Cross-Play needs to be supported for a number of reasons that I’ll explain here.
I’ll address the communities biggest concern about fairness and PC advantages later.
Cross-Play is something new that can be beneficial in more ways that not. Player-bases increase which allow game Multiplayer to stay alive longer. No one likes dead games or games that take forever to find matches.
This also allows Gamers who have friends that prefer other platforms to game on finally be able to play together. The more successful and usage Cross-Play gets in the few games that have it will likely influence Cross-Play on a larger scale. For instance; Xbox and Sony combining Call of Duty Lobbies ect.
Now that I’ve addressed why Cross-Play is beneficial to the average gamer; lets talk about the more controversial topics.
Making the argument that an Xbox controller is different from a PlayStation controller therefore it’s not a perfectly equal playing field or vice versa wouldn’t be a compelling argument. Both controllers are similar enough to where it just comes down to preference more than anything else. They have to be because both platforms are in direct competition of each other.
Now we can talk about the actual platform itself. As of today Xbox makes the most powerful console to date. Typically you’re going to see resolution increases before frame-rate increases. But to play devils advocate lets say an FPS game releases on both platforms with the Xbox X having a frame-rate increase over PlayStation . I feel in that case Cross-Play should be up to the developer or the community and not necessarily be mandated. I only encourage the idea of Cross-Play but its not for every game. However, with both Xbox and PlayStation having standard and premiere versions of their consoles, they tend to already level the playing field in regards to frame-rate. So I don’t see this being a problem to begin with.
Now I want to discuss the biggest concern; Console Cross-Play with PC.
I am well aware that PC’s can impose advantages with peripherals like; mouse and keyboard or in some cases higher frame-rates. I don’t want obvious games like Battle Field or PUBG to obtain Cross-Play with consoles. That would only result in a disastrous advantage for PC gamers. However there are games out there that don’t separate the platforms in terms of advantages or cause disruption in gameplay. For instance; MineCraft, Rocket League, Killing Floor, and many other games where PC’s will not impose differences that will manifest into advantages or unfairness .
The more we support Cross-Play in games that have it, the more other games can benefit from it as well. Which is why we should support it here playing Gears 4.
I strongly feel Gears of War has a bigger influence on the success for Cross-Play in future games because of its ties to Microsoft or the platform Xbox itself.
Gears of War is one of those games where rotation speed and precision do not effect gameplay enough to call it an advantage. Gears is a 3rd person cover based game that benefits players who understand movement strategy over anything else. Hit boxes are large, weapon reticles are large even with precision weapons, and a 3rd person field of view gives players better visuals over the entire map compared to other First Person Shooters. The idea of fast rotation speeds and a precision mouse never manifest themselves into obtainable advantages.
In my experience playing Gears on Xbox and PC the biggest difference I can see is that they are different in how I perceive the playing field and how I want to approach a situation in front of me. However, both platforms did not make me feel I was a better player or not. It was just a different feel. There was definitively Pro’s and Cons to both platforms but in no way did I feel I would become a better player depending upon whether I play on Xbox or PC.
To prove this to myself I tired separating both platforms as far away as possible to see if I could pin point a benefit to playing on either platform . On Xbox I used a standard controller opposed to my Elite controller because I’m sure that’s being used more often. And on PC I played at 240Hz while manipulating the field of view option.
After a very long period of time on both platforms the only difference that I could find was that my play-style would differentiate between the platform. I tend to play more aggressive on PC and more defensive on Xbox. I can’t say one is better than the other. I died more often on PC for the obvious over aggression but I ended up with more kills as well. Being more defensive on Xbox my K/D was typically better but I would be absent during kills I probably could have gotten if I tried to get them. Overall it felt more of a preference of how I liked to play rather than being better
At first I wanted to give my PC a point when it comes to sniping but after a while I noticed myself getting headshots just as often on my Xbox so this really confused me. I think this goes back to where I explained how this game really doesn’t rely on precision that much with the larger hit boxes and giant reticles.
As far as FOV goes, It just felt more awkward than beneficial. Sliding the field of view all the way out I still wasn’t able to see deep around corners and still found myself checking corners the same way I do on Xbox and with the standard FOV. So I ruled that one out right away.
Other than minor differences and subjective preferences giving my PC the biggest upper hand as possible at 240Hz and adjusted game settings, I came to the conclusion that it really boils down to how do you want to play. Either you game on PC or on Xbox. It doesn’t matter. Even with the extreme case being at 240Hz which is less than 1% of all PC gamers there still wasn’t a clear advantage.
To finally sum this up, and I know this was a lot to read. Cross-Play can be very beneficial to all gamers when implemented correctly. And I strongly feel the community dissonance from PC-console Cross-Play is irrational seeing as I sought it out myself and couldn’t distinguished a “better platform”.
Cross-Play is the future, we need it and we all should support it starting with Gears of War 4. I am very confident that both platforms come to the playing with fairness so I will stand my ground with this idea.
Feel free to comment your opinion
