me.

To be honest I understand why Sony doesn't want the shared system. Would Xbox users need to sign into PSN or would just Playstation users have to use a competitors system? Either way Sony's position is understandable although anti consumer

Last gen Sony wants it and MS doesn't. This gen the other way round..

Maybe we'll get it next gen?

Ofcourse they have, which is exactly what complicates matters. XBL has their own policy and black list of players etc. Eurogamer just summed it all up http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-02-microsoft-really-wants-you-to-know-playing-minecraft-online-is-safe

An Xbox Live sign-in is now required for online multiplayer no matter which platform you're playing on. That includes Android phones and, eventually, Nintendo Switch. You need a gamertag to connect to a Realm, an official server partner or a hosted Minecraft world via an IP address.

"By creating an Xbox Live account and gamertag, when logged in you can set your own privacy and multiplayer preferences, create and manage accounts for your family members, and stake your claim on your name in the Minecraft universe," Microsoft said.

"Plus, because everyone will have an account, if you do run into any creepers ruining the fun, it's easy to report them, and for our Enforcement team to identify the player in question."

Yet Sony has their own policy, players you have on ignore or have warnings against them. MS conveniently ignores all of that and says jopin XBL and we'll police the userbase from scratch with our own rules about misconduct, bad language etc. When you log in to Origin or EA you're still under psn policy, yet MS wants to skip that and treat all users under theirs.

Perhaps an analogy in religion would be helpful. A Christian church and Islamic mosque say let's pray together for progress. Yet first all members have to register with the other church and adhere to their rules. It's rather one sided. MS is not just saying let's do crossplay, they also want to police the psn userbase...

Another thing is that Minecraft on psn will then be limited to MS hosted servers, giving MS a lot more leverage to make any changes they like server side. Nintendo seems to be fine with it, yet considering the state of their own online, anything would be an improvement :)