Fallout 76 Will not have Cross-Play Because of Sony PlayStation

Cross-play is a hot topic as of late, namely gamers bashing Sony for not supporting it. That trend continues with Fallout 76, which will not have cross-play support.

This was confirmed in an interview with Bethesda Game Studios director Todd Howard in an interview with GameStar (subscription required). The company had initially wanted Fallout 76 to support cross-play between PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but the idea was laid to rest. Howard explained that the issue was due to Sony PlayStation being "not as helpful as everyone would like it." Howard later expresses the company's discontent with this outcome. "We would love to do that, but right now that's not possible."

Sony has been under scrutiny quite a bit lately for their uncooperative nature toward cross-play. While some have been as indirect as Nintendo and Xbox boasting their Minecraft cross-play support, others have been as blatant as Sony locking up people's Fortnite accounts. According to a now-deleted tweet by John Smedley, ex-CEO for Playstation, it was because of money.

btw when I was at Sony, the stated reason internally for this was money. They didn't like someone buying something on an Xbox and it being used on a PlayStation. simple as that. dumb reason, but there it is.

Fallout 76 is a game dependent on other players inhabiting the world. To fence in your player base away from the others just means it'll die out faster. I think I'll go for the PC version after all.

Fallout 76 releases on PC, PS4, and Xbox One on November 14, 2018.