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Crossplay is a hot topic for many modern multiplayer games. It is a feature that allows players from different consoles or PCs to play together without restrictions.

The primary purpose of crossplay is to merge the player base, which is distributed by different gaming platforms. And while it is successful in doing so, it comes with quite a few drawbacks.

What are the disadvantages of merging fans of all game platforms? The answer is simple.

Gaming on a PC is quite flexible compared to a Playstation or an Xbox. You can customize the games, use macros and even use hacks on a PC.

However, this is not the case with game consoles. Game consoles are quite simple and limiting. They don’t offer as much flexibility as a PC.


Main takeaways:

  • Crossplay between console and PC affects the quality of the gameplay.
  • Shooting games are a poor choice for crossplay.
  • Optional crossplay can solve many problems.
  • Cheaters and hackers run rampant on PC servers.
  • Crossplay helps revitalize and sustain the player base.

Do you remember PUBG? The multiplayer scene of the battle royale game was overwritten by hackers a few years ago. It was literally impossible for a non-hacker player to play normally before the developers started tackling the hackers.

While all this happened in the PC version of the game, it was limited to PC only. You could play and enjoy the game on any other console just fine due to the absence of hackers.

Enabling crossplay between PC and consoles in cases where such a situation could arise would make the gaming experience for gamers worse instead of improving, as we see with Call of Duty: Warzone.

All that aside, crossplay for FPS or shooter games in general between PC and consoles is a bad idea to begin with. PC offers better control and aiming compared to consoles. If there’s a shooter that offers crossplay between PC and consoles, you can just ask their player base for their thoughts on crossplay, and you’ll get your answers.

Crossplay isn’t always bad. For games with a declining player base, enabling crossplay may be the only solution to revive it. There are games with only a handful of players on PlayStation and Xbox, but many on PC.

Crossplay between PC and consoles might be good for shooting and fighting royale games if the game has excellent cheat detection and anti-hacking policies. That would allow you to play with your friends without any platform restrictions.

In such cases, crossplay might be something to go for, so console players don’t have to wait hours to find multiplayer matches. Crossplay in this way will bring more new players to the game if they see that the game has an active player base.

But it should also be borne in mind that not everyone wants to play with PC gamers, even if they have to wait hours to find matches on the same console.

The only way to solve this situation is to use crossplay as an optional feature. Most modern video games have crossplay enabled, and there is no way to disable it.

For example, if you’re a console player trying out a new game that can’t disable crossplay, you could be matched with players who play on a keyboard and mouse instead of someone who uses a gamepad like yourself. You might start to think the game might be too hard and even consider dropping it altogether.

Sometimes we want to have this feature enabled, such as when playing with friends on different consoles. Not having crossplay for your favorite game can stop you and your friends from playing with or against each other.

Having the ability to control whether you want to toggle the crossplay feature on and off would be great. It would add to the user experience and make the game really fun to play for most people.

It is also an effective solution for games with small player bases on game consoles. Anyone who’s okay with playing with players from PC or other consoles can enable the optional crossplay feature, while anyone against it can leave it disabled to play with other console friends.

Ultimately, if the developers are going to give a game crossplay, they should make it optional. That way everyone will be happy. Otherwise, forced crossplay can ruin players’ experience across all platforms.

Let us know your thoughts and thoughts about crossplay being an optional feature in multiplayer games in the comments below.

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