With Microsoft having embraced the notion of cross-network play, they’ve now set their ambitions on going a step further, to bring many more of Xbox Live’s capabilities to other platforms, including iOS, Android and even Nintendo Switch. They’re not really going to get anywhere with Sony, so the lack of PS4 on that list should be no surprise.
Of course, there’s already Xbox Live apps on mobile and some games like Minecraft feature an Xbox Live login for multiplayer, but it’s been restricted to Microsoft’s own games and set up so far. Their intention is to allow third parties to leverage their network to bring cross-network play, Xbox Live achievements, friends lists and more into the network.
The plans came to light via the GDC 2019 website, which outlined Microsoft’s plans, using their PlayFab set of tools.
Xbox Live is one of the largest, most engaged gaming communities on the planet with decades of experience providing managed game services to developers that save you time and unlock all of the social and engagement features that players love.
Now Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger. Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK.
Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.
Source: GDC