Could this be? Could it finally be?
Peace in our time? Xbox One users, hand-in-hand with PlayStation 4 users?
It looks like Microsoft has extended the hand of peace. Will you take it Sony? Will you place your hands together and dance the dance of lovers, controllers entwined…
Real talk: this is probably not going to happen.
Today Chris Charla, the Director of the ID@Xbox program announced that the Xbox One would finally be receiving cross-platform play on the Xbox One — allowing Xbox players to play against PC players if the game allowed. He also confirmed that Rocket League would be one of the first games to take advantage of this.
Makes sense — PlayStation 4 players have already been playing alongside PC players since the launch of Rocket League.
But, here’s the important part.
We’re thrilled to confirm that Psyonix’s Rocket League will be one of the first games to take advantage of this new capability by enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.
Is this a reference to another online network? A certain PlayStation online network? Also known as the PlayStation Network?
Probably. Maybe.
But it’s unlikely. It seems like Microsoft is already trying to downplay this announcement by claiming different online networks doesn’t necessarily refer to the PlayStation Network. Sony would also have to agree to this whole concept as well, obviously.
Well, never mind. We can dream the impossible dream. Maybe one day it will come true.
Comments
29 responses to “Could Xbox One Players Soon Play With PlayStation 4 Players Online?”
Yikes. The sub-text here is pretty interesting. Every second story about Microsoft seems to be about it all but taking the Xbox down the back paddock.
I want to read the book on Xbox’s rise and ignominious fall one day, this has gone beyond funny gifs and memes, surely.
Hehe…. I think that’s a bit over the top mate.
If the Xbone is dying, the other consoles are dying too- there’s no way MS is just going to walk away from the console space and hand Sony a near-monopoly (Nintendo would benefit but would get left miles behind in a 1 on 1 in 2016).
Also with three rather successful consoles in the bag I don’t think there’d be anything “ignominious” about the Xbox dying now. Like I said if there’s not another Xbox it’ll be due to consoles in their current guise having run their course.
I was just confused by the post so I skimmed over it. 😛
The first part seemed to make sense, every article seems to be talking about the Xbox’s demise – or, as I’ve said before in this forum – Xbox could give away kittens and handjobs and people would still find a way to criticise them. I didn’t get that from Serrels’ article here though, it seemed to be a pragmatic statement at the fact that the onus now rests with Sony.
Without starting a console war (I have both, and enjoy both) – PlayStation have the better hardware, Xbox have the better service. I’m sticking with Xbox because I think they appear to have the right approach for the long-term, whereas I think Sony’s strength will ultimately die-out after this console generation (unless Xbox monumentally cock-up the hardware specs on their next console).
They’re clearly the two best placed companies in the world to provide loungeroom based gaming services over the next decade.
Things are changing with VR, online systems and set top style boxes- but it’s nothing either company can’t handle.
MS are visibly repositioning themselves for the future, but there’s clearly going to be very solid 1st and 3rd party support for the Xbone and PS4 for at least 3-4 more years.
To be fair, even a kitten’s claws are pretty sharp.
I really dont understand why this cant be a thing…
people are still going to be purchasing their preferred console of choice based on their own personal preferences, and exclusives.
you cant even use the argument that it would affect sales because a person with friends on xbox will be more tempted to also buy an xbox because thats what their friends play on, as that is basically a 2 sided coin.
id love to be able to play my games with people across multiple platforms…
a second community network app compatible with steam, xbox os, and ps os that supports parties, chat, and gaming…
Since you wrote a much more sensible post than the guy above… I’d imagine it would help MS at this stage by allowing people to buy a console based on personal choice and not be dictated by the want to play with their mates.
Once a console gets a healthy lead, you get that cumulative effect where people just buy what their mates already have, even if they have a personal preference for the Xbox controller, games or infrastructure. Sony have a healthy lead at the moment (and barring a disaster like PSN exploding permanently will almost certainly keep it), and cross platform play would nullify that advantage somewhat.
I’d be 100% cool with it as long as it didn’t impact on network performance.
cant really imagine it would affect performance… the catch 22 would be that it would require a 3rd party framework to accomplish this. everyone making their own proprietary framework to accomplish this and then get it to “work” will cause all sorts of issues.
this would be the biggest hurdle, as i really cant see microsoft and sony allocating resources to put together a unified team to make this happen… my mind will be relatively blow away if that happens.
Oh my god, it reads like an awkward teenager trying not to admit that they’re asking out the person they like.
