Hi-Rez Studios, the company behind Smite, Paladins, and Realm Royale, is joining the growing chorus of studios calling for Sony to expand its PS4 cross-play support. Posting on social media, Hi-Rez CEO Stew Chisam directed a message at Sony, stating that it's, "time to stop playing favorites." Chisam followed it up with a video link to Ronald Reagan's famous Berlin speech telling Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!"
Hi-Rez is on the verge of implementing cross-progression support between PC, PS4, and Xbox One, so Chisam is likely hoping to head off questions about the lack of PS4 support by clarifying where the issue lies. His full message to Sony asks for support with both cross-play and cross-progression. And he follows up that message with data making clear just how important these features are for these games and for players.
According to Chisam, when cross-play was implemented between Xbox One and Nintendo Switch for Paladins the following improvements were immediate:
- Wait time reduced 30%
- Level spread between players 40%
- 40% reduction in ELO std deviation per match
- 80% reduction in "Bad" matches (by internal definition)
In other words, not only were players put into matches faster, but they were put into matches more often with opponents of similar experience level and similar skill level. The matchmaking improvement was so significant that by Hi-Rez's own metric, "Bad" matches were reduced by 80%. That's so high that it wouldn't be surprising if Hi-Rez had to rewrite its internal definition for a "Bad" match just to set new goals for optimization. And if that's the kind of improvement made between just Xbox One and the Switch, imagine what adding the PS4's userbase to the pool of players could do.
Chisam is the second major voice to ask Sony to begin further expanding support for cross-play just this week. Several days ago War Thunder, a free-to-play vehicular combat game that's been available on PS4 since the platform's launch, put out a message on social media asking Sony to support PS4/Xbox One cross-play. War Thunder has since made clear that it is completely prepared to support cross-play and has requested clearance from Sony multiple times, but has yet to be approved.
Sony currently only supports cross-play between a chosen few games including Fortnite and Rocket League, but Sony only did that after months of public pressure. Studios like Hi-Rez and Gaijin Entertainment, who make War Thunder, don't have the same access to cross-play proponents like Fortnite did with Ninja. But by putting their voices together, they hope Sony will listen and begin to, as Chisam puts it, break down the cross-play wall. Sony has yet to offer an official reply.
Smite and Paladins are available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Realm Royale is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.