The plans for Borderlands 3 to be fully cross-play have been altered after Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software, revealed that PlayStation support has been pulled.
Pitchford wrote on Twitter that he had “good news” and “bad news”. The good news was that an upcoming game update will add cross-play support across “all platforms”. While the bad news was that 2K Games, Borderlands 3‘s publisher, required Gearbox to “remove cross-play support for PlayStation consoles” in order to obtain certification to release the patch.
This means that cross-play will be limited to the other platforms that Borderlands 3 is available for: Mac, Stadia, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Pitchford didn’t comment further on the reasoning behind this decision.
It’s possible that Sony requested payment in order for 2K Games to add cross-play to Borderlands 3 and the company refused to pay, choosing instead to just entirely remove PlayStation consoles from the new feature. This seems like the likely scenario behind the mysterious removal.
In the past, Sony has been known for causing cross-play hold-ups. The company infamously delayed cross-play in games such as Rocket League and Minecraft, and appears to push back against the system wherever possible. Similar issues recently came up in the Epic v. Apple trial, when Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney revealed that his studio had to pay Sony to activate cross-play in Fortnite. According to Sweeney, Sony was the only platform holder that required compensation for cross-play.
The news comes just days after Bungie opened its cross-play beta for fellow looter-shooter Destiny 2, which includes PlayStation consoles. Pitchford didn’t reveal details on when the Borderlands 3 cross-play feature will arrive, or if it will be beta tested before launch.
Words by Denitsa Gencheva
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