Finn Brice, CEO of Chucklefish, has stated he was told Wargroove PS4 crossplay was “not going to happen.” PS4 crossplay has been a hot topic in video games for over a year now. In March 2018, Fortnite and Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney commented the future of games will be “one in which barriers between platforms will no longer exist.” Sony has been reluctant to embrace the move but recently stated they were “open for business” on PS4 crossplay. However, the Wargroove developer disputed this.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Sony Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden provided comment on the PlayStation crossplay situation. “All it takes is for publishers and developers who wish to permission it. As ever, just work with your PlayStation account manager, and they will walk you through the steps … I don’t believe right now there is any gating factor on that.”
However, the Chucklefish CEO responded to a thread on ResetEra discussing Shawn Layden’s comments, opposing this explanation of PS4 crossplay policy (via NeoGAF). Regarding Wargroove PS4 crossplay, Brice explained, “… we just launched Wargroove with crossplay between PC, Switch and Xbox so I wanted to chime in. We made many requests for crossplay (both through our account manager and directly with higher-ups) all the way up until release month. We were told in no uncertain terms that it was not going to happen.”
The Wargroove creator goes on to say that he understands the issue may be more complicated for Sony with it being a matter of policy. However, he adds including crossplay is as simple as toggling a switch for them. Brice states he intended to “provide some balance on the issue” as he believes it isn’t for want of trying on the side of developers when it comes to implementing PS4 crossplay.
Beyond this issue, Finn Brice will be pleased with the sales performance of Wargroove as they look to add updates and DLC to the game in the coming months.
