Though Sony stubbornly and frustratingly stood as the last major hurdle against cross-play in the industry for a prolonged period of time, of late, things have started looking up. The likes of Fortnite, Rocket League, and Dauntless have all enabled full cross-platform play functionality, and more games – most noticeably Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – are bound to do so in the future as well.
There’s a case to be made that the change has been brought about by great demand for it, and that Sony have backed away from their restrictive views on cross-play because of the public outcry- which would suggest that if that demand continues to hold steady, cross-play might become the norm for the industry going forward. One person who agrees with that notion is Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two Interactive.
While speaking in an interview with GamesBeat, Zelnick was asked about his views on cross-play, and his response was a decidedly positive one. “It’s a good thing. It will happen,” said Zelnick. When asked if he believes so because of the demand there’s been for cross-play functionality from players, he responded, “Absolutely.”
Looking at current industry trends, it definitely feels like cross-play is something that’s going to become more and more common as time passes. When you see that a Call of Duty game is going to allow players on PlayStation and Xbox to play with and against each other for the first time in the series’ history, you can’t help but feel like there’s a shift happening in the industry. Let’s hope it continues.
Though Zelnick’s views on cross-play are positive ones, he seems much less enthused about other things such as backward compatibility and subscription services. Read more about both through the links.
