As Microsoft have endeavoured to blur the lines between Xbox and Windows gaming, they’ve opened up to the notion of cross-platform play between computer and console. Forza Horizon 3, for example, lets you buddy up with other players regardless of their platform, and The Coalition decided to hold a test weekend towards the end of last year to see how viable cross-platform play would be for a competitive shooter.
750,000 matched were played with 115,000 participants (a 91:9 split from Xbox One to PC) and over 90% of the matches that weekend included a mixture of platforms. From all the data they gathered, they found that Windows 10 and Xbox players going through the regular matchmaking process were actually quite closely matched when comparing average KD, score and kills per match.
Off the back of this, The Coalition have decided that the Social Quickplay playlist will not be cross-platform, starting today. However, Core and Competitive play will remain platform independent because, to ensure that it truly is a level playing field.
It’s a good move, in my books, but don’t expect this to become the industry standard. Gears is hardly the twitchiest of shooters, where mouse and keyboard have an advantage in terms of reflexes and precision, and even then The Coalition have been cautious to avoid upsetting the cart too much.
What do you think? Would you like to see more experiments on cross-platform play and opening up the borders?
Source: Xbox Wire
Avenger
A very interesting move for sure. I don’t think it’ll be industry standard anytime soon, or anytime at all. If there isn’t advantages to be had by Keyboard/Mouse in some games, there would be increased FPS etc.
I like how they’ve tested this though, and are being cautious. Will try it out later tonight.