Gamers are crying out for developers to ensure that all future online multiplayer games are released with crossplay enabled.
Crossplay allow users to play with other gamers, regardless of what console or PC (or mobile) they might be using.
It’s one of the features that boosted Epic Games’ Fortnite to the success it’s at today, as everyone can jump in and join their friends, regardless of their choice of gaming platform.
Basically, it’s the one thing that can really help unify a fanbase, and it’s a great thing.
Over on Reddit, a user by the name of REFFARO2 shared a meme that reads: “Cross-play should be standard for all new multiplayer games.”
At the time of writing, the post has gotten 27.5k upvotes, as gamers agree that this is best step forward for online multiplayers in the future.
However, not everyone is a huge fan of crossplay, thanks to the way it can unbalance some games.
A user playing on PC might have an advantage over someone playing the same game on mobile, for example, as keyboard-and-mouse play is generally seen to the best and most accurate way to play your games.
However, there are fixes in place to rebalance games that support crossplay, meaning that the hardware you choose shouldn’t have too much of a tactical effect – at least, that’s what’s hoped for.
Speaking of balance issues, one Reddit user commented on the thread saying: “Since everyone else is talking about how PC players will naturally d*ckstomp console players because better equipment, I just want to mention that parity is also a huge problem.
“Console games tend to have a certification process that means either delaying every release until the final one is approved, or temporarily losing parity as each release gets approved.
“That’s why games like Warframe will likely never do crossplay (aside from the fact that the underlying netcode is kinda garbage, and hosting is done p2p rather than on a central server which causes its own crossplay issues).
“I’m honestly not sure how Epic gets around it with Fortnite. Either they have an extra special relationship with the big three, or they load things in from the server side rather than patching them into updates.”
So, maybe the gaming community is hoping for too much too soon?
With Microsoft and Sony partnering up, Google’s Stadia promising streaming gameplay, plus rumours that the PS5 will be the most PC-like console ever, it’s definitely an interesting time to see how the future of crossplay will come to light.
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games