Just when we all thought that Sony hated Microsoft due to the Activision merger, PlayStation and Xbox have announced a historic partnership that will allow players to cross-play and cross-buy any game on both platforms.
Cross-play means that players can play online with their friends regardless of which console they own. For example, a PS5 player can join a multiplayer match with an Xbox Series X player in Call of Duty: Warzone or Fortnite. Cross-buy means that players can buy a game once and play it on both platforms. For example, a PS4 player who buys Horizon Forbidden West can also download and play it on Xbox for free.
The partnership will also include all previous and future games from both PlayStation Studios and Xbox Game Studios. This means that players can enjoy exclusive games like God of War: Ragnarok, Halo Infinite, Spider-Man 2 and Fable on both platforms.
PlayStation’s Jim Ryan and Xbox’s Phil Spencer said that the partnership is a result of their mutual respect and friendship. They said that they want to unite gamers across the world and offer them more choice and freedom.
“We are thrilled to announce this partnership with our friends at Xbox,” Ryan said. “We believe that gaming is for everyone, and we want to make it easier for players to enjoy their favorite games with their friends on any platform. This is a win-win situation for gamers, developers and publishers.”
Spencer echoed Ryan’s sentiments and said that the partnership is a milestone for the gaming industry.
“This is a historic moment for gaming,” Spencer said. “We are proud to work with PlayStation to bring our platforms closer together and create more opportunities for gamers everywhere. This is the ultimate expression of our vision: gaming is better when everyone plays together.”
Ryan and Spencer ended their announcement by saying that they hope that gamers will appreciate their gesture and have fun with it.
“We hope you are as excited as we are about this partnership,” Ryan said. “We can’t wait for you to experience it for yourself.”
The partnership will start from April 1st, 2023 and will last indefinitely.
We reached out to Nintendo to see if they had something similar going on, but they declined to comment, instead simply sending us this image of what appears to be a Pikachu, though we can’t be certain. It is cute though.
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