When it comes to console cross-play, Sony has always seemed a bit more hesitant than its rivals Nintendo and Microsoft In fact, it was only after a huge public outcry in 2018 that Sony finally allowed the feature from its battle royale epic "Fortnite"

Prior to that, Sony had been very reluctant to block cross-play for games like "Rocket League" and "Minecraft" Documents brought to light in the ongoing Epic Games v Apple lawsuit eventually revealed details of Sony's demands that PlayStation gamers be able to play Fortnite (and other games) with friends on separate systems

After a backlash led primarily by Fortnite players, Sony agreed to allow cross-play on its platform in September 2018, but with the condition that it would receive compensation based on revenue from games on competing platforms The mechanics of this payment system are outlined in the "cross-platform revenue sharing" agreement that Sony had (and may still have) publishers sign before enabling the feature on the PlayStation system

The revenue sharing is outlined below This boils down to the fact that Sony believes it is unfair to use its own platform if the percentage of active players is higher than the percentage of players who make in-game purchases In other words, if 95% of "Fortnite" players play through PlayStation, but Fortnite earns only 60% of its revenue through transactions with PlayStation, Sony would demand additional revenue equal to the difference

Sony's justification for this arrangement is to prevent a situation where a disproportionate amount of revenue is earned on another platform, even though the majority of the game's player base is on its platform Sony uses this arrangement, in effect, to lease its user base to a competitor in order to ensure that it receives a fair share of the revenue

Since this document was first created in 2019, it is possible that Sony's stance on cross-play has changed since then Epic CEO Tim Sweeney's comments suggest that this is highly unlikely, but he also confirmed that Sony is the only platform holder with this type of compensation system in place

Even after Epic twisted Sony's arm to allow cross-play for Fortnite, and the feature was rolled out to additional titles like Call of Duty: Warzone and Destiny 2, Sony has been working with gamers who are not playing on PS4 or PS5 to still seems reluctant to fully open up their platform to accommodate them

While Microsoft supports cross-play and cross-progression by offering broad backward compatibility on the Xbox Series X and deep integration with PC games through Windows, Sony is clearly reluctant to allow gamers to play beyond the confines of a single system is clearly reluctant to do so

What is most disappointing about this document becoming public is that it shows that Sony has not changed its mind in 2018 and sees the value of crossplay for gamers To the contrary, as long as cross-play continues to be a money-maker for Sony, it will only be allowed on PlayStation, and if that changes, one can only assume that Sony will return to its hardline stance

Currently, at least for multiplatform games, cross-play is fairly even between the two platforms However, perhaps in the future, if Sony does not implement its own revenue sharing system, Microsoft may want to implement its own revenue sharing system If this happens, publishers may decide that it is not worth the hassle of entering into separate revenue sharing agreements with multiple platform holders, and cross-play may become much rarer in the future

This cross-play revenue sharing agreement is not the only interesting Sony-related information that came out of the hearing in the Epic Games v Apple case

We also got details on how Epic tried to sweet-arm Sony to get the Japanese tech giant to allow cross-play of Fortnite on the PlayStation platform, Epic's Joe Kreiner, was quite bullish in an email exchange in early 2018, declaring that he "can't imagine a scenario where Epic doesn't get what we want" and declaring "Fortnite" to be "the biggest game on PlayStation," which, to be fair, is still accurate to this day

Kreisler, "Fortnite is the biggest game on PlayStation

Kreiner promised that Epic would "make Sony look like heroes" when they shared valuable marketing data, cross-promoted Fornite and PlayStation at that year's E3 showcase, and announced full cross-play support, and even tried to seduce Sony into Sony by promising to "make Sony look like heroes

Negotiations went a step further, with Kreiner attempting to close the door on Sony by suggesting the possibility of a PSVR exclusive title and pointing out that Epic's Unreal Engine 4 license would be up for renegotiation the following year

Sony seemed completely unmoved by Epic's offer, with the company's former senior director Gio Corsi writing in reply: "There are a lot of great ideas for an ongoing partnership, but regardless of the size of the title, Cross-platform play is not easy As you know, many companies are exploring this idea, but not a single company can explain how cross-console play will improve their PlayStation business

This attitude would later soften, obviously thanks to the revenue sharing mechanism described above While these discussions are clearly water under the bridge at this point, it is fascinating to get a glimpse of how these powerful companies negotiate terms behind closed doors

Epic Games v Apple is being fought over Epic's attempts to circumvent Apple's App Store fees, with the game publishers claiming that Apple has set up an unfair monopoly in return The hearing is ongoing, and it is quite possible that more behind-the-scenes information from the tech world will be revealed before a conclusion is reached

Returning to Sony and its unwillingness to readily accept cross-play, such a stance could be detrimental to future PS5 games

Now Sony's stance may have changed However, the PS5 is the likely console of choice for current and future exclusive games like Horizon Forbidden West, not for cross-play So far, the Xbox Series X and the overall Xbox ecosystem appear to be friendly toward cross-play