The document above illustrates two examples which break down this system fairly well, and it's clear Sony didn't want to potentially miss out on revenue those players would have otherwise spent on its own platform (where it could take a cut). This essentially allows Sony to charge partners fees for every month where PlayStation player spending falls below a certain percentage in a cross-play game, despite having a majority in player numbers. Titled 'Cross-Platform Revenue Share', the 2019 PlayStation-branded document details a system whereby Sony would be able to charge royalties in cases where a game's player base is largest on PlayStation, but spending isn't. As you know, many companies are exploring this idea and not a single one can explain how cross-console play improves the PlayStation business," said Corsi.Ĭourt documents also reveal how Sony ended up enabling the feature. "Cross-platform play is not a slam dunk no matter the size of the title. Sony's senior director of developer relations at the time, Gio Corsi, responded by saying that while he appreciates all the things Epic is willing to do, he was not convinced that cross-play matters, regardless of how big the game is. Epic’s not changing its mind on the issue, so let’s just agree on it now," Kreiner wrote. The email, written by Epic’s vice president of business development, Joe Kreiner, ultimately stressed that Epic is committed to cross-play no matter what, and that it would be best for the two companies to work together rather against each other. Epic was also prepared to "go out of its way to make Sony look like heroes." Epic was even happy to co-brand its E3 event at the time with PlayStation, and offer any bonuses to PlayStation Plus members Sony wanted. The other is a response from Sony dismissing the idea of cross-play, calling it a feature that doesn't add anything to the experience on PlayStation.Įpic's email included a number of proposals, most notably of which was one whereby Epic would announce cross-play together with Sony on the latter's terms. One was sent by Epic to try and explain its case for cross-play, and what the developer was willing to give for it to happen. Thanks to court documents presented in Epic Games' trial with Apple this week, however, we now have a better idea of why Sony was so against it in the first place, what Epic Games was willing to do in order to convince Sony to change its ways, and what ultimately made it all work.Īs spotted by The Verge, the documents first show two emails dating back to 2018. Sony eventually allowed cross-play, and many multiplayer games have since launched with the feature across all platforms, including PlayStation. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.Īt the start, this affected a small subset of games like Rocket League and several other smaller games, but it all came to a head when Epic Games really pushed for it with Fortnite. The platform holder initially blocked the ability for PlayStation players to play games with friends on other platforms. There are loads of developers out there selling content for up to £($)99 but it’s up to the end user to decide whether to pay these extortionate prices for “just a bit of extra programming”.New documents unearthed in Epic's trial with Apple have revealed just how averse Sony has been to the prospect of cross-play.Ĭross-play is one of those things Sony has long had a hard line on for seemingly no reason. It’s your choice to place your concession there or not.Īlso I didn’t buy my iPhone to play fortnite as I’m sure many other people didn’t either so again people have a choice which platform they use if they really wanted to play fortnite so if there are other cheaper options out there, why doesn’t epic push their users towards that platform which apparently doesn’t charge a 30% fee.Īt the end of the day, epic are also allowed to price accordingly so if they were really about the consumer then why not lower your own in app purchase prices. If you have a concession in a department store, you have to pay some form of rental decided by the store/owner. It is more like Epic setting up shop and selling things inside an Apple Store without paying any rent Epic cries in the store that they made the products they are selling not Apple, so Apple should let them stay there for free. The shoplifting analogy that Apple uses isn't very good. They want to leech off Apple and Google, but are willing to pay 30% to Microsoft and Sony (for now). The reason Epic can make so much money, is that Apple, Google, Microsoft and Sony have put a lot of R&D and marketing into iOS, Android, Xbox and Playstation. If Epic wants to sell direct to the consumer, they should make their own hardware.
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