Sony has not made many friends by reaffirming its decision to keep the PlayStation platform separated from cross-network play, and one of its biggest critics is none other than Xbox’s Phil Spencer.

Sony recently defended its position to deny PlayStation gamers cross-network functionality in games like Minecraft and Rocket League, stating that it has a “contract with the people who go online with [it]” and has to be careful about exposing the younger audience to “external influences [it has] no ability to manage or look after.”

Many fans have considered this explanation to be nonsense, claiming that such a mindset is detrimental to the gaming community. Xbox’s Phil Spencer recently echoed this sentiment in an E3 2017 livestream interview with Giant Bomb, during which Spencer expressed how Sony’s stance wouldn’t benefit players or the industry.

“The fact that somebody would make an assertion that somehow we’re not keeping Minecraft players safe I found—not only from a Microsoft perspective, but from a game industry perspective—I don’t know why that has to become the dialogue,” Spencer said. “That doesn’t seem healthy for anyone.”

He continued by asserting that Microsoft considers player safety in Minecraft “very important”, and that “the door is open” should Sony choose to reevaluate its stance on cross-network play.

Minecraft‘s Better Together update—implementing cross-network play between a variety of platforms—launches later this summer.

Posted: Jun 15, 2017 9:44 pm
Related Forum: Xbox Forum

Source: http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/xbox-head-says-sony-comments-on-cross-platform-play-are-unhealthy/