It’s been discussed for a while within gaming communities, and now it’s finally here – fans of “[easyazon_link keywords=”Gears of War 4″ locale=”US” tag=”masterherald-20″]Gears of War 4[/easyazon_link]” can now play between the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of the game natively, in a move that’s earned Microsoft a very positive response from their followers. It’s also expected that other games will follow through in the coming months, but no specific details have been pointed out yet.
As for “Gears of War 4”, according to an official statement, the current state of the game’s cross-platform support is a testing phase, and the company will be monitoring the situation closely to see how it works out. Players who have issues with the way the system works should definitely raise their voice now, as it sounds like there will be a lot of attention on them from the development side.
It’s also important to note that the feature is only available for the Social Quickplay playlist at the moment, and there’s no news about whether it will be released for other playlists eventually as well. Core and Competitive will likely not get access to cross-platform multiplayer, while on the other hand its addition to the Social Quickplay list will be a permanent one.
The developers have already given some negative statements about the possibility of seeing cross-platform support in other playlists, explaining that the game should stay as fair and balanced as possible in those modes. This is particularly understandable for Competitive gameplay, where advantages can really shine through, and it would be unfair to those playing on a console.
This is just an extension of a long-running debate about the competitive potential of a console compared to a PC, and more specifically the merits of both control styles. There’s little argument that a mouse and keyboard provide a lot more control and better handling compared to a gamepad, which in a game like “Gears of War 4” can lead to a significant advantage for those playing on a PC.
Some have argued that the specific gameplay of “Gears of War 4” doesn’t predispose to that so much, and that the game is actually very welcoming to players using a gamepad. Still, that doesn’t mean much when someone using a mouse and keyboard can perform just as well with even less effort.
It will definitely be interesting to follow the development of this system and see where it goes though, as it looks like it has a huge potential. What’s more, it could work wonders for the popularity of Microsoft themselves on the gaming scene right now, as the company can benefit from some cross promotions between their different platforms.
This seems to align well with their goal of unifying their platforms, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the company decided to take things even further with the next major update to their desktop operating system. We’ve already seen the introduction of a dedicated “gaming mode” in Windows 10, but there’s a lot more that can be done.
This also raises some interesting questions about the success of Sony and their PlayStation 4. They don’t have a counterpart desktop system to promote cross-platform support for like that, but they could still make the feature available for select titles if their infrastructure allows for it. Whether or not we’re going to see some fierce competition between the two giants in this regard is hard to tell, but it would definitely be an exciting time for gamers.