Cross-play for fighting games when? For many years in the world of gaming Sony and Microsoft have widely been on opposite sides of the arena, both offering very similar experiences to the same gamers but traditionally existing in a “never the twain shall meet” sort of atmosphere. As video game technology has evolved the general landscape, more and more consumers have begun pleading for these two industry titans to form enough of a relationship to make cross-play between PlayStation and Xbox a reality. A huge step in that direction was taken on Thursday.
Microsoft has reported that they and Sony have begun exploring a new partnership wherein both utilize cloud computing service Microsoft Azure for future game and content creation endeavors. Thus far a memorandum of understanding has been signed by both parties, so the process is still very much in its infancy. As such, the implications (though significant) are fairly vague at this point. “For many years, Microsoft has been a key business partner for us, though of course the two companies have also been competing in some areas. I believe that our joint development of future cloud solutions will contribute greatly to the advancement of interactive content,” stated Kenichiro Yoshida, president and CEO of Sony. While we first heard that the two companies were discussing cross-play all the way back in August of 2017, we’ve only seen a few small strides in the way of action since that time.
Major titles Rocket League and Fortnite have represented said strides, though Sony has often appeared a little more hesitant than Microsoft or Nintendo to make full connections in this particular avenue. It may still be a while yet before the fighting game genre will see this kind of treatment since it trails in popularity when compared to many other eSports genres and because fighting games require relatively steep standards be met when it comes to online interactions. There are still many steps to be taken before PlayStation users will be duking it out in Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat with Xbox gamers, but seeing the companies align like this makes for a very bright and promising future. Image source: Pixabay.
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