Digital card game The Elder Scrolls: Legends may not be released on the PlayStation 4, due to Sony's stance against allowing cross-platform play with Microsoft's Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch.
The Elder Scrolls: Legends, which was first announced at E3 2015, was described as Bethesda's answer to Blizzard's Hearthstone. The digital card game is now available on the PC, iPad, Steam, Mac, and Android tablets, and was announced to be coming to consoles later this year. Apparently, that might only mean the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
'The Elder Scrolls: Legends' PS4 Version Will Not Happen
In an interview with Game Informer at QuakeCon 2018, Pete Hines, Bethesda's senior VP of global marketing and communications, talked about the upcoming console versions of The Elder Scrolls: Legends.
"[The Elder Scrolls Legends] is a strategy card game that encompasses both single and multiplayer," said Hines. "It is both cross-platform play and cross-platform progress."
Game Informer clarified if the cross-platform play feature will only apply on certain consoles, as it is unavailable on the PlayStation 4 due to Sony's insistence in blocking the feature.
Hines replied by stating that The Elder Scrolls: Legends works in such a way that players will be able to play on any platform, and all their stuff will be there. This is "non-negotiable," Hines said, as Bethesda does not want to have one version of The Elder Scrolls: Legends to be cut off from everything else.
Hines is aware that even Fortnite, probably the biggest video game in the industry right now, has not been able to break Sony's stance against enabling PlayStation 4 cross-play. However, the developer will insist on this message: without cross-play, The Elder Scrolls: Legends will not be coming to the PlayStation 4.
It is a big deal that Bethesda is willing to sacrifice sales on the most popular console to maintain the cross-platform features of The Elder Scrolls: Legends. The Elder Scrolls: Legends and Fortnite might not be able to change Sony's mind, but it might reconsider if more major studios continue skipping the platform.
QuakeCon 2018: 'Quake Champions' And 'Fallout 76'
Bethesda also made announcements for Quake Champions and Fallout 76 at QuakeCon 2018.
Quake Champions will be going from Steam's Early Access program to a permanently free-to-play game. The latest entry in the Quake franchise, which features character with different abilities such as Blizzard's Overwatch, will no longer require an initial $30 payment.
Bethesda also revealed more details about Fallout 76, with perhaps the most interesting detail being how the online game will deal with trolls. Players who will make the experience worse for others, also known as griefers, will have bounties placed on their heads and hunted down.
