What does "cross platform play currently disabled" mean?
Have you ever felt frustrated that you can‘t play your favorite online game with friends who own a different gaming platform? I‘ve been there too. But technology has come a long way in breaking down those walls recently.
Cross platform play allows gamers on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC and mobile to play together online. It‘s uniting game communities that were once totally isolated based on the system you happened to own. But sometimes you‘ll still see confusing messages about crossplay being "disabled".
In this guide, I‘ll walk you through everything you need to know about cross platform play, including:
- The history and evolution of playing together across platforms
- Why crossplay might be disabled and how to change it
- Competitive balance concerns when playing against other systems
- How developers pull off the technical wizardry required
- Does crossplay indicate the future of console rivalries?
- Will it one day be the norm even for esports?
- How to optimize your crossplay experience
Let‘s dive in!
A History of Walled Off Gaming Gardens
For over 30 years home video game consoles thrived on exclusivity. Nintendo, Sega, PlayStation, and Xbox all fought to be THE platform you played on. Their flagship franchises like Mario, Sonic, Uncharted and Halo were confined to single systems.
Online multiplayer took off in the 2000s on Xbox Live and PSN. But rival consoles remained totally isolated online experiences. The idea of a PlayStation player battling an Xbox owner was unheard of. Crossplay between consoles wasn‘t technically feasible or politically desirable.
This began incrementally changing in the early 2010s, as genres like MMORPGs enabled crossplay between PC and consoles. But console-to-console crossplay remained non-existent.
The dam truly broke with Fortnite in 2017 popularizing free-to-play cross-platform battles royale. By 2018, Fortnite united PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC and mobile gamers. Crossplay was here to stay.
Crossplay Adoption Spreads Explosively
Cross platform play has now snowballed from those small beginnings into a standard feature supported by virtually every major multiplayer title. Just look at how dramatically crossplay adoption has grown:
| Year | Total Games Supporting Crossplay |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 16 |
| 2018 | 27 |
| 2019 | 61 |
| 2020 | 95 |
| 2021 | 125+ |
And the list keeps growing. Just about every multiplayer game these days builds in crossplay from day one.
Crossplay Brings Friends Together
For players, crossplay provides joy and convenience. Finally you can team up with friends who decided to buy a different console. No one gets left behind or excluded just because they made different platform preferences.
Crossplay brings people together. It breaks down arbitrary walls to let Xbox and PlayStation owners enjoy the same games. cases
"I own an Xbox but my little brother got a PlayStation 5. I‘m so glad Call of Duty has crossplay now so we can squad up online. I don‘t have to switch consoles or make him feel left out of the action." – John S.
Game developers also welcome crossplay for the increased exposure and sales it provides across platforms. Crossplay capability entices players to eventually buy a game on multiple systems so they can play with all friends.
Why Might Crossplay Be Disabled?
Given the massive upside of uniting players, why is cross platform play sometimes disabled?
There are two main scenarios:
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It‘s disabled globally by the game developer.
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You personally have it disabled in your platform‘s settings.
In the first case, the game maker simply hasn‘t fully implemented crossplay across all devices yet. This was more common a few years ago but is increasingly rare today as enabling crossplay has become standard.
In the second case, you the player have deliberately switched crossplay off in your settings. But why turn off such an amazing feature?
Crossplay Concerns Around Competitive Gaming
For some genres, crossplay introduces concerns around competitive balance and advantages enjoyed by certain platforms. This leads some players to disable it.
The #1 reason is avoiding PC players in competitive shooters. Mouse & keyboard provides pinpoint accuracy superior to console controllers. Disabling crossplay lets console gamers matchmake only against others using gamepads.
Top esports pros like NickMercs have voiced this concern:
“The advantage that someone with a keyboard and mouse has over a player on controller is an absolute travesty. You almost don’t stand a chance.”
The same issue applies to mobile crossplay against PC/console platforms in titles like Fortnite. Touch controls are a severe handicap versus mouse & keyboard precision.
Competitive gaming tournaments are still figuring out how to handle crossplay. Do they force one input standard or allow mix and match? How they answer this will influence the debate around crossplay balance.
How Game Developers Pull Off the Crossplay Magic
Cross platform play seems simple on the surface, but a tremendous amount of technical work goes on behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly.
Developers must build systems to handle the complex matchmaking across different networks, while tracking progression, purchases, and friends.
Epic Games spent over 18 months updating Fortnite‘s infrastructure before rolling out full crossplay support in 2018.
According to programmers, key steps to implementing crossplay include:
- Building a cross-platform friends system and account management
- Unifying game logic calculations so matches feel consistent
- Ensuring proper matchmaking rules to avoid lopsided platform matchups
- Developing anti-cheat systems operative across ecosystems
- Syncing player inventories, progression and purchases across devices
It takes experience and server capacity that not all studios have – but the gaming engines and tools for crossplay get better each year.
Crossplay Promotes Brand Loyalty Over Platform
An intriguing consequence of crossplay is that it may dilute platform loyalty over time. If games become platform agnostic, does it matter whether you play on PlayStation or Xbox?
When Microsoft announced they would enable PS4/Xbox crossplay on Rocket League, Sony pushed back over fears it would erode PlayStation‘s competitive position.
But Microsoft‘s vision ultimately prevailed – that gamer goodwill and brand loyalty matters more than platform loyalty. Where you can play matters less than who you can play with.
Crossplay promotes community and connecting people, not divisiveness between competing tech companies. This ethos may characterize the future of interactive entertainment over tribalism.
Will Crossplay Normalize Competitive Esports?
If crossplay matchmaking keeps expanding, how will high stakes esports competitions handle the diversity of platforms and inputs?
We are already seeing some early experiments in integrating crossplay into pro circuits.
Fortnite‘s competitive World Cup had different input-based matchmaking pools but a shared $30M prize pool.
The Halo Championship Series Invitational let Xbox console players battle PC opponents using a unