Cross-platform play is coming for Borderlands 3, but publisher 2K snuffed it for PlayStation...

[Cal Jeffrey]

WTF?! Gearbox Software will add cross-play support for Borderlands 3. Soon Vault Hunters can explore with their friends no matter what platform. Well, that is unless their friends have a PlayStation 4 or the new PS5.

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford tweeted that his team will bring cross-platform play to Borderlands 3. Unfortunately, support will not include PlayStation systems. He said they were "required" to remove cross-play support for both PS4 and PS5.

Pitchford did not say when the update was coming to the other platforms, which include Mac, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Stadia.

Good news or bad news first? Good News: An update for Borderlands 3 has been prepared for release that includes full crossplay support across all platforms. Bad News: For certification, we have been required by the publisher to remove crossplay support for PlayStation consoles.

— Randy Pitchford (@DuvalMagic) May 27, 2021

He did mention that the order to remove support came from "the publisher," which would be 2K Games. However, could the ban really have come down from Sony? The PlayStation maker has a long history of restricting cross play on its consoles.

Back in 2018, Sony finally allowed PS4 Fortnite players to intermingle with users on other platforms. However, during testimony in the Epic Games v Apple antitrust trial, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said this only came about because Epic paid Sony to allow Fortnite crossplay. He also noted that Sony is the only platform holder that required payment to enable cross-platform functionality.

So it would follow that if Sony is asking the same thing of 2K, it may have said, "no deal" and told Gearbox to pull support. So far, neither Sony nor 2K has commented on the situation.

Image credit: Lutsenko Oleksandr

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89851-cross-platform-play-coming-borderlands-3-but-publisher.html

 

[Dimitriid]

Actually from previous games trying to do cross-platform play with Playstation this might be weighted more heavily by Sony imposing restrictions than the devs "snubbing" the console. Not that I would normally be inclined to believe 2K as a publishers are the "good guys" here but it wouldn't be the first time this happens and when it's across multiple publishers trying and then backing out of playstation cross play with similar complains, you kinda have to assume Sony is at fault here.

 

[m4a4]

It sounds like Sony is getting too greedy for their own good. And sounds like 2K is willing to bet on the PR to go bad against Sony for this...

 

[Lounds]

Yeah Sony clearly realised they could get a cut of sale profits and some publisher's didn't want to agree to that and who can blame them.

 

[psycros]

Yeah Sony clearly realised they could get a cut of sale profits and some publisher's didn't want to agree to that and who can blame them.

Last I heard Sony already received a portion of every licensed sale for their platform. I think they've done that since the PSX2.