Consoles, for the most part, stay within their own communities. But recently this barrier has been taken down. Microsoft announced last year that they will have Xbox games in the Microsoft Store as well. This would allow PC players and console players to play together on connected servers. For most developers, all they have to do is add a website extension and with a push of a button, you can play on connected servers. This year Microsoft and Nintendo decided to partner up and do Cross-play with future titles -- this is already happening with "Minecraft" and "Rocket League." Reported by Gamespot during Gamescom 2017 Microsoft's head of marketing Aaron Greenberg made a statement that "relations with Nintendo are going smoothly." He went on to say: "Nintendo is a great partner and we're glad to see them doing well."
Will cross-play be the future?
Aaron Greenberg is in the process of contacting Sony to see if they will be willing to do cross-play in the future.
Right now Sony isn't on-board, however, Aaron believes they might come around soon. Cross-play is an interesting discussion among the community, the idea of being able to play on all devices is not a bizarre concept but we're not fully there yet. To be able to do this, console manufacturers and developers need to work together to make this a full reality. Sony is still on the fence in terms of whether or not they want to support their rival. Sony mentioned that they were concerned about their young audience when the discussion came up about "Minecraft" cross-play.
According to Gamespot from Gamescom 2017, Phil Spencer responded to the statement, saying, "I would love for players on all platforms to stay connected." He went on to say: "For someone to say we aren't capable of keeping Minecraft players safe, I find interesting.
Using Xbox Live and parental controls I feel that we delivered a good experience to our players." Customers so far on every platform have shown support for this new feature, and this could be a step forward in terms of uniting gamers on all platforms. Almost all major Xbox titles this year will be cross-play compatible, Xbox is showing great strides when it comes to connecting gamers on all platforms.
Sony has done cross-play in the past with a few titles like Final Fantasy.
Will Sony finally agree?
We don't know what Sony has in store for cross-play at the moment. Perhaps they aren't sure of how they want to go about this, but hopefully they find a way to make it work. Do you think cross-play will be relevant in a few more years?
