Jim Ryan says Sony wants more cross-play and insists its policies ‘are consistent’

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has said that Sony wants cross-platform multiplayer in more games, and insisted that its policies on the issue “are consistent” with other companies.

Ryan told Axios in a new interview that “we support and encourage cross-play”, noting that the feature works on numerous big games such as Fortnite, Rocket League, Call of Duty and Minecraft. “That number will continue to grow,” he said.

Sony was notoriously hesitant to support online multiplayer with other game platforms, and it was the last platform holder to support the feature in September 2018.

Last month Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney claimed in court that Sony is also the only platform holder that charges for cross-play, and shared a document showing that it demands royalties if the proportion of revenue made through in-game purchases is less than 85% of PlayStation users.

The move is reportedly designed to avoid players buying in-game items on other platforms’ stores then primarily using them on PlayStation.

Sony appears to still be experiencing issues with its cross-play policies. Last month Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tweeted that a long-awaited cross-play update for Borderlands 3 would not be coming to PlayStation platforms.

In a somewhat vaguely worded tweet, Pitchford claimed the studio had been “required” to remove cross-play support for PS5 and PS4. Asked to clarify the situation, Take-Two did not specify the specific reason behind the issue.

Asked to comment, Jim Ryan reportedly told Axios he didn’t want to talk about a “live business issue with a long-standing partner,” but noted “our policies are consistent across all of the publishers.”