It looks like Sony has finally gotten around to addressing some of the long running concerns from their fan base. When the PlayStation 4 arrives, it will launch a new party chat system on the console. A feature that’s been found in Xbox Live for quite some time, the party chat functionality on PS4 will allow players to group up and converse, in what’s assumed to be a similar system. In a recent edition of PlayStation Access, a number of PlayStation 4 Secrets have been revealed, including friends list count and DualShock 3 compatibility.
This party chat feature for the PS4 will not need players to be subscribed to the premium PlayStation Plus service to use. That means it’s not in the premium tier of services that Sony outlined earlier this year. While many of questions answered in the recent video have been explained before, a couple tidbits of information concerning the friends list seem to be new details. Friend lists on the PlayStation 4 will be 2000 deep, more than enough for almost anyone. And similarly to the Xbox Live service, the accounts from the PlayStation 3 will carry over to the new console. All of the same avatars and profile information will be used on the PlayStation 4. As for the controller compatibility, the DualShock 3 will not be compatible with the PS4. But, the PlayStation Move will be.
Party chat on the PS4 is something that fans have been asking for for quite some time. Delivering it free of charge to every person who owns a PS4 is a great feature on the console. With Sony not charging anything for the service, it does make you wonder why they didn’t try to do this sooner.
Sony has yet to announce when the PlayStation 4 will launch, but the console is currently available for pre-order and slated to arrive sometime in late-2013.
