How Cross Platform Technology Works
Cross-platform technology is a type of software that allows applications to run on more than one kind of operating system. Since it allows for greater flexibility and compatibility between devices, gamers of all platforms can come together to play their favourite titles.
What is Cross-Play?
Before cross-play, an Xbox owner couldn’t play titles like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands with their friend, a Playstation gamer. They could only play with other Xbox players.
Luckily, all that has changed thanks to cross-play technology. Cross-play allows different gaming platforms to interact with each other, expanding the social possibilities of gaming. Now, it doesn’t matter what console you have at home. If you want to play Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands or any other titles revamped with cross-play technology, you can.
As developers continue converting popular titles to cross-play, gamers are starting to have their favourites. Among classic genres like MMOs, slots, and open-world games, one of the most popular cross-platform titles is Fortnite. It’s so popular that developers have released it on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and mobile so that everyone can play together.
Cross-platform play is becoming a must in the gaming world. However, as commonplace as it might seem, it takes a lot of work to make it possible.
How It Works
Cross-platform technology helps to develop and deploy applications across multiple platforms. Developers do this by using various methods, including cross-platform frameworks or native development tools for each platform.
When using a cross-platform framework, the code is compiled into a format that can be run on any platform. It’s easy to deploy the application to multiple platforms without having to rewrite the code for each one. However, some developers and gamers believe the framework glosses over the specific nuances of each unique code.
Native development tools, on the other hand, are specific to each platform. Developers need to use different tools for each platform they want to target. While this can be more work upfront, it often results in better performance since developers can take advantage of each platform’s unique capabilities.
Whatever technique developers decide to use, translating games to cross-platform is an incredibly arduous task. That’s also why it takes so long for some games to become completely cross-platform in the first place. It’s something to think about the next time you log in and play with friends on different consoles!
Benefits of Cross-Play
We already have an idea of some of the benefits of cross-play, i.e. gamers can meet friends to play games online despite their different platforms. However, cross-platform technology has more to offer.
Since there’s a broader pool to pull from, games populate much faster than ever before. Additionally, cross-play has less lag because the game data is sent through the server closest to the player.
On the other hand, cross-platform technology is excellent for developer studios because it exponentially boosts the size of their target audiences. It also helps them save money in the long run, reducing development cycles and maintenance costs.
Cross-play is especially useful for launching brand-new games. By planning to make the game accessible on multiple platforms, developers save time, money and resources long term.
Negatives of Cross-Play
Although gamers and developers agree that cross-play has been a game changer, it still has some bugs to iron out. Players often complain that different platforms have very different experiences. Whether it’s because of hardware or design differences, it can lead to an unbalanced and unfair playing field, where players on one platform have a significant advantage over others.
Currently, there are two camps: PC players and console players. Console players have pointed out that a keyboard and mouse grants PC players more control and precision than consoles. Some gamers believe that PC players have always had an advantage, and it’s only coming to light now as console and PC gamers play side by side.
Additionally, cross-play has presented some problems for developers. Besides the tedious task of converting games into universal code, there are also UX and integration concerns. These issues make it harder for players to customise their preferences and even limit their use of hardware settings.
In the next few years, developers hope to smooth out these issues. As they learn more about cross-platform technology, they can create games with tighter code, implement fairness between PC and console users, and make games as smooth and exciting as possible.
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