The Xbox One’s Skype abilities have been a huge selling point for Microsoft ever since the console was announced last May. Skype has been trumpeted at several of their events, and the company has even listed it as one reason that a small business owner might want to purchase the next-gen console. The importance that has been placed on the app makes it a bit surprising to hear that Microsoft is actively interested in putting the video calling service on Sony’s PlayStation 4.
Microsoft’s corporate vice-president for Skype, Mark Gillett, revealed the surprising desire when the BBC asked about the possibility of the application coming to the PS4. Gillett said in part:
“We’ve worked with Sony for a long time. Skype ships today on the PlayStation Portable amongst other cross-platform devices that we deliver to, and for the last few years we’ve also been shipping versions of Skype that run on Sony TVs.”
“We’re obviously not party to their pre-release [PlayStation] hardware road map [but] we’re committed to cross-platform.”
Should Skype make its way to the PlayStation 4 at some point, it would set up a couple of extremely interesting situations. First, the Skype app would form a cross-communication bridge between PS4 and Xbox One owners — something that has never happened before between two competing video game consoles. The other issues is that Skype would presumably be free to use on the PS4 (as it is on every other platform), while Microsoft’s current plans have it locked behind the X1’s Xbox Live Gold paywall.
We will keep an eye out for any further developments on Microsoft’s next-gen console plans for Skype, and let you know as soon as anything is announced.