Cross-play begins in the early 2000s. Had you discussed cross-platform games a couple of years ago, most people would’ve said you were dreaming. Notwithstanding the feature being around since the Dreamcast days.
Originally, cross-play only existed between PCs, as the machines were more open to communication between systems. But beginning with the seventh generation consoles, companies began to create more internet-ready consoles.
Games like Minecraft and Fortnite have popularized cross-platform play, causing established brands like Sony, Nintendo, and even EA to recognize that these games work to their benefit. Game development services are evolving. For example, now games made with HTML5 can be cross-platform.
So why cross-platform development is important and profitable for game developers? Read about it below.
Advantages
- Financial efficiency
Making a game with a cross-platform engine is a great way of saving costs. Not only it allows you to cover all the platforms on initial launch with one development cycle, but it also dramatically reduces the costs of future expansion on new markets and audiences.
- Reduced maintenance costs
The main coup for cross-play is the ability for all platforms to share network information, enabling players to jump from one platform to another. Now this works with computers because they allow specific elements to be outlaying across differing platforms.
- Increase your audience
The cross-platform game increases your audience reach and facilitates a cross-platform socializing and multiplayer experience, makes sure the game stays consistent between different markets and helps you in managing your player base.
- Simplified matchmaking and leaderboards
For multiplayer games with cross-play things like matchmaking and leaderboards are simplified due to increased player pool and centralized data handling.
- More effectual marketing pushes
Marketing pushes can be more centralized and cater to a single audience instead of bringing competitiveness between different platform players.
Conclusion
Modern games have provided an invaluable contribution to cross-platform games development and progress. It only takes a few titles which can strongly, securely, and reasonably bring together multiple platforms to influence the gaming industry that cross-platform functionality can quickly become a reliable and highly profitable venture.If things continue as they are with Microsoft’s enthusiasm, and Sony hopefully buckles to the march of progress, we are going to see a renaissance in gaming where the technical and cultural divisions and limitations between platforms begin to evaporate.We will see a type of gaming we didn’t think was possible, where ingeniously comprehensive mediums for multiplayer experiences have been revamped to unbelievable levels. It is all absolutely very inspiring to think about, and we can only wait and see how this area of gaming will develop in the future.There are many benefits for cross-platform game developers, so we have reasons to look forward to new big cross-platform games. Genieee provides custom game development. Do you need cross-platform game development? Reach out to us.