Sony & Fortnite– Gritted teeth.

Sony gives in not a moment too soon. 

• Sony has backtracked on its decision not to allow cross-platform play in Fortnite in a move that hopefully signals a change in attitude that may help it to keep its dominant position in console gaming
• There is no question that Sony has utterly dominated the current generation of gaming consoles.
• It did a masterful job of capitalising on a series of gaffes made by Microsoft in how it managed its relationship with its users, pricing and how it dealt with second-hand games.
• The result was that Sony had a slightly superior gaming machine at a slightly lower price that outsold Xbox by a factor of 2 to 1.
• This still plays out today where there are around double the number of PlayStation Network members than there are members of Xbox Live.
• Furthermore, at E3 2018 it successfully answered a strong showing by Microsoft with great offerings from its first party games development effort.
• The net result was the biggest installed base of gamers being offered, arguably, the largest and best range of exclusive games.
• This is all stuff that Sony knows how to do but as usual, it is in the understanding of the network effect and the ecosystem where it has always come unstuck.
• One of the biggest multiplayer games out there at the moment is Fortnite from Epic Games.
• This game is now so popular that it has become an esports category on its own and accounted for over 33% of all video game streams in May 2018.
• The game currently has 125m players and generated revenues of $300m in the month of April alone (SuperData Research).
• However, in order to protect its walled garden, Sony decided not to allow PSN players to be able to play with players on other platforms (Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS).
• This is exactly the mindset that allowed Apple to come from nowhere in personal music players and steal an entire market from right out from under Sony’s nose.
• It has always thought that locking its users in is the best way to keep them which will only work until the time comes to buy a new console.
• This now finally be changing with Sony now reluctantly willing to consider making cross-platform play available, as long as the experience is good enough.
• Sony has made available an open beta for Fortnite that allows play across all platforms which paves the way for full cross-platform play with all third-party content.
• Sony has stated that its reason for not allowing crossplay is that it wanted to ensure a high-quality experience, but the reality is that it believed that its users would never leave.
• I think it highly likely that Sony has seen some negative impact from its original decision and has acted in order to prevent the trickle from becoming a deluge.
• Hence, I think that Sony is finally starting to make the moves that it needs to be in a position to keep this commanding position, unlike the way it has ceded many others.
• I think a lot still needs to change at Sony but finally, there are signs that it has realised that its user base is the most valuable asset it has.