In a recent interview with Eurogamer, ID@Xbox’s European boss Agostino Simonetta confirms that they are ready for Xbox One-PS4 cross-play, leaving the ball at Sony’s court.
Everyone behold the golden cross-play age!
It seems that an Xbox One-PlayStation 4 cross-play is more of a possibility than ever and ready to be shipped. At least on Microsoft’s side. The European boss of the company has pretty much stated that the technical bits are ready to support such a feature. “We have done our bit and we welcome anyone who wants to take part”, he has said, clearly referring to their industry counterpart, the Sony family. If the politics around this issue get sorted it’s quite possibly one of the biggest announcements gamers worldwide could receive.
Xbox One-PS4 Cross-Play: Between Technicalities and Politics
One of the most relevant questions is whether both companies have the necessary technology to accomplish such a feat. Without going too much into detail, Simonetta confirms that enabling online modes and characteristics between consoles is not as easy as “flipping a switch” – but it can be done. Simonetta confirms on Microsoft’s behalf that all the technology is there and that Rocket League is their first game on target to make this happen. He then extends an invitation to any title or developer that wants to update their game to include this kind of cross-network play. They are also ready for that.
Last month Microsoft already hinted to this project when they stated that they were allowing cross-play between their console, Windows 10 and other “online multiplayer networks”. By this they want to reach out to players on other networks, PSN included, to allow for less restrictive interaction between communities of players.
Now it seems that the resolution of this matter lays in its arrangement politics. The big question remains: is Sony interested in this kind of interplay between players and platforms? Microsoft invitation to connect to Xbox Live is very clear but Sony has yet to commit.
So far, they have made no official statement regarding this and their position remains in the dark. In an interview with GameSpot back in March, a representative comment that they “would be happy to have the conversation with any publishers or developers who are interested in cross platform play”. The ball is clearly at their court now.
Would you like to see this finally happen? Let us know!
[Source: EuroGamer]
