Sony has revealed that they will end integration with Twitter.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, this will be effective as soon as next week. In a post on their site, PlayStation explain further that “this includes the ability to view any content published on X on PS5/PS4, and the ability to post and view content, trophies, and other gameplay-related activities on X directly from PS5/PS4 (or link an X account to do so).”
This does not cut off all options for sharing from PlayStation to Twitter. PlayStation 4 owners can share pictures and video clips from Capture Gallery. On the other hand, PlayStation 5 owners need to download the PS App on their iPhone or Android device, and that PlayStation 5 needs to be connected to your copy of the app.
This comes months after Microsoft disabled Twitter sharing functionality from Xbox, as well as the Game Bar on Windows. Microsoft also has an Xbox app for mobile, which Xbox and Windows players can still use to share their Xbox gameplay, on both Xbox consoles and PC.
Both companies transparently made this change in response to Twitter’s new pricing for what had previously been free APIs. Under this new pricing, Sony and Microsoft could have been charging as much as $ 42,000 a month.
For their part, Nintendo never used direct API access to enable Switch owners to share their screenshots to Twitter. While API use makes sharing to Twitter more convenient, Nintendo owners won’t have to make any changes to keep sharing. On the Switch, you have multiple options for sharing, such as getting your screenshots to another device after connecting both devices via WiFi, and logging on to Twitter via web browser, to get around the API issue completely.
Nintendo also once offered a broader social media solution than what Sony and Microsoft had, with Miiverse, a social network built around Nintendo user accounts, and the video games published on Nintendo platforms.
While many Nintendo fans stated they enjoyed using Miiverse, Nintendo chose to close the social network citing a lack of active users. It is highly unlikely that Nintendo or other game companies will bring back the idea of a proprietary social network that can only be accessed on their own platforms in the future.
These changes do not affect other social media on consoles, such as YouTube and Facebook. In fact, it’s possible that any of the Twitter alternatives gain enough momentum to become a replacement for Twitter in the future.
