Gearbox claims that It has been blocked from adding Cross-Play on PlayStation Consoles for Borderlands 3
In a recent Tweet Randy Pitchford the CEO of Gearbox, the developers for the Borderlands franchise has said that although “An update for Borderlands 3 has been prepared for release that includes full crossplay support across all platforms, for certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove crossplay support for PlayStation consoles.”
Randy Pitchford himself is quoted as saying: that Gearbox intended to offer cross-play support “as soon as practicable” and “on as many platforms as possible”.
Although the reason for the restriction on cross-play on PlayStation consoles has not been revealed, some fans assume that because Sony is the only platform owner who wants reimbursement for lost revenue during cross-play, and that this is the cause for the restriction.
The issue came up recently at the court case of Epic Versus Apple when Epic CEO Tim Sweeney revealed that his company paid Sony to enable Fortnite cross-play. Sony, according to Sweeney, is the only platform owner who demands compensation for cross-play.
Sony has openly been a skeptic of Cross-Play, initially preventing PlayStation owners from playing games such as Rocket League with those on other platforms, but as the tweet mentions that Gearbox was required by the “Publisher” to remove Cross-Play support is It really Sony making this decision?
If Sony demanded payment for 2K and Gearbox to add cross-play to Borderlands 3, it’s plausible that 2K Games refused, opting instead to exclude PlayStation consoles entirely from the new functionality.
As a result of this “decision” cross-play for Borderlands 3 will be limited to Mac, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/s, which is good news if you have friends that play on these platforms but not so much if they are playing on a PS4 or PS5.
This is just another reason for fans to grow weary of PlayStation after the news that Sony was facing a lawsuit over PlayStation Store Exclusives. Sony appears to be more concerned with its own financial benefit than with the interests of the millions of PlayStation fans around the world.