BioWare's 'Anthem' News: Devs Address the Possibility of Cross-Platform Support
Upcoming game is slated to be released for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One
BioWare's next major offering, "Anthem," is being billed as a "shared-world action-RPG." It's expected to have a sprawling environment that players may be able to get lost in but in a good way.
Because developers are placing great emphasis on the communal aspect of the upcoming game and how players will benefit from working together inside of it, perhaps it was inevitable for fans to start asking if it would also feature cross-platform support.
Recently, a Redditor with the username "Dyasi" brought up the cross-platform question, wondering if it would be possible perhaps for PC and Xbox One players to enjoy the game together.
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Technical design director Brenon Holmes has been active on Reddit and is answering questions from the fans, and that query from "Dyasi" was one he responded to.
Instead of posting a new reply, Holmes directed attention to an earlier post he had authored which addresses the cross-platform question.
In that earlier reply, Holmes noted that "there generally aren't a lot of technical reasons this couldn't happen," referring to cross-platform play.
Still, Holmes indicated that the platforms themselves will have to sign off on allowing crossplay.
Holmes also pointed out that there are some other reasons why cross-platform play may be difficult to pull off, and why it may not necessarily be a good idea to allow PC and console players to be included inside the same pool.
One reason Holmes specifically pointed to are the game controls.
Because console gamers use controllers to play and PC players utilize other types of peripherals — a keyboard and mouse typically — there may be unintended consequences that emerge from allowing everyone to be in the same group.
Another developer from BioWare who is also working on "Anthem" addressed the cross-platform question a little further down the thread.
According to Bryan Johnson, who goes by "BioAdmiralX" on Reddit, other things that have to be taken into consideration before implementing cross-platform play include things like patches. Because patches aren't always launched simultaneously across platforms, that could obviously have an impact on cross-platform play's availability.
Johnson also pointed to things like platform-exclusive items getting in the way of cross-platform play being implemented and the same goes for possible mods.
To put it simply, there are numerous factors that need to be taken into account before cross-platform play can be offered by any game.
Even if the developers at BioWare have a desire to include cross-platform play with the upcoming game, they may not be at a point yet where they can confidently determine if such a feature will fit in well with what they are doing.
At this point, it certainly doesn't seem as though the upcoming game is going to feature cross-platform play, but maybe by the time it is ready to be released, things may be different.
Fans can look forward to hearing more about the game later this year as it is expected be shown off at the EA Play event.
BioWare's "Anthem" is expected to be released early next year.
