It would appear that everyone is ready for cross-network play except Sony. Rocket League developer Psyonix recently claimed that it can setup cross-network play between PS4 and Xbox One users within a “few hours” if Sony gives the thumbs up. The Witcher 3 developer CD Projekt Red wants it to happen as well for its upcoming card game, Gwent. And heck, even Microsoft is ready to shake hands with Sony and jump into this together. So what’s holding PlayStation back?

In an interview with IGN ME, we asked Sony’s Global Sales and Marketing head, Jim Ryan, on where Sony stands on allowing people on different consoles to play together.

“There's been a lot of noise about this recently. There were certain statements made at E3. But our position has always been that we're receptive to this,” he said. “It's something we've been doing for many years now. I think we started with cross-platform initiatives on PS2 in fact, in the early network days of that. There are a number of instances on PS3: when you upgraded from the PS3 to the PS4 generation on GTA V you could take your save cross-platform, we've also seen it with Final Fantasy. We're completely open to this. It's really down to the developer and publisher of a certain game to come and talk to us and we're ready to have that conversation.”

Ryan kind of skirts around the topic, instead talking about cross-buy support within the PlayStation platforms as opposed to allowing PlayStation and Xbox users to play together. I really hope Sony does come around the idea because it will not only help users to pick consoles of their choice (regardless of what their friends are playing on) but also add value and longevity to an online game by increasing its overall user base.

Our full interview with Jim Ryan will be published later on in the week, where we ask him about Sony’s plans on localizing its upcoming first party games, what makes the Middle Eastern market so unique, and how does he think the PSVR will be received in the region.