When Microsoft announced last week that it would open up its network gaming capabilities to allow developers to make their Xbox One and Windows 10 games support cross-platform play with other online multiplayer networkers, the gaming world got excited. The announcement meant that an era where Xbox One players could soon compete against PlayStation 4 players may soon be on the horizon.
"Rocket League" fans had something extra to be excited about, not only did Psyonix announce it would be leading the charge, but that charge meant that those on the Xbox One would finally be able to play with others on the PC - an often requested feature that the Xbox version of the game lacked at launch.
Psyonix has now provided an update about its efforts, revealing it has already connected its Xbox One and PlayStation 4 games and is now waiting on the relevant parties to get everything sorted out on their end.
"Technologically everything works, we've got it figured out, just a little bit of time to get everything up and running," said Psyonix VP, Jeremy Dunham. "Right now, excitement is the best way to put it. We just want to get in there and make it happen."
"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."
So where do the relevant parties stand? Microsoft is already rearing and ready to go. It confirmed as much when it gave the announcement last week.
"In addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we're enabling developers to support cross-network play as well," Chris Charla, director of ID@Xbox, said in part. "This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks - including other consoles and PC networks."
Where Sony stands is a bit more difficult to assess however. At GDC 2016, Sony's Shuhei Yoshida gave a long-winded statement that boiled down to the company needing to figure out whether it would be in Sony's best interest to open PSN to Microsoft's XBL.
Of course, such a development is to be expected for Sony. Not only is it the current dominant player in the console market, but cross-play between PlayStation consoles and PCs have been around for nearly a decade now - for example, "Final Fantasy XI" supported cross-play in 2002.
In the meantime, while Microsoft and Sony figure out how to move forward, Psyonix is moving forward with plans of its own: later this spring, "Rocket League" will support cross-network play between Xbox One and PC.
