The Xbox press conference was full of worthwhile news from the reveal of Xbox One X, a release date for Cuphead, and the debut of Bioware's newest game, Anthem. One of the biggest pieces of news had to have been the addition of cross-platform play for Minecraft in its upcoming update.
It was announced that Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch would feature cross-play, allowing Minecraft players to join and play together regardless of platform. That said, PlayStation 4 fans may be disappointed.
No Cross-Play
According to a story from VentureBeat, PlayStation 4 won't be receiving cross-platform support when the Better Together update releases later this year. Minecraft dev, Mojang, released a list of platforms that would feature cross-play after the Xbox conference, and Sony's console was noticeably absent.
Jez Corden of Windows Central claimed on Twitter that Microsoft wants all versions to play together, but he heard from separate sources that Sony refused. This seemed to be confirmed by Aubrey Norris, communications boss for Minecraft, indicating that Sony had not joined the cross-platform initiative.
Dunno, Microsoft said it's their hope for all modern versions to connect to eachother. But I got separate info that Sony refused.
— Jez @ E3 (@JezCorden) June 12, 2017
"We can't speak for Sony, but as we said, we would love to have our PlayStation 4 community join our Minecraft unification plans," Norris told VentureBeat.
Even though it won't get the cross-platform update, Norris did clarify that PS4 would still be getting the Super Duper Graphics Pack that looks to drastically improve Minecraft's graphics.
Playing Hardball
This isn't the first time that Sony has refused cross-platform support with Microsoft. Rocket League was the last time this came up, and Microsoft was ready to support cross-platform beyond PC. However, Sony decided against it, keeping the popular online game locked to each respective system.
While this sort of support would be a welcome addition to the PS4, it's also understandable why Sony would decide against cross-play support with Xbox One. Since the launch of PlayStation 4, Sony's console has outpaced Xbox One in sales, selling nearly double the amount and outpacing any previous system sales to date. Allowing for cross-play support would arguably do more to help Microsoft than Sony, taking away some incentives to playing a game on either system.
That's not to say that Sony will never support cross-play in the future. All it could take is the right game or service to open that door, but until then, fans have to choose one or the other.
