Bethesda's Pete Hines Talks Cross-Play and Cross-Progression; Thinks Full Cross-Play Might Come

Bethesda's Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communication Pete Hines elaborates further on the theme of cross-play and cross-progression.

[gangsta_red]

I'm definitely down for cross progression. With more and more games being on every platform, it would be good to see everything you have done carry over to any platform you played on.

And with that, if a developer has the means to implement crossplay then that platform holder should let them.

[The 10th Rider]

Judging by all the disagrees there's a lot of people that don't want cross-progression? Can't see a reason cross-progression would be a bad thing for gamers.

[Zerotino]

From what I see on the comments here based on similar topics, its because the fanboys of Sony like to say 'its because Sony's on top, why would they open cross-play when they are already winning, they don't need too.'

Yet if Sony is already on top they have 0 to lose from cross-play anyway, hell, they are currently losing more by NOT allowing cross-play as its making them look like the childish villains.

[porkChop]

They care more about what benefits Sony than what benefits the industry and gamers. Cross progression has literally no negative impact on gamers whatsoever.

[The 10th Rider]

@Eonjay,

Literally nothing you said has to do with cross-progression, which is what I talked about in the comment you replied to, lol.

[AspiringProGenji]

I did not hit disagree but Cross Progression will never be standard, especially because of how greedy devs can be when it comes to Mts. Why do you think Blizzard does not allow it with Overwatch? I would have loved that all my skins and some of the purchases carried over to PC from PS4 and that never happened. I had to start from 0 and that means giving them more MT money, and I am glad I never fell for it

‘'its because Sony's on top, why would they open cross-play when they are already winning, they don't need too.'‘

But that actually makes sense. If sony has the largest usersabe why share it with their competitor? One thing is asking Sony to allow it, and another one is trying to force them to share their success with their competitor. They have the right to refuse it. The only ones who see them as villains are the xbox fans who suddenly want to play with PS4 players. You shoudl have bought a Ps4 for that guys. Sony is in no obligation to please you all. Also the Ps4 fanbase are already playing with the largest fanbase (+ Crossplaying with PC for ages) so they are not caring enough. This is certainly not affecting Sony other than when someone decides to talk about crossplay only for eveyone to forget about it after a week. Rinse and repeat.

“They care more about what benefits Sony than what benefits the industry and gamers”

Welcome to capitalism! Sony is already giving their fans what they want.

[Skull521]

"Crossplay is seen as a benefit to Microsoft's fledgling user base. And nothing more. Its nothing more than social justice for those who bought into a small userbase but want the base Sony built."

Playstation owners play their single player exclusives then talk about it until the next one comes out. Xbox players are all about multiplayer and play it nonstop all year round. Xbox has higher player count in multiplayer as a result. You're defending the indefensible just because it's Sony on the end of it.

[AspiringProGenji]

Can’t be a @Skull comment without the BS and the ignorance can’t it?

[SpineSaw]

@Skull52

Ummmm where do you get your facts from? Squealer, Cuntgamer, CuntEastwood?

"Xbox players are all about multiplayer and play it nonstop all year round. Xbox has higher player count in multiplayer as a result. You're defending the indefensible just because it's Sony on the end of it."

1-I'll give you Xbox gamers are all about MP games and play them non-stop ofcourse the reason is they have no exclusives worth playing.
2-Xbox has higher player counts in MP gamers? Ummm you got some data to back this up? MP games sell better on the PS4 and it's not even close and in most of the big MP games like Call of Duty WW2, Destiny 2, Fry Cry 5, FIFA 18, Monster hunter world to list a few. Also all these games released around or after the Xbox One X released which is when MP games became the in thing on Xbox. All these MP games sold more by the millions on the PS4 and if you wanna go back and look at MP games before the X was sold and see how Call of Duty, Battlefield, GTA 5, The Division or any other MP game you'll find the same result. So you are just flat out wrong IMO but, I'll wait for your proof because selling millions and millions on a system doesn't mean they get played. So please prove me wrong with data showing that Xbox has higher player counts in any MP games that are worth playing and so important to the Xbox gamer. And I think everyone will concede that Xbox has more gamers playing "LAST GEN" MP games through the Xbox BC service so don't bother and that would be really sad if that's what your talking about....but, you are a Xbot.

