Fortnite – it opened the floodgates (pic: Epic Games)
A reader is upset that console gamers are forced to play with PC owners in crossplay games, and that it’s created an uneven playing field.
September 2018 set a president, when Fortnite became the first big name, cross-platform game. I and many gamers alike rejoiced, as I could now play with friends on different platforms. Epic Games, with their massive following, managed to force Sony, as the last holdout, to enable it.
At the time I was all in with playing your games where you want with who you want; it all sounded good on paper and to this day it still does. I am even behind the licence-owning aspect that would enable you to own a game and play it where you like, rather than buying it multiple times, which a plethora of games do allow nowadays.
The issue I have, and it is getting increasingly prevalent, is PC gamers. They bring players to the table, yes, but the superior keyboard and mouse control system is just the beginning of the problems. They also have access to wider screen displays and software they can install which can enable cheats.
I was always behind the idea of crossplay but console-only. PC seemed great on paper, but it is so open to abuse. Every time I lose to a PC player the thought of them maybe cheating is at the back of my mind; that maybe it’s not my fault I lost but because they are using a keyboard and mouse, playing on an ultrawide monitor, or using an aimbot.
In the last year or so we have seen field of view sliders and keyboard and mouse support added to many popular games on consoles, but I would rather not have the console versions just turn into a de facto PC version. Can we not have an option to have crossplay with all or crossplay with console only? You can keep all the stuff added to consoles and keep it as the armchair controller experience, that I left PC some 20 years ago to achieve.
There is a solid argument for crossplay on more cooperative games and I’ve no issue with those games, as I enjoy Flight Simulator 2020 on both Xbox and PC. I do own a PC, so it is not that I cannot play on PC, I just prefer my console.
I know that most games that have the option of turning off crossplay tend to bury it under a lot of menus or Xbox requires a system level setting that most casuals will not find. Perhaps when loading up and asking for the brightness settings you can place it there: consoles vs. consoles or full crossplay.
I would also like the standard to be controllers vs. controllers and keyboard and mouse kept separately which it is in some games but not all. It is still early days for crossplay and time will tell. It is here to stay, I think, but my parting comment is I want to beat other players, but I do not necessarily want to join them.
By reader @mcsherlocks
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A reader is upset that console gamers are forced to play with PC owners in crossplay games, and that it’s created an uneven playing field.
