Microsoft talks Xbox One/PS4 cross-platform multiplay

Could you soon be playing multiplayer games from your Xbox One with gamers on PS4’s?

You ready for this one? According to Chris Charla, the director at ID@Xbox, you will be able to play games across the big two platforms very soon. Speaking on the Xbox/PC multiplayer crossover capability that Microsoft currently supports, the Xbox company is now allowing for developers to activate play between networks– and that basically means that Xbox Live can now play nicely with the PSN.

As strange as it seems to hear, this is pretty awesome and could be a huge step to opening up cross-platform communities in a big way, giving games truly massive, online components. Remember that, even though we’ve seen games develop terrific online communities in current and past console generations, having there be no difference as to which console you happen to have in order to be a part of a more general multiplayer faction would build a truly unified group of players.

Own Destiny on the Xbox One, and what to play with your pal who has a PS4? That’s a problem as it stands currently, but with this cross-platform support in play- it’s no big deal! And I can’t imagine that’d be bad for the hobby (or individual games’ lasting appeal) in any way.

There is a catch though (because of course there is!), and that’s that even though Xbox Live has this functionality, Sony and their PSN might not follow through with their ‘end of the deal’. Remember that, past Microsoft, it’s totally up to Sony (well, them and game developers) as to whether or not this actually becomes reality. And the thing is, they’re in no position where they have to agree to open up the vault, especially since they’re winning this round of the console wars by leaps and bounds.

Of course, if gamers see that Microsoft wants to do something as open and ‘gamer-friendly’ as this, yet Sony balks at it, keeping their PSN-wall up… well, that wouldn’t be so great for them pr-wise. Stay tuned, because this could be a boon for Microsoft’s still somewhat tarnished image in the eyes of gamers, whichever way it goes.

Source: MCV