[Aenea]

@skull

1) if Sony players only play SP games why on earth do you and all the other Xbox fans want cross-play with PS4 so much?

2) back in the real world tho you will see that PS4 has always more active players in MP games, go check some sites and you will see!

FYI, just checked the BF1 stats, 23k on PS4 at the moment, 10k on X1, an oldie BF4: 2.6k on PS3, 440 on X360, 3.8k on X1 and 9k on PS4. Even BF Hardline has double the numbers.

[Dragonscale]

@skull, still using that factless bullcrap argumen with 'facts' that you've clearly pulled out of your ass lol.

[RememberThe357]

Black Falcon, bro you know I'm gonna disagree because I love me some Sony.

But alas, I would like to see some form of cross progression, as well (I just don't see cross play with other closed platforms happening). If that means you have to buy the game on each platform, okay. But with games that can be played on both mobile and console there just isn't a good reason to not expand the player pool.

[King_Noctis]

I can understand not wanting crossplay, but not wanting cross progression as well? What do Sony have anything to lose by enabling cross progression?

[Aenea]

With cross progression? nothing.

With cross-buy of skins and battlepasses? money.

With a game like Fortnite progression is bound to the Battlepass which has been bought somewhere.
Thing is tho that MS and Nintendo aren't too keen on cross-buy either and will do everything they can to prevent such things, yet Fortnite is an exception for them, why? One can only guess....

[rainslacker]

Sales on their digital storefront, which they take a percentage of.

I actually understand their reasons for not allowing it, while I can only speculate on why they aren't keen on cross-play.

[King_Noctis]

@rainslacker

Doesn’t that make Sony the one who is greedy when MS and Nintendo allow cross progression and they don’t?

[rainslacker]

I feel it's kind of tricky when talking about it like that. Greed is a matter of perspective.

From Sony's perspective, they have people buying the game from other stores. Those stores get the cut. In the mean time, the game gets to be played on PS, and Sony has to host the files, support any online, support any problems that come up(as rare as they may be), etc.

I'd liken it more to buying a movie ticket from one theater, then going down the street to the other theater to watch it. In that case, the 1st theater will get the money from the ticket sale, the other one gets nothing. The difference being that the 2nd theater is more likely to make money on concessions. There isn't much of that kind of additional sales oppurtunity on consoles though, outside MT, but those can also be brought elsewhere.

When looked at from that perspective, it's not really greed. It's just protecting their business interests, and unfortunately, that doesn't really line up with consumer interests.

In any case, not many publishers will adopt this concept anyhow. Cross play/buy really only caught on with indie and 1st/2nd party titles. Sony did this a while ago, and it wasn't a raging success, although not a bad feature where it existed. On that note, cross buy is actually still available to publishers on PS, but only with other Sony platforms, namely the Vita, PS3, and PS4.

Cross progression itself is actually available with any platform. It requires a 3rd party account like Uplay or Origin. However, if that progression also entails cross buy with other console platforms, it's not allowed. Things like fortnite the problem is the cross buy, not the cross progression. People are confusing the two things. They are completely different things.

[joab777]

In all honestly, how many games would you start on PS4 and carry over to the Xbox? The only reason this is even a thing right now is because of the Switch. Ppl wanna play at home on a powerful console and be able to take the Switch on the go.

A better solution is to have MS or Sony give us a way to play games on the go...console games. THAT IS the future!!!!

And of course Hines don’t care. They don’t lose out in this deal, like one of the console companies and ultimately consumers inevitably will.

