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PlayStation 4 cross-play exits beta stage, finally available for developers

Aaron Mamiit
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Sony has moved PlayStation 4 cross-play out of beta stage, which means that the feature is now available for developers to use in their games.

PlayStation 4 gamers have long clamored for wider availability of the cross-play feature, which included games such as Fortnite and Rocket League in its beta phase. There was even a time when players thought that the console would never get the feature, as Sony intentionally disabled cross-platform play so as not to lose out on sales.

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Better late than never for the PlayStation 4, though Sony did not explicitly announce the cross-play feature’s exit from beta. The news was buried within a Wired article that mostly focused on the PlayStation Now subscription service and cloud gaming.

“While it’s not announcing the news explicitly, the PS4’s cross-play efforts have officially moved out of the beta stage, meaning that the console can support cross-play on any titles that studios provide the functionality for,” according to Wired.

The report added that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may be the first major PlayStation 4 game that will take advantage of the cross-play feature, as it was already available in the game’s beta.

It is expected that more PlayStation 4 titles will offer cross-play in the near future now that Sony has flipped the switch. While it remains unclear which specific games will include the feature, gamers should be looking forward to more interaction with other platforms.

The Wired article features an interview with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan and the recent changes to PlayStation Now. The subscription service, which has changed a lot since its initial 2014 launch, has slashed its price by half to $10 per month, and has also added four new games, namely God of War, Infamous Second Son, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and Grand Theft Auto V.

The arrival of the cross-play feature, the updates to PlayStation Now, and the planned backward compatibility and cross-generational play for the PlayStation 5 show that Sony is not resting on its laurels.

“The track record of the incumbent platform winning the next time around is not a great one,” said Ryan. “So the major thrust of my executive energy is to avoid complacency.”

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Aaron Mamiit
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