14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that EA Sports has stealthily removed the Share Play feature from the PlayStation 4 version of its insanely popular football video game, FIFA 15.
A lot of reports on NeoGAF are now claiming that, although the game launched with the feature integrated, EA Sports curtailed player access to Share Play over the course of the weekend.
For the time being, the company has presented no statement regarding the decision, and the move to remove Share Play access so silently seems a bit questionable.
Share Play is the PS4’s latest addition
Sony touted Share Play as one of the most alluring weapons in the PlayStation 4’s arsenal. The ability to share gameplay sessions was added in the latest firmware update, codenamed Masamune, and everyone expected it to be ground-breaking.
Firmware update 2.0 added the option for gamers to share their sessions and invite spectators or even let their friends take over the controls and join the game in cooperative multiplayer, with some restrictions regarding PlayStation Plus membership being enforced.
What the company didn’t reveal, however, was the fact that Sony left it entirely to developers’ and publishers’ discretion to opt whether their games would support Share Play or not.
Sony wasn’t exactly up-front regarding the limitations that would accompany Share Play, and many gamers were left a bit disappointed as a result, in a classic case of misplaced expectations.
The feature is still something to get excited about, as although individual gameplay sessions are limited to a duration of one hour, there is no limit on how many consecutive ones can be initiated.
Share Play has a lot of potential, but it needs to work first
The ability to remotely jump into the action and join a friend without having to own the video game being shared is a pretty strong incentive for gamers to adopt the PlayStation 4, and to further bolster the home console’s strong sales momentum.
Unfortunately, the highly anticipated release of the functionality was marred by the fact that Sony was too busy lauding the feature to inform gamers that it was not universal and it wouldn’t apply across all of the PS4’s games.
However, it didn’t take long for gamers to discover that Share Play wasn’t enabled for many PS4 titles, and that it was subjected to other limitations. German players can only use the feature to play with other German users, for instance.
FIFA 15 was one of the games that supported the feature from the get-go, which was surprising, given the fact that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare didn’t, and having it enabled in such a high-profile game at launch meant that a bright future was starting to take form.
Unfortunately, EA Sports removed the feature without as much as a peep, which will likely cause even more bad press for the already vilified company.
