“We’ve got it figured out.”
In an interview with Gamespot, Psyonix vice president Jeremy Dunham explained it already has the technological solution to supporting cross-network multiplayer between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 communities.
So what’s the hold up? According to Dunham, it’s good, old-fashioned politics of the two top home gaming consoles in the world.
“The only thing we have to do now is sort of find out where we stand politically with everyone, and then it’s full steam ahead to finish the solution that we’ve already started…”
Now that’s not to say that they’re just waiting to ‘flip the switch.’ Dunham revealed that although there is a solution and approval is needed from BOTH Microsoft and Sony, it will take some time the implement this milestone of a feat:
“Technologically everything works, we’ve got it figured out, just a little bit of time to get everything up and running. Right now, excitement is the best way to put it. We just want to get in there and make it happen. Elation is probably another word I would use. We’re just excited.”
So, why do this?
Dunham explained that the size of a game’s online community can diminish over time, increasing the rapid nature of a game’s lessening relevance. In other words, the larger you can expand a game’s online community the more people with feel encouraged to play over a longer period of time.
“There’s this weird effect where sometimes it encourages them to stop playing if they think nobody else is going to play with them, which creates a snowball effect where other people stop playing because they don’t think anyone’s going to play.”
Psyonix would be able to update Rocket League across all platforms and help unite the communities around the game and not necessarily the system on which people are playing it.
At this point, Microsoft has officially announced its desire to create an online gaming experience where PS4 and Xbox One owners can play against each other.
Sony offered a less certain response but said they would be “happy to have the conversation with any publishers or developers who are interested in cross platform play.”
Whatever happens, it looks like Psyonix could leverage the popularity of Rocket League to finally make this happen. Our fingers are crossed!
Would you like to see online cross play make its way to PC, Xbox, and PlayStation gamers? Let us know it the comments below!