Mar
5th
2018
Cross platform should be mandatory · 7:05pm Mar 5th, 2018
I can work on documents with Google Drive on my iPhone and collaborate with someone who uses an Android phone or god forbid a Windows Phone. I can work on graphic design in a Mac and collab with someone with a PC.
So why the fuck can’t I play a simple game with let’s say an X-Box against someone with a PlayStation? I find that fucking unacceptable.
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La Samu-El · 269 views
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Simple: Google owns the servers for Docs. You're likely sharing the same server with someone on PC while on Mac. But, PS4, PC, and Xbox all have differently owned servers.
4810655
I though the servers were owned by each individual game developing company.
4810684
Technically, but they answer to the host of the server, which in this case is Microsoft/Sony/Steam.
4810700
Alright, so why would the host of the server purposely decline cross platform of the game developer's own servers? Because it's not impossible. there are some games that do allow cross compatibility.
4810711
Because Microsoft and Sony hate each other, and Microsoft would rather push for Windows Games than work with Steam when possible.
4810791
Thus going back to my original point.
4810793
Well, it wouldn't be legal or ethical to force devs to do something, so I disagree.
4810810
Oh no I’m not suggesting we use force to make companies to do things. I didn’t mean it like that.
Although a way to somehow pressure them would be quite nice. but I don’t know how something like that would even work. Competition through new console manufacturers popping up will probably make no difference against them. Don’t think a social media backlash would be effective either.
4810854
Fair enough
It’s actually a mixture between the licensing and the coding. There’s an indie game out there, Game Dev Tycoon, that illustrates the concept rather well; When developing a game, if you want it to run on certain operating systems, you have to pay a fee to and get a license from the manufacturer of those operating systems. Most of those licenses include exclusivity clauses that state that the game developer needs to develop the licensed game to be accessible only on their system.
So, even if the developer licenses the game for both Xbox and PlayStation, they will have created two versions of the game exclusively for each system. A console manufacturer will usually implement a very steep license fee to a game developer if they want a game to be cross platform, if the console manufacturer will allow it at all, because the console manufacturer gets absolutely nothing except for good will out of allowing something to cross platforms. So, all a console manufacturer’s board of directors see is that a certain action earns them zero money while also helping a competitor system. The way they see it, if you want to play with friends on their system, then you should buy their system.
Then there’s the coding. Several systems are just not compatible with each other unless you develop an emulator of some kind or completely rewrite a program. Many of the base assets may be the same, but the fundamental languages, file types, and hardware capabilities are often quite different. Best analogy would be telling two people to draw a circle. One is German, the other is French. If you say “draw a circle” in German, the German person draws a circle, and the French person doesn’t know what you said.
That being said, emulators exist, and it is definitely possible to create some kind of interface between systems, but who would pay for it? Not the console manufacturers, they get nothing out of it except people possibly not buying their system to play with people who do play on their system.