Here’s an experience that maybe you’ve shared at some point. You meet a new friend and the two of you get to talking about games that you love. You casually chat about this new release or that upcoming game that you’ve been waiting forever to play, and then it happens: you realize that you both share a deep love for the same game. For the sake of this example, let’s say that game is Destiny . An hour slips by as you both recount war stories from within the crucible, debate about which class is overpowered and why, and then, being either full of competitive drive or one too many shots of well whiskey, you decide that you must play together. “Dude, add me on Xbox Live and we’ll play each other. What’s your gamertag?” Your new friend frowns as he looks back at you and says, “I have a PlayStation 4.”
That conversation, or some variation thereof, has occurred too many times. It’s one of the biggest buzzkills, and I know that I personally would be in touch much more consistently with some of my childhood friends if we could only play our games together on different platforms. That’s a dream I’ve had since 2006 when the PS3 and Xbox 360 divvied up the player-base over two high-speed, online gaming services. Could we be seeing an end to this awful division in the near future?
Very recently Microsoft made an announcement that shocked us all (in a good way): “…in addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we’re enabling developers to support cross-network play as well.” Of course there is a small catch: developers will have to support this feature, and Microsoft pretty much called out Sony and said that it would have to allow for cross-network play too. Rocket League is the first game that we know of that will take advantage of this new Xbox One feature, and players will be able to play with PC players online “…with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.” Of course, they mean Sony.
While I’m certainly glad that Microsoft is taking this step, it does seem strange to me that it used challenging language directed at Sony, when Sony jumped this hurdle long ago. Final Fantasy XIV, anyone? What about Street Fighter V? PlayStation 4 owners have already enjoyed cross-network play, and it’s Microsoft who’s showing up late to the party. That’s neither here nor there, though.
I wholly expect Sony to accept this invitation, and for Rocket League to be one of the first hugely popular, current-gen games to enjoy competitive play from players across all the major platforms, excluding Wii U. Speaking of Nintendo, if this snowball keeps gaining momentum and grows by the time we’re buying the NX, I expect Nintendo will get in on this action as well. People think I’m crazy for saying so, but I’m fully confident that Nintendo will enjoy immediate third-party support from backers like EA and Square Enix, and it won’t surprise me if we see Final Fantasy XIV release some kind of special edition for the NX after it launches, allowing for cross-network play with PS4 and PC players.
That’s the dream, folks. The console war doesn’t have to be such a divisive thing. Some people like their chocolate sweet, and some like it bitter, but nobody hates chocolate (well, maybe some of you do). That’s my strange way of saying we all love games, and our favorite games are always more fun when we play with friends. The fewer barriers between me and my friends meeting up online to share some laughs and partake in some adventures, the better. I hope this little shift Microsoft is making stays in the headlines as more developers work to make cross-network play a main feature for their games. Who knows, maybe this time next year we’ll be looking back and remember when PS4 players couldn’t play Destiny or The Division with their friends on Xbox Live and laugh. One can dream.