【World Of Single Jaye】

The World Of Single Jayeprocess of unifying allmost Minecraftplayers under a single version of the game has officially begun.

The "Better Together" update is now rolling out to Windows 10, Gear/Oculus VR, Xbox One, and Android/iOS versions of the game. Nintendo's Switch will join that lineup before the end of 2017. Earlier Mac/Windows-friendly Java versions of the game and the newer 3DS version won't ever get the update.

Still, there's a notable absence from this lineup: PlayStation 4.

SEE ALSO: 'Minecraft' fan creators have made a ton of money off the game, apparently

Sony's console has been missing from all announcements to date regarding Better Together. It's not difficult to understand why: Microsoft owns the Minecraftbrand, and the PlayStation is in direct competition with Xbox.

Back in 2016, Microsoft took the first step toward enabling cross-console play -- something that's never before been an option -- for any game developed to support it. It was a surprise announcement that Sony greeted (publicly, at least) with ambivalence.

Now, Minecraftis about to knock down the walls separating Xbox and Switch players, and Rocket Leaguewill offer the same when it launches for Nintendo's latest console. Sony's deafening silence on the topic of PlayStation cross-play with Xbox continues, but still... there's reason to be hopeful.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

That's the position held by Matt Booty, VP of Microsoft Studios, who expressed confidence that Sony would board the Better Together train -- eventually -- during a recent interview.

"Sony is a good partner and they are working with us on this," he said. "We would probably like it to happen a little bit sooner, but I feel positive about being able to make this work."

Booty went on to explain that it's not a technical hurdle at this point. As many in the gaming space noted earlier this week -- including Booty himself -- Epic Games' Fortnitetemporarily opened up to PS4/Xbox One cross-play, due to what the studio called a "configuration error."

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For players on the outside, it seems like a no-brainer, right? Just switch the thing on and let people play together. But it's not quite that simple when you're talking about two gaming consoles with their own, unique operating system and policies.

Even something like parental controls, a feature that both consoles share, is wired differently on each platform. Getting all of those systems to play nice, Booty explained, is where the business of it all gets tricky.

"Imagine if somebody is playing on console XYZ and they want to play multiplayer with somebody on an Xbox, those two consoles need to understand how to respect each other's parental control settings and how to respect each other's chat filter settings," he said.

That's just one example. There are loads of similar issues that Microsoft and Sony need to work through, from the legal text you see when you boot up the game to the way each machine handles routing for online play. It's all the "wiring and plumbing" you don't see, as Booty phrased it.

It's easy to arch an eyebrow at Sony for its non-committal approach to cross-console play, but to be fair: It was Microsoft that opened the door. And to get this up and running, Sony essentially needs to get on board with the idea of having Xbox Live "wiring" coded into certain PlayStation games.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Somebody's always got to go first, and it helps to work out the specifics with an actual game and figure that out," Booty said, speaking primarily as an agent of Minecraft... but also as an executive at the company that owns both it and the Xbox brand.

"I think that's also part of the role of the first-party, is for us to get in there and figure out how to make these things work. And that can lead the way to generalize it to all games across the platform."

With Sony specifically, Booty took care to point out -- several times during our chat, in fact -- that the PlayStation gatekeeper isn't actively working against this process. This isn't a "console war" in action.

"I think it's easy to overpolarize this," he said. "Sony, we're meeting with them right now. We've got ongoing meetings. And I'm pretty confident we're going to figure out a path to bring the same level of functionality to PlayStation that we have with Nintendo, and I want to be respectful [of Sony's concerns]. I think the responsibility is on us to sort those out ... and be good partners."

More importantly, Booty added, both companies are looking to a single guiding light as they sort through these problems: You, the player.

"The approach that we take is: what's going to be right for the players in all this," he said. "I think that helps us rise above some of the friction that might exist between the various ecosystems."

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Topics Gaming Microsoft PlayStation