Xbox One Will Not Support Cross-Platform Play

Following yesterday's reveal of the Xbox One, developers began announcing that many of their future titles will arrive both on current and next generation platforms.

Speaking with Videogamer.com, Microsoft clarified that the Xbox One will not support cross-platform play with the Xbox 360 user base.

Harvey Eagle, Xbox UK marketing manager, revealed that Xbox owners "won't be able to play the same game with someone on 360 and someone on Xbox One."

While it seems possible in theory, especially since Xbox Live accounts can carry over, Harvey points to the Xbox One's "different architecture" to explain the console specific multiplayer. Each Xbox Live account will carry over from Xbox 360 and will work on both systems, but the multiplayer will not.

With the announcement of Battlefield 4 coming to next-gen consoles, the expanded player base of the Xbox 360 would definitely speed up the matchmaking process of the much smaller Xbox One community.

Taking on a more optimistic perspective of the situation, with cross-platform play eliminated, it remains very possible that the increased graphical capabilities and Microsoft's claims to support larger player bases, can make the next-gen versions of multiplayer games support larger amounts of players, much like the PC.

With no cross-platform play or backwards compatibility with Xbox 360, Xbox One owners will need to make a decision when purchasing multiplayer games. 

Source: Videogamer