Wargroove Arrives On PS4 Without Cross-Play

Sony's PlayStation cross-play beta remains a mystery to those who've tried to take part in it. Now it appears yet another game has been left out, despite its developer asking repeatedly for the title to be accepted.

Wargroove, developed by indie studio Chucklefish, is now available on PlayStation 4. It's a throwback to Advance Wars, the popular real-time strategy title released on the Game Boy Advance in 2001. If you're on PC, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch — platforms the game has already released on — you can play Wargroove with anyone else on those platforms via the miracle known as cross-play. It ensures that, should you purchase the one version of Wargroove for a certain piece of hardware, you can still play with your friends on the others.

Except, for some reason, on PlayStation 4. Cross-play was not allowed to happen on the PS4 version of Wargroove, and it's not entirely clear why.

It's not for lack of trying. Chucklefish CEO Finn Brice made a number of attempts to get cross-play approval from Sony, according to Destructoid. And this isn't the first title that's seemingly hit a brick wall when it comes to acquiring such approval. Stew Chisam of Hi-Rez Studios — the company behind Smite and Realm Royale — complained about experiencing similar issues with his studio's games. Meanwhile, larger, more popular titles such as Fortnite and Rocket League have breezed into the program without issue. And Activision's next Call of Duty title, Modern Warfare, appears poised to do the same.

It looks an awful lot like a problem that's exclusive to smaller studios, and that's not a very developer-friendly stance to take.

You can purchase Wargroove today on PlayStation 4. But if you have designs on teaming up with your PC, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch buddies for some multiplayer, Sony is giving you a very good reason to avoid this version of the game.