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Microsoft introduces cross-network play (PC, PSN)
Ceno
pizza timeRegistered User regular
pizza timeRegistered User regular
Yep. That's right. If supported by developers (and presumably Sony), Microsoft is supporting cross-platform network multiplayer.
http://news.xbox.com/2016/03/14/letter-chris-charla-idxbox-updates-gdc/
This is pretty big news and pretty much implies that, if Sony were to offer the same support, that you would no longer need to buy a specific platform in order to play with your friends. I imagine there's a lot of stuff to work out on the backend, but yeah... kind of crazy.
http://news.xbox.com/2016/03/14/letter-chris-charla-idxbox-updates-gdc/
This is pretty big news and pretty much implies that, if Sony were to offer the same support, that you would no longer need to buy a specific platform in order to play with your friends. I imagine there's a lot of stuff to work out on the backend, but yeah... kind of crazy.
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* "First, in addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live," and
* "Of course, it’s up to game developers to support this feature, "
The main thing stopping cross-platform play on the big online titles is the fact that patching schedules on PC occur at the speed of the publisher, while patching schedules for consoles occur at the speed of certification (by Sony and Microsoft). And online titles tend to patch about once a month while they are popular. Most publishers REALLY hate the idea of submitting patches constantly for scrutiny for both Microsoft and Sony for certification, as it prevents them from publishing their content at will. Imagine the nightmare that would occur if you have one ecosystem fully patched, another ecosystem one patch behind, and a different one with the patch stuck in certification.
The service entitlement (the online ID that shows what DLC and games you've purchased, or how many months of subscription you have left) authentication alone would be a nightmare. I can't see it happening for most modern online games, because that would require each online store ecosystem to "share" marketing and store information, and that's something that businesses don't generally do (for legal reasons AND business reasons). For things like Rocket League, where it is simply matchmaking and leaderboards, though, it would be simpler.
Cross-platform play is not a new thing, by the way... it's just rare. There are individual titles that had cross-platform play already on both PlayStation and XBox platforms, but these are few and far between. The Shadowrun FPS (terrible use of the license, by the way) had it between PC and XBox, for example. DC Universe (MMO) had cross platform gameplay between PS3, PS4, and PC. Final Fantasy XI and XIV both had cross-platform play during their life cycle. Street Fighter V is supposedly cross-platform play between PC and PS4 as well (for current gen). The Rocket League example being used in most tech news articles is already PS4 and PC cross-platform. There are a number of MMOs and online games already on PS4, Xbone, and PC that share leaderboards or other information between them.
If there was a time to do it, though, it would be now, since PC, PS4, and XBone are all functionally similar with less differences than prior generations in terms of hardware.
The tough part is a console owner like Microsoft (or Sony) demonstrating enough commitment to the concept to get the bulk of developers to buy into it.
Hell, imagine if Destiny 2 actually came out with support for this. (Plus a computer version.) That... would be nice.
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I think it was Final Fantasy 14, actually. It didn't get a 'boxen release because of it.
COME FORTH, AMATERASU! - Switch Friend Code SW-5465-2458-5696 - Twitch
Basically they want both XBox One and Windows 10 to be platforms that exist into perpetuity with iterative upgrades instead of major new revisions. I think it seems like an interesting idea, though it's controversial on both sides - PC players don't want a closed Microsoft ecosystem, and console players don't want to shell out cash for hardware upgrades more often than every 5+ years. However I think that Microsoft has correctly identified that the era of the traditional console cycle is reaching an end and is trying to be the first one to hit on what comes next. Windows 10 gives them a lot of muscle to force their PC philosophy to come to fruition if they so choose, so it will be interesting to see how things pan out for the XBox.
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Yeah, same with Steam on the PS3. It's a tough hurdle for any company--that the PS4 (and Xbox One) are more PC-esque in their architecture (to varying degrees--the Xbox 360 was already pushing that distinction) helps, I'm sure, but it leaves all the organizational and financial hurdles. It IS a great idea, but's still challenging on a case-by-case basis, and I'm convinced you need a broad trend to get third parties to sign on.
I would assume "cross play" has little to no interaction with where you do your server hosting. Azure is just the MS equivalent of AWS/Cloud Computing, it's not a fancy secret Xbox-only thing.
Well, that'd be odd given this:
I mean "open to any platform" but "and you can't cross-play"?
Edit: Oh hey, from the tweets further down in the conversation, "Sony won't let you use Azure"? Who knows how accurate that is, though. Certainly possible.
Edit x2: Seriously damn embedding tweet crap dammit
Or "you don't get a discount", more accurately. Servers cost money.
However, that right there probably encapsulates it. Servers, even virtual cloudy future ones, cost money to run. Making your poor bastard players do P2P hosting is free. So while yep, it'd certainly be a better experience for everyone in almost all cases if there were dedicated servers for a thing, boy oh boy are publishers "thrifty".
Well it's still pretty strong if all you wanna do is play attrition (team death match), on Xbox one I still play it at least. It's just any other mode is pretty much empty. It definitely helped when they released all the dlc content for free
Quake III Arena and 4x4 Evo for the Dreamcast had cross-play a decade and a half ago. Technically Sega Swirl did as well, but it was play-by email.
All three of those games are still playable online, and still cross play to this day.
I wonder how much people desperately wanting a real Shadowrun game hurt that. You can actually have a lot of fun completely disrespecting a universe if everyone involved knows what they're getting into. Look at Gotham City Imposters, that was pretty neat in the short window in which it hit its stride.
Interesting. I'll have to check it out then. Their site said otherwise a few weeks ago.