[rainslacker]

I think Sony had a way to do that. Cross buy, Cross progression, and cross play. Unfortunately, they didn't support it long enough, and couldn't actually get publishers to support cross play/buy with it enough to make it worthwhile.

Its no secret that the Vita was designed with the notion of being a supplemental console to the PS4, despite releasing before the PS4. Cerny even talked about it himself after the reveal of the PS4.

Its a shame that Sony had some missteps with the Vita. It was a great system, and offered up a lot of things that people are saying they want now.

[dekke]

atm im playing ffxiv pretty much cross play with PC nubs and doesnt even require psn...yet MS wants live accounts to play that game aka own servers..pretty much fcked up...and here ppl cry cuz fortnite is not crossy stuff..that tells me alot of ppl ages commenting here..more likely 8+ years old as my nephew is 10 and even he plays that :P

[sampsonon]

Sony will never let it happen. if you want cross play you will need to play on an xbox or Nintendo.

[dekke]

u dont need PSN account for playing FFXIV..nothing to do with sony...everytime i log in i surely have to fill up square-enix id and pw and its totally diff than my psn :P

[slate91]

Its sad that fortnite is the game leading the charge with cross-play.

[Rimeskeem]

Actually Rocket League is I think

[PoopsMcGee]

And it sucks...

Crossplay is killing online MP as far as I'm concerned. Rocket League is exhibit one IMO

[King_Noctis]

@poops

Crossplay killing MP? You can’t be serious.

[PoopsMcGee]

I said it and I think it. Every time I play Rocket League...

Why do people want cross play? It benefits a minimal amount of gamers overall and it screws the pooch as far as keeping as even of a playing field as possible.

If it is kept to private matches I have no problem with it, but developers go ahead and make it the default and it sucks. It splits the player base of every console and ends up causing more problems than it solves.

I don't have any problem finding matches in the games I play. Why would I want this?

[jairusmonillas]

Another garbage bethesda article.

[King_Noctis]

Because they support something that Sony don’t?

[showtimefolks]

No because they have treated playstation fanbase like crap for ages so we don't care. They are in pockets of ms and nothing less

Let them not release their game on ps4 or ps5 if they care about this stuff but they don't have the guts to skip playstation fanbase they are doing the talking for MS

[King_Noctis]

I’m sorry but how is Bethesda treating the Sony fanbase any different than other fanbase? Sure MS might get the the beta of some games first, but at the end of the day both consoles get all games aren’t they?

Also maybe you should realize because Sony (initially) didn’t mods on their console and now they don’t want crossplay/cross progression that lead Bethesda to do what they are doing right now.

[gangsta_red]

@showtime
I'm curious too on how Bethesda treated the Sony fanbase. Would love to hear your interpretation on what you believe is happening.

[russo121]

I cannot agree more with you. Let's talk serious, if they really want xplay then they should allow cross licensing, i.e., I buy the game in my platform of choice (Sony) then I can play it on PC, xbox or switch with the license I bought, in this case my Sony's license - that's xplay as it should. What I am saying is, I buy the game one time and play freely (without restrictions) on any platform, PC, PS4, Xbox, Switch. Ohhhh, Bethesda I think you don't want this, do you? This is for the players, you know? Buy once play everywhere!

[rainslacker]

As cool as that would be, none of the console makers would want that, and the publishers seem pretty content with keeping purchases separate since cross buy has actually been available for PC for games brought on PSN for some time now. At least in theory, since EA and Ubisoft could easily offer up a free code for the PC version since they run their own stores. MS doesn't mind it with PC, because if you buy it digitally from them, its still used on one of their platforms.

[zombiewombie]

Im pretty sure it will, when PS5 comes out. Sony would be smart to make a bid deal of it as well.

[SuperSonic91]

Sony has done Cross progression with PS3 and PSP since ever. I remember being able to play FFVII save files on both platforms.

