One factor that game developers and hardware manufacturers have yet to achieve in the world of video games has been cross-platform gaming. While it was planned multiple times by various companies, very few titles that were capable of that ever truly came to fruition. One sadly failed example of cross-platform gaming was Microsoft’s Fable Legends that was supposed to be released along with Lionhead Studios for PC and Xbox One this year; the announcement that the game development had been cancelled came this month.
Meanwhile, a popular title of casual online play, Rocket League, is rising like a tidal wave and not only preparing cross-platform play, but also scheduled to make a retail release sometime later this year. Similarly, a couple of other examples have waded their way out of the platform-exclusive trap and became available via multiple means – Tom Clancy’s The Division and Street Fighter V.
Regardless, this is an abysmally low number of titles in a world where every year brings hundreds of new games, and only very few exclusives to one particular platform (e.g. Bloodborne was released for PlayStation 4 only). So while plenty of titles out there have a well-designed multiplayer system and mechanics, many may end up being squandered over the lack of cross-play between PC, Xbox and PlayStation.
A recent discussion with Sony Executive Adam Boyes at the Game Developers Conference reveals some of the plans and possibilities in this regard. When asked about this, Boyes first brought up the already existent examples such as Dust 514 and the aforementioned Street Fighter V, along with the way Diablo 3 and Grand Theft Auto V players may import character from Xbox 360 onto the PlayStation 4.
Boyes mentioned that in what Sony’s PSN is concerned, they have always been open about making it a possibility. However, it would appear that the main barrier in making this happen at the current time are not Sony and Microsoft, respectively, when it comes to consoles. Instead, Boyes said that it falls down to the support that game developers are willing to offer in this direction.
According to him, if game developers decide to throw a bone in the cross-platform multiplayer capability direction, both PSN and Xbox Live would most likely support it, as there’s little to no technical difficulty in making this happen. Similarly, Xbox indie developer director Chris Charla announced earlier this week that Xbox One is also opening its doors towards the cross-platform multiplayer prospect.
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