PlayStation's official Twitter account recently tweeted that Spider-Man would be playable in Marvel's Avengers exclusively on its platform, which has caused quite a ruckus in the community.
Many fans feel left out from this decision, after all, being barred from using a hero as big as Spider-Man is frustrating. Additionally, this decision could have detrimental effects on the potential for the game's cross-play in the future.
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Sony has always been a bit notorious for not playing nice with others. In 2018, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida revealed that the company's "way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play," initially rejecting cross-play on the platform. After some backlash, Sony went back on its stubbornness, but it goes to show how relentless the company can be about matters involving consumer-friendliness.
This seems to be the case once again after PlayStation published a blog written by Crystal Dynamics' Associate Art Director, Jeff Adams, that revealed that Spider-Man would be exclusively coming to Marvel's Avengers on PlayStation.
Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man comes to Marvel's Avengers, exclusively on PlayStation. Crystal Dynamics offers early details on its own, unique take on the post-launch Hero: https://t.co/GA3t6Y40KI pic.twitter.com/TEho59XfIcAugust 3, 2020
To make it perfectly clear: Marvel's Avengers is a third party title coming to PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It's quite a shocking decision to add a character exclusive to one platform considering this title will be a live-service game akin to Destiny and the Division.
Not only are players on other platforms being locked out from using one of the most popular and beloved superheroes, but this could have detrimental consequences for the future of Marvel's Avengers.
Back to the topic of cross-play, Avengers Creative Director Shaun Escayg said to Shacknews that it's "not something that we are currently doing" and that "launch is going to be as it is." However, he also said "not at this time," which means we could've seen it in the future.
However, now that PlayStation will be boasting Spider-Man exclusively, how can we expect cross-play to ever successfully make its way to Marvel's Avengers? Will you only be able to match up with players on other platforms if no one is using Spider-Man or starting his missions?
This is very clearly an aggressive business tactic by Sony to push for more people to purchase the game on its platform, but it's in poor taste. Sony is potentially risking the game's future of cross-play, ostracizing parts of the community and locking a handful of players out of context that they deserve.
