Why Sony needs to open its doors to Rocket League's crossplay feature

Sony's reluctance to allow crossplay between the PS4 and Xbox One has been one of the major talking points of this current generation. With Microsoft clearly open to the idea of mixing game audiences across specific games, Sony’s sat in their metaphorical court and unfortunately it doesn’t want to play ball.

This is not a new issue as the relationship between Microsoft and Sony has often been a frosty one with the former only joining the gaming industry because Sony flat-out refused to work with them. No good working relationship is started through one business refusing to work with another and alas, we are here now.

While a lot of the focus has been on Sony’s unwilling attitude towards Rocket League crossplay, there’s also been a similar drama around Minecraft and Microsoft’s efforts to introduce true crossplay through PC and console, but once again, Sony isn’t willing to cooperate.

Whilst Sony has been fairly cautious in their response to this decision, PlayStation Head of Global Sales and Marketing, Jim Ryan (who is now Deputy President) briefly spoke on the matter during an interview with Eurogamer last year:

“We've got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft - the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it's all ages but it's also very young. We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe.”

This would have been a believable reason had Nintendo not also decided to open Minecraft on the Switch and Wii U up to crossplay. The business that is often overly cautious with its approach to online multiplayer and a business that has a far younger install base than Sony, was more than happy to allow its customers to play with their friends across PC and Xbox One.

It seems as if Sony’s attitude towards Microsoft is still hung up on the fact that the business dared to challenge them in the marketplace, and based on the fact Sony is willing to work with Nintendo it would appear that the company views Microsoft as their only true competitor. But as Australian singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and philanthropist Kylie Minogue once said: “Better the devil you know.”

So why should Sony work with Microsoft on this?

It’s Pro-Consumer

For starters, their current stance is incredibly anti-consumer. The PS4 has a phenomenal install base with the estimated number hitting somewhere around 70 million at the end of December according to Business Insider, so Sony is undeniably leading this current generation of consoles. The problem is that it’s very easy to become complacent when you’re on top of the ladder, and this reluctance to adopt crossplay might be something that affects the launch of their next console.

Committing to crossplay will not only reassure their existing customers, but it will show that Sony is open to making decisions that ultimately benefit customers over making profit, which will in turn generate more revenue because happy customers are customers that spend.

The industry is heading that way

Whether Sony decide to adopt crossplay or not, the rest of the industry is heading that way. With Microsoft and Nintendo clearly open to the idea, it’s going to be Sony that is left in the dark. What happens when a business refuses to adapt to a changing industry?

I’m not saying Sony is going to go bankrupt, but their refusal to adapt will ultimately hurt their public image and sales.

It won’t hurt console sales

It is likely that Sony is worried that choosing to enable crossplay will lead to an increase in the sales of competitor platforms, as the organisation could be seen as promoting the competition in a very roundabout way. Considering the phenomenal success of the PS4 so far, I don’t think Sony have anything to worry about. Crossplay will just ensure that the huge install bass of the PS4 is satisfied with their console, whilst enabling them to play with their friends.

It’s a great PR opportunity

Rocket League’s success can be partly attributed to its alignment with the PlayStation Plus service as one of the downloadable monthly titles. What better way to pay homage to this than making it the first game that Sony actively promotes crossplay on? It would highlight Sony’s history with the title, and satisfy some of the most dedicated fans of the title.

With Sony still tight-lipped on the subject and Nintendo and Microsoft still pressing ahead with crossplay, I doubt we’ll see any progress soon. With the Rocket League cross-party update set to launch around May, we may see Sony forced to adopt it on the PlayStation 4. Until then, Sony and Microsoft players will not have the chance to verbally abuse one another via Rocket League chat.