Technoglitch
Core Member
Microsoft is cracking open the door to a world where video-gamers can play together regardless of the hardware they happen to own.
The Redmond company Monday said “Rocket League,” the hit game featuring soccer-playing rocket cars, would support online gameplay between players on Microsoft’s Xbox One and personal computers, with an “open invitation” to other online gaming networks, including Sony’s PlayStation.
That invitation represents a shift for video gaming, a medium that has historically been broken up into a world of walled sandboxes.
It is also the latest sign of a transition in Microsoft corporate strategy from trying to push users to buy and use its technology exclusively, to becoming a more open participant in technologies ranging from productivity software to developer tools, and now video games.
People playing a “Madden NFL” game on an Xbox, for example, can’t play in online matches against gamers using a PlayStation or a PC. Gamers interested in joining their friends in the digital realm have to get the same hardware.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo each spend tremendous amounts of time and energy to court developers to put games first or exclusively on their hardware, and much of the message to consumers from each company focuses on those exclusive games.
Microsoft, badly lagging Sony in current-generation console sales, has recently tried to broaden its pool of potential gamers.
Microsoft opens ‘Rocket League’ game for crossplay with non-Xbox users | The Seattle Times
The Redmond company Monday said “Rocket League,” the hit game featuring soccer-playing rocket cars, would support online gameplay between players on Microsoft’s Xbox One and personal computers, with an “open invitation” to other online gaming networks, including Sony’s PlayStation.
That invitation represents a shift for video gaming, a medium that has historically been broken up into a world of walled sandboxes.
It is also the latest sign of a transition in Microsoft corporate strategy from trying to push users to buy and use its technology exclusively, to becoming a more open participant in technologies ranging from productivity software to developer tools, and now video games.
People playing a “Madden NFL” game on an Xbox, for example, can’t play in online matches against gamers using a PlayStation or a PC. Gamers interested in joining their friends in the digital realm have to get the same hardware.
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo each spend tremendous amounts of time and energy to court developers to put games first or exclusively on their hardware, and much of the message to consumers from each company focuses on those exclusive games.
Microsoft, badly lagging Sony in current-generation console sales, has recently tried to broaden its pool of potential gamers.
Microsoft opens ‘Rocket League’ game for crossplay with non-Xbox users | The Seattle Times
