Anyone who has paid even the slightest bit of attention to the console rivalry this generation can likely come to the same conclusion: Sony and the PS4 have dominated. Alongside featuring numerous critically acclaimed exclusives (God of War, Uncharted 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, Marvel’s Spider-Man), the PS4 has sold more than double the consoles than Xbox One, even though they were released during the same time period.
Despite this, recent trends have indicated that Sony may get left behind next generation. While Nintendo and Microsoft are making impressive software and hardware moves, Sony has been limiting itself in many regards. These are just a few of the ways that Sony needs to change in the immediate future if they want to compete when the next generation comes around.
Cross-Platform Play
Over the past few years, Sony has taken a hard stance against cross-platform play, even going as far as to shut down the feature in Fortnite after it accidentally occurred between the PS4 and Xbox One player bases in Sept. 2017. But while the company is set on the notion that their multiplayer is good enough on its own, numerous titles have already begun sharing player bases across Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.
Their choice to limit multiplayer isn’t the biggest problem though. Since Sony won’t implement any cross-platform technology, that means that user data can be shared either. Without that sharing, players can’t transfer their items and progression from one system to another. PlayStation accounts exist on their own, meaning that users have to have multiple playthroughs, accounts, and save files for separate platforms, instead of being able to integrate them into one. This isn’t a problem anywhere but PlayStation, as Steam, Xbox Live, Twitch, and many other platforms allow its users to transfer data and other important info from other platforms onto their own.
