/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22169090/Hero_Image_12112020.jpg "Sony x Microsoft x Nintendo") |
| (Image Source: The Verge) |
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo - three video game companies that have literally controlled almost the entirety of the global video gaming market in recent years - have united to formulate and introduce a shared set of safety guidelines on how they will moderate and police their online platforms. Announced simultaneously by the three companies online, the statement stated that protecting players online requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines the benefits of advanced technology, a supportive community and skilled human oversight.
The joint statement by the top gaming companies was an intriguingly timing move as several games like Fortnite, Rocket League and Apex Legends are offering crossplay among different platforms, enabling and allowing gamers to play together and compete against each other regardless of what hardware they are using. However, such feature could cause problems if the rules and standards of each platform are enforced differently. These new principles should help each console manufacturer follow similar approaches in order to keep players safe. They will come under three main categories: prevention which covers allowing players to customize their privacy controls, to promote the existence of these options and make them easy to use; partnership which includes pledges to cooperate with other organizations and ratings agencies on safety initiatives; and responsibility which includes a commitment to be transparent about the rules and to make it easy for players to report when others break the rules.
Prior to the said partnership, it is recalled that Sony has not allowed PS4 gamers to play against players using other gaming consoles due to the potential and unforeseeable circumstances of crossplay gaming as well as the differences between the rules of the platforms. In 2017, PlayStation's global sales and marketing head Jim Ryan told EuroGamer that the reason the company wasn't supporting crossplay in Rocket League or Fortnite was that it didn't want to expose its players in online environments outside its control. Sony later walked back its position and eventually allowed for crossplay between consoles in the aforementioned games.
Through this joint set of guidelines and principles on crossplay, the newly-forged partnership between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo signifies the commitment of the gaming console giants to work together to improve player safety and ensure that gaming remains truly for everyone. Though details on the specific policy changes the three companies are making are yet to be disclosed, the solidarity of the three becomes more notable in an industry where the competition among them is often characterized as a "war".
