Long ago – during the OG Xbox/PS2/GameCube era – I pondered why it mattered where one played Madden online, after all the servers on the back-end are all just that… servers right? Obviously there’s more to it than that, but here we are in 2024, with an abundance of games supporting cross-play multiplayer. It’s become table stakes at this point.
The other thought I had at the time though was why aren’t games just all on each platform, and then the big 3 just compete on hardware features, y’know like the PC platform. Once again there’s very real reasons why this is not the case, but here we are again, on the cusp of it coming an inch or two closer to reality via Windows Central:
Recent reports have suggested heavily that Microsoft is planning to take games like Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves beyond Xbox and Windows, with PlayStation and Nintendo Switch versions planned. Microsoft would usually be eager to shut down rumors like this, but the total radio silence has become deafening in recent weeks, lending further credence to the rumors.
Apparently this could even include Gears of War and Starfield. I wonder though, is this really a bad thing? Gaming tribalism is a stain on the hobby, and nothing feeds into that quite like exclusives.
Perhaps in the end this could be like I envisioned, a situation where the competition is based on hardware.
Nah Nintendo would never go for it 🤣.