Bethesda’s Pete Hines talked about the console versions of The Elder Scrolls: Legends, the card game based on their cult RPG series The Elder Scrolls. In an interview with Gameinformer, Hines flat-out dismissed the idea of Elder Scrolls: Legends to not have cross-play functionality on any platform.
“We continue to talk to all of our platform partners, but those [terms] are essentially non-negotiable. We can’t be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version where you stay within that ecosystem or its walled off from everything else. That is counter to what the game has been about.” – Pete Hines
The Elder Scrolls: Legends is already available on PC and mobile platforms since last year and is planned to receive console ports for PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch sometime this year. In the rather popular card game genre of late, industry giants like Blizzard and Valve have been putting their weight and wealth of lore into their own card games, Hearthstone and Artifact. Blizzard’s Hearthstone is already a juggernaut in the card game genre, attracting not only masses of players but also tons of viewers on Twitch. Valve is also nearing the release of their card game Artifact this coming November.
Bethesda is in a rather good spot with their deep and popular Elder Scrolls lore for Legends. So, it’s no surprise that after a successful year on PC and mobile, the company is setting their eyes on the remaining major gaming platforms, consoles.
Sony’s rather archaic stance regards cross-play could mean bad news for The Elder Scrolls: Legends however, as the developers firmly persist on having a unified user experience for players of the game. No matter which platform they decide to jump in.
Playstation has already made waves by not allowing cross-play functionality, especially with their console rivals the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. Players of massively popular Fortnite and Minecraft on the Playstation can not interact with players from the other consoles. A feature which Microsoft and Nintendo is not only allowing, they are celebrating it with unprecedented ads even.
It looks like there won’t be an end to the Playstation cross-play controversy anytime soon, with The Elder Scrolls: Legends becoming a likely next victim of Sony’s adamant reluctance to offer cross-play. Maybe Playstation boss Shawn Layden will rethink his company’s stance after more games and developers openly critique and threaten to not appear on the Playstation.
