The Epic Games versus Apple court case has ended up bringing to light a number of documents that have offered interesting insight into how companies like Microsoft and Sony operate. Yesterday, we shared he revelation that Sony receives compensation from developers and publishers to offset revenue reduction stemming from enabling cross-play. The court documents further reveal that Sony was completely against the idea of enabling cross-play and was practically forced by Epic Games to give in.
In a pair of emails shared by The Verge’s Tom Warren on Twitter, former Sony Interactive Entertainment Senior Director Gio Corsi wrote to Epic Games and stated that no one has been able to explain how cross-play benefits PlayStation. He also dismissed the idea of cross-play being a valuable feature regardless of “the size of the title.”
In a later email from Epic Games to Sony, the Fortnite developer suggested that it will have its way and it would benefit Sony to come to the negotiation table. To make its offer more lucrative, Epic Games proposed making Sony “look like heroes” in Fortnite cross-play announcement. Additionally, Epic offered to brand itself with PlayStation at E3 2018, craft special offers for PlayStation Plus, and extend Sony’s company-wide Unreal Engine 4 license, which was due to expire at the time.
“We love working with PlayStation and we want this to be a win/win,” Epic told Sony. “The longer this drags out, it will be less so. I can’t think of a scenario where Epic doesn’t get what we want – that possibility went out the door when Fortnite became the biggest game on PlayStation.”
As of last year, Sony owns a minority stake in Epic Games.
[Source: Twitter]
