The Rise of Cross-Platform Gaming, Security Issues and Its Transformative Effects

Let’s talk cross-platform gaming!

Cross-platform gaming consists of those video games that you can play on more than one platform (PC, console or mobile), let’s call it one of the most remarkable breakthroughs in the gaming industry. For long, gamers have had different preferences on which platform they should game and because of that many groups of friends get divided by this choice and are left with the impossibility of playing together a game of their choice. In my time, we had breakthroughs on this matter, you all remember split screens, and two controllers being a certain thing but those kinds of things although amazing, they had the mandatory physical movement of one or multiple people. Until… cross-platform gaming enters the gaming room!

Do you know who else entered the gaming room of this article? Epic Games through Fortnite. Yes, it was the year 2017 and Epic launched their battle royale FPS game that would become one of the biggest games in the world in the following years. They released the game on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One and the console players could play with the PC players but not between consoles, the start of the battle of consoles on the most played battle royale in the world at the time.

This got even worse when Nintendo announced that the game would be available for Nintendo Switch and would support cross-platform with Xbox and PC. As you might think, this was not the best of news for the PlayStation players as they now were the only ones outside of “the cross-platform environment”. A lot of reasons could have been appointed to Sony for not allowing cross-platform, one of them, this way they couldn’t maintain their players’ experience on the game as they were able with a close environment. Still, it could also be from simply a point of view of money, they could not want people buying other consoles and so they closed it around them. September of 2018 arrived and with it, a message from Sony’s CEO, John Codera, “For 24 years, we have strived to deliver the best gaming experience to our fans by providing a uniquely PlayStation perspective. Today, the communities around some games have evolved to the point where cross-platform experiences add significant value to players. In recognition of this, we have completed a thorough analysis of the business mechanics required to ensure that the PlayStation experience for our users remains intact today, and in the future, as we look to open up the platform”, and so, from that day Sony started a BETA program to allow cross-platform on Fortnite with Xbox, Nintendo, iOS, Android, PC and Mac.

The mobile version of Fortnite got its own issues after its release in 2017, in 2020, the apps were withdrawn from both the Android and Apple app stores because Epic Games started their own in-app store payment, something that at the time was against both app stores’ regulations. This got things a little bit mixed up in the cross-platform area because while the players from Android (the ones with the game already installed) could still play and update the game the iOS and Mac ones couldn’t update but could still play it but only amongst themselves, they couldn’t play with players from other platforms. This issue is still a thing to this day and for this reason, mobile users of iPhone and Mac players cannot go around the magnificent fields of cross-platform gaming in this particular game.

What a story han! Now, we should discuss some technological progress that was made during this process, shall we? We can start with something that even though is not the most related can be put on the same platter, and that is the rise of cloud gaming services, enabling players to stream games seamlessly across multiple devices. With the processing power shifting to remote servers, gamers can access their favourite titles on smartphones, tablets, or even low-end PCs, eliminating hardware limitations. Another advance is, for me, one of the most underrated things in recent years and that is unified account systems. This played a crucial role in enabling seamless gameplay experiences by allowing users to link their gaming accounts across various platforms, gamers can access their saved progress, achievements, and in-game purchases consistently. These technological advancements have revolutionized the gaming landscape, empowering gamers to enjoy their favourite titles without the constraints of platform exclusivity. This doesn’t seem as much as a technological breakthrough but, it sure is!

With all of this one might ask, what about security concerns? Do we get more cheaters because of this? Are cheaters the only security concern? Well, it is known that the environment of cheaters in online games is more present on PC than on consoles, we do have some console cheats and hacks but it is on the PC that they blossom more. With the advent of cross-platform gaming, we now have console players exposed to PC cheaters because they now play on the same servers vs each other. You can imagine the things that a console player might feel when coming from an almost cheaters-free place in a closed-console environment and then starting to face cheaters every time that he plays, this could lead to problems within the community of a game, people can get tired of encountering cheaters and it’s not the possibility of playing with friends between different platforms that could surpass this issue. But one of the most concerning issues is the use of mechanisms designed for one specific platform to be used in another one, with more focus on this happening with mechanisms designed for consoles that are used on PC like aim assist. With PC players stating that console players have their life easier because of controller aim assist, there are now ways to map a controller while using a mouse/keyboard so that you would be able to use aim assist, this is a serious security concern.

Oh! One other thing before we go to the final stages of the post. Cross-gaming platform has gotta be making a difference in the way that game devs are thinking about developing a game, like, nowadays game development has evolved because of the challenge of creating games that can run across multiple platforms without sacrificing the performance of the game. This brings the need for a more standardized approach to game development, where compatibility and optimization for various hardware configurations became the rule. With cross-platform gaming, developers have a broader and more inclusive audience to target, which can lead to increased market reach and potential revenue. However, it also requires additional resources and efforts to support ongoing updates, patches, and maintenance across multiple platforms. Ultimately, cross-platform gaming presents both exciting opportunities and unique challenges for game developers, inspiring them to innovate and deliver engaging experiences that transcend traditional platform boundaries. So, one can conclude that the advent of cross-platform gaming was a pearl in gamers’ lives from day one because of what it is and because of all the technological advances that this amazing thing has brought to the gaming industry.

We don’t know what the future holds for cross-platform gaming but with all this technological advances and the gaming industry growing exponentially as we’ve seen in the past years, maybe things like VR could also enter the environment of cross-platform gaming. We gamers will play while we wait for the next big thing.