Once upon a time in gaming, there was the cold, hard fact that if you had one system, and another person had another, you couldn’t play your games together unless you were on the same console. Then, the arrival of the internet made it so we could play together on the same system, but not be in the same place. After that came the arrival of cross-platform play, where people on different consoles, or consoles and PC, could play with one another without issue. Given certain shifts in the gaming space, there are those who believe that cross-platform play is the future of gaming as a whole. Is that true, though? We’ll break down both sides of the argument.
Why It Could Be Part 1: Gaming Is Meant To Bring Us Together
Allow us to start this with a bit of philosophy. Yes, gaming philosophy is a thing; deal with it.
Anyway, the “point” of video games has absolutely shifted over the years from a “thing that kids play,” to something that “everyone can enjoy.” We’ve proven this recently with posts we’ve made about “Cozy Gaming” and other similar topics. There are games for everyone if they’re willing to give it a try.
To that end, multiplayer gaming has honestly been around since the very beginning. If you go back to the original arcade classics, where one could fight another person at the arcade or race against them in elaborate stations, that aspect of gaming has always been at the forefront.
As consoles came into power and adapted to become more multi-player focused, players went from being able to play with one other person to being able to play with up to three friends or family members via systems like the N64, and it helped expand the fun games could bring.
Then, as noted before, the advent of the internet, and bringing that into the gaming space, led to being able to play with others from all over the world! Seriously, gaming has grown into a truly global empire of sorts, and there are special events that connect gamers from all over, which is a truly cool thing.
At their core, gaming is about having fun, and part of that fun is being able to do it with friends, family, and those who love gaming as much as you do. So, if that can be enhanced by allowing people on PC to play with any console, or console users to play with people on Android or iPhone, why not allow that to happen more often?
Sadly, the answer to that question is well known in the industry by this point…
Reason It Might Not Be: Greed and Exclusivity
While it sometimes sucks to admit, the video game industry is a business. In this business, there are people who want nothing more than to make the most money and to outright beat their competitors for market share, profit, and just being known as the “best video game developer/publisher out there.” It was that kind of mindset that has led to the numerous “console wars” that engulfed the industry over the years, including the ones that are still ongoing right now.
The reason this matters in a cross-platform play argument is that if this “is the future,” that means that ALL SIDES have to be on board with it, and it’s debatable whether that would be the case long-term. The best example of this comes from one of the “big three” console makers: Sony.
When Fortnite and Minecraft were dominating the gaming space, and yes, they’re technically STILL dominating it, its developer, Epic Games, wanted nothing more than to bring cross-platform play to each console so that players could have fun with truly anyone. The same was desired by Mojang. To their credit, Microsoft and Nintendo were both up for that and made that happen with their systems.
Sony…didn’t. Well, not at first.
They were so infamous for their desire to NOT do cross-platform gaming that Nintendo and Xbox did a rare unified commercial for Minecraft, showing that their players could be with one another and that things were “better together,” an obvious stab at Sony.
So, why did Sony resist doing this? Money.
It was afraid of losing microtransaction money to other platforms, or even having people resist buying games for the PlayStation since they could get it on another platform and still play with Sony players, in theory.
While the company did lessen its restrictive stance, it’s still not 100% committed to this, and even Microsoft and Nintendo have had their own thoughts on “exclusivity” and wanting to keep things “in their own space” versus sharing with others. So long as those mentalities prevail, you can’t fully say that cross-platform play is the future.
Why It Could Be Part 2: The Technology Is There
If we want to “bare bones” why this is really possibly the future of gaming, we need to go to the most basic of levels. Specifically, the level of: The technology is already there, and it’s only going to get better.
If that seems a little too basic, that’s the point. The reason that cross-platform play is talked about as the “future of gaming” by some isn’t because it’s something that “could be achievable in the near future,” but rather that it’s already happening right now!
We’ve already listed certain games that have cross-platform capabilities, and more games are becoming like that every year. To that end, there are companies out there, including ones like Square Enix, Xbox, and even Sony with the PlayStation Brand, who are slowly taking a more “multiplatform approach” to their titles, and that means that they’ll be embracing cross-platform play a lot more than they likely would’ve in the past.
Now, that’s not to say that this is a perfect system right now, as there are many games that struggle with this feature. Lag is something that can be a serious issue, and it remains an issue for online multiplayer in general. When you add in the programming requirements to make cross-play work, you can understand on some level the hesitancy that’s going on here.
However, with each new advance in technology, with each new step forward, and with each breakthrough that makes internet play even more stable, things will get better.
The term “the future of gaming” is a very loose concept by design. It’s meant to make you think of “where things can go next,” and for many, they want this interconnected future so that things won’t always have to be about “what console do you have,” and instead be about “Do you have this game? If so, let’s play together!”
That does sound nice, doesn’t it?
