The biggest story of June 2018, due to a series of key events including multiple comments from Sony, has been cross-play. While Microsoft and Nintendo are publicly supporting the idea, Sony has continued to leave the PS4 out of the conversation. Fuel continues to be added to that fire, and the latest is from a Pokemon-inspired MMO game called Temtem. As you’d expect, Temtem cross-play is allowed across all planned platforms, with the exception of PlayStation 4.
Temtem, a Kickstarter-funded game from Spanish developer De Crema, smashed its goal by hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is expanding to consoles as a result. An early stretch goal was aiming for the Switch in addition to PC, but eventually the team was able to confirm PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions as well. Being an online game, De Crema of course intends to implement cross-play and cross-save, but notes backers will have to “take into account that some platforms don’t allow that (PS4).”
Sony can’t overhaul its systems overnight, but every time something like this comes out, it’s going to keep the discussion at the forefront. Temtem isn’t planned for release until May 2020 at the moment, so a lot can change until then, it’s also, ostensibly, a smaller game (especially compared to the likes of Fortnite). But based on the Kickstarter numbers it definitely has an audience, and considering the developer itself getting cheeky about the situation, it’ll be interesting to see how much impact Temtem has in this particular battle.