[Razzer]

Platforms have to do what is best for their customers and their company. So if direct customer/gamers of a company demand features like this then I think it will happen.

[rainslacker]

Depends on the demand, and how it works with their business plans.

That being said, I do think some of the things that gamers ask for seem to be from the perspective of entitlement, and not really from common sense in knowing how a consumer market works.

[SkippyPaccino]

Bethesda is truly he'll-bent on derailing Sony for some reason... I picture playstation right now like a well oiled machine firing on all cylinders. They have the games, the plan and are truly focused on delivering it all to its fans.

Now Microsoft on the other hand are really great at talking a good game, not soo much on execution, but.. still have good friends in the industry (Epic, Bethesda) Like a good friend they're trying to help them out in their moments of need by attacking its direct competitor. If this generation was reversed and Microsoft was ahead Epic & Bethesda would be as quiet as a church mice & might of made their games exclusive to Microsoft.

I don't have a problem with a company speaking for what it belives in, but it rubs me the wrong way when that company is speaking up for its friend that would automatically benefit from its actions...

You never hear Bethesda say "not enough playstation players online, they need cross play with Microsoft to survive... Why won't sony listen, we're just trying to help"... It's always vague statements passed on to the media which turns around and fuels the flames.

Deep down how do we know Microsoft is even serious about cross play? They could just be bluffing knowing full well Sony will say no, making them look like the good guys without lifting a finger...

To me personally this is the equivalent of some random dude spitting on your brand new iPhone.. Sure it's gross & uncalled for, but you can just clean it off and play Spiderman on September 7th...

[CP_Company]

m$ this gen is nothing more then a PR machine, their own agenda pushing machine, which care just for their own skin.
and bethesda is so obvious, what they are doing, it is pathetic, so low.

[rainslacker]

I bet if Sony paid for a marketing deal for the new Elder Scrolls game, then they'd suddenly be all about Sony.

Its a hot topic right now, but realistically, the publisher isn't going to deny their games, especially the one's people care about, on any platform just because of cross play.

I mean, they release Skyrim on how many platforms now? Not a single one of them has cross progression or cross play. They've released so many versions of it, they even had a parody announcement trailer poking fun at it at a conference which costs them millions of dollars to run. They made a full VR Skyrim for a base of less than 10 million across all platforms.

Sorry, but Bethesda is blowing smoke, and to that end, they just need to stay quiet, because it seems petty and unprofessional to discuss this the way they are, calling out Sony, without even bothering to know why Sony said no....or if they do know, they won't say anything, which is just as bad.

[yomfweeee]

Cross progression doesn't have to rely on platform. All these companies have to do is create accounts like some already do (EA, Ubisoft, etc) and they can store account status there.

[rainslacker]

Yep.

What doesn't transfer is purchases, but any stats or in game achievements can be held on a separate account. Mass Effect 3 did this. I wouldn't doubt some other EA games do it as well.

When people talk about cross progression with Fortnite, they don't realize the problem is the cross buy aspect of the actual progression.

The publishers are the ones not implementing it. A few games out of thousands isn't some trend that means every dev and publisher wants to do such a thing.

[Profchaos]

Woah so elder scrolls blades may not hit psvr according to this article that will suck

[Xb1ps4]

I would take cross progression over cross play.. I really don’t care about crossplay

[joab777]

That would be great. Now I can just buy one console like most ppl will. Instead of 80-100 million sold per company, it will be 40 each. The price of consoles and games will increase and funding for AAA’s will be cut. Soon after, there will only be one console maker and then prices will rise even further...can’t wait!!!

The best part though is that now instead of 18 ppl playing some niche online game, there will be 46. Let’s do this!!!!

[sampsonon]

never going to happen, especially after you guys tried to challenge Sony.

[Artemidorus]

Cross play would be fun it would keep more players together for longer on servers.

No gaming community would need to worry anyway because each one is pretty big.