Destiny 2 creator Bungie had initially wanted to enable cross-platform character transfers between PlayStation 4 and PC (and conceivably Xbox One as well), but Sony – which has a deal with Bungie to make certain Destiny 2 content PlayStation-exclusive – put the kibosh on the idea. That’s according to Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, who discussed the topic on the most recent episode of Kotaku’s Splitscreen podcast.
In a segment about 50 minutes into the latest episode, called The Future of Dragon Age (And Assassin’s Creed), the team talks about the goof-up with Destiny 2’s traveling merchant Xur last week, which made the PS4-exclusive Forsaken weapon, the Wavespliter exotic trace rifle, available to PC and Xbox players. (Note: at the time of this writing, the episode isn’t available on the site, so if you want to listen, you’ll have to find it in your podcast app.)
As they wrap up the discussion on Destiny 2, Schreier mentions the idea of transferring characters between consoles – a feature that would make it much more convenient for players who wanted to join their group of friends on another platform.
“I heard that Bungie wanted to do character transfers for PS4 and PC,” Schreier said. “But Sony wouldn’t allow it. Sony is just like, ‘We want people to associate Destiny with PS4,’ even if that means screwing over other players.”
Sony has historically taken a hard line against platform crossplay, so this isn’t just a Destiny 2 thing. There have been some rare exceptions – the company finally gave the okay for Rocket League crossplay earlier this year. But generally speaking, Sony takes the stance that PlayStation 4 is “the best way to experience games.”
But Sony’s deal with Bungie goes a bit beyond simply walling off crossplay – as we’ve seen, Destiny 2 has had PS4-exclusive content along with both major releases, and that’s preventing players on other platforms from accessing content that’s already in the game, like the Wavesplitter.
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And having the ability to transfer character data between platforms would inarguably be a massive benefit to players, particularly in a multiplayer-focused experience that puts a high premium on teamwork in the endgame. It’s a shame that function hasn’t made it into the game thanks to a exclusivity deal.
Or, as Schreier puts it: “It sucks, and hopefully Bungie ends it.”