“Well, I mean, not necessarily a date date, I mean, if you wanna that’s cool I guess, but I dunno, it could be just hanging or whatever, like… no pressure, y’know; I wouldn’t wanna ruin the frenemyship.”
FUCK’S SAKE, YOU TWO, JUST DO IT ALREADY.
I think this is a cheap PR move by Microsoft. In the past MS has withheld cross-platform play (example FF-XIV) because of its extremely rigorous requirements for network security. There is nothing in this statement that says that those requirements will be relaxed. MS has never said it is against cross-platform play, so how this move changes the practical side of things will be interesting to see. I remain sceptical.
mash their faces together and make them kiss!
Without starting a fanboy rant, is there any chance that Sony’s sh*thouse network could potentially lead to worse performance on Xbox Live?
I really don’t know. I understand that most games use non-MS/PS servers, but I don’t know how it would all work in practice- if it’d make a difference in an online game played between cross-network users.
Also am I wrong in my understanding that IDARB has had PC/ Xbone cross-platform multiplayer since early last year? It’s certainly advertised as having it but I’ve never confirmed it with anyone I’ve played against.
I was under the impression that Sony already didn’t have any policy against this, and it was purely up to developers to decide if they wanted to support cross platform online play? The issue was that XBL was kind of walled off which is why it had only been implemented between PS3/4 and PC. Although the limited uptake of that by developers makes you wonder how many would bother doing it to XBL even if it’s possible to do so.
Yes, I think you’re right – I’m going to talk out of my arse for a minute – but I thought it had to do with the Azure servers and the Xbox One required developers to use them to offload the service-side of things (Achievements, etc.), whereas PlayStation let developers use their own servers with – assumedly – some API to link through to PSN, hence why Psyonix were able to use their own servers for Rocket League (allowing PC/PS4), but Rocket League were behind the walled Azure garden. Happy to be corrected.
I think you’re right. In the past when I’ve heard/read about games that had the potential for crossplay on consoles, it’s always been MS that had said no.
an interesting development that hopefully will see future cross platform play from all games. Clearly they will still both have their exclusives but would I would be interested to see how it would work if you wanted to play with specific people from another platform.
If playing rocket league on PC has taught me anything, I don’t want to be playing with PS4 players…
They are literally the worst, you know you are going to lose a match if one is on your team and you know it’s a sure thing if the opposing team is all ps4 players…
at least the standard on Xbl is higher, but those guys probably all played the game on PC already lol
I assume you’re talking skill? I’ve had the complete opposite experience – Console players have true mastery over skill-shots, whereas PC players are – by far-and-away – the more toxic crowd, and are quick to fill the chat with vitriolic drivel when they start to loose. Maybe we’re playing at different times.
As for Xbox, I’ve been enjoying the relative noobish crowd there – it’s led me to a few easy wins early on while everyone skills-up.
I’ve not had any particular problems. I think you are right that PC players can quickly type unkind messages into chat, whereas PS players are a bit restricted in a practical sense. Skillwise I think the is little difference. I don’t know if any PC players are using mouse and keyboard or whether they are all using controller.
Revisited comment and realise there is no need to add fuel to any fires
everyone plays with a controller regardless of platform what difference does it make?
Its been done before, I don’t see why not again? Final Fantasy XI if I remember rightly allowed play between xbox, PC and PS2. Why can’t we all just be friends? 😛
Because we must fight for the love of our chosen brand and our fellow acolytes!
But now we can fight for our brands IN THE GAMES D:
The big difference is that with FF XI, Microsoft was pursuing Square to have an established MMO available in the launch window of their new console. In this case, the existing player base is obviously a selling point.
In contrast, the Rocket League developers are small fry, and you only need a small number of players to set up an online game anyway. And forcing people to purchase the same console as their friends might increase sales a little.
This would be great if it became a reality. The player bases in Australia/NZ are already pretty small. It would extend the lifetime of many multiplayer games.
I look forward to the day an xbox player joins the Rocket League team of some of my friends on Steam.
Some of them already rant about the “plebstation” players on their team.
Smart move on Microsoft’s part. They lose fewer of the “all of my mates have PS4s” group while kinda forcing Sony to play along (Sony will look like Grinches if they don’t play along now that MS have extended the olive branch.
I’m surprised that given how long online multiplayer has been “mainstream” there isn’t already some independent, open-source, platform-agnostic, gaming-specific communications protocol that every device can use to talk to every other device.
Unless there is one already, and Microsoft and Sony are just ignoring it to retain exclusivity – I haven’t actually looked.