14 DAY TRIAL // The PlayStation 4 has just gotten an exciting new feature in firmware patch 2.0, in the form of Share Play, enabling users to play each other's games, but the feature isn't supported by the latest installment in the Call of Duty series.
Share Play enables a user to invite a friend as a guest to watch them play the game, take over the controls, or even join in in cooperative mode, for games that support such multiplayer action. In order for gamers to play in coop mode, both the host and the guest must have an active PlayStation Plus subscription, required for multiplayer interaction with most of the PlayStation 4's games.
In any case, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, the newest entry in the billion-dollar military first-person shooter franchise, doesn't support the newly minted feature, a detail that surprised many gamers, as nobody knew that developers could simply opt out of using Share Play.
Activision's reasoning
While the move is unexpected, it is by no means something that can be held against the publisher. Activision stated that developer Sledgehammer Games chose not to make the game compatible with Share Play on the PlayStation 4 home console due to the fact that it was an entirely new feature that they had not time to test prior to launching the shooter.
The PlayStation 4 firmware 2.0 update, codenamed Masamune, came out just days before Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's launch, so the decision makes sense, even though it's disappointing. A large game like Advanced Warfare has to thoroughly test everything that goes into it, because it has so much riding on it, and everything has to work flawlessly.
"Delivering a great gaming experience for fans is our top priority. We're focused on launching Advanced Warfare and ensuring that people have a great time playing it, which our fans seem to be," Activision stated, as quoted by Kotaku.
"Share Play is a new feature that was introduced as part of the recent PS4 firmware 2.00 update. Our engineers didn't have access to it before it launched, so we haven't had a chance to evaluate it to see how it will impact the experience across all modes of play," the company continued.
Hope is not yet lost
Activision mentioned that, although Sledgehammer Games wouldn't include a feature into the game without properly testing the way it influences gameplay, they were committed to fully analyzing its performance, after which they would determine how to support Share Play going forward.
Users are also reporting that Share Play doesn't work with last year's Call of Duty: Ghosts, and while this isn't yet indicative of an emerging trend, the fact that such a big franchise didn't come with Share Play compatibility right off the bat is definitely weird, to say the least.
It's going to be interesting to see how third-party developers will react to Sony's game-sharing feature in the future, especially when it comes to big releases.
