We’re conditioned to expect console manufacturers to be bitter rivals, constantly at each other’s throats in a battle for market supremacy. But sometimes, the enemy of an enemy can be a friend.
We got a reminder during E3 that the PS4, unlike most other platforms on Earth, does not support crossplay between consoles. That means that if you have an Xbox One, and a friend of yours has a PS4, and you both want to play the same game together, you can’t.
Some of the world’s biggest games, from Fortnite to Minecraft to Rocket League, all support some variety of crossplay, allowing people with PCs, Xbox Ones, mobiles and Nintendo consoles to play on the same servers. Yet Sony continues to refuse to allow PlayStation consoles to get in on the fun when it comes to playing with Microsoft or Nintendo consoles.
In the wake of E3 and the disappointment of Fortnite’s account locking, then, two of the companies that do allow crossplay have teamed up to take a swing at the PlayStation 4 with this commercial for Minecraft.
This isn’t an ad designed to highlight the platforms that are playing together. It’s designed to highlight the platform that isn’t.
And while at the end of the day it’s just a marketing jab, we think it’s one a lot of people can genuinely get behind because Sony’s policy sucks, and if two rival massive companies want to have some fun with that, then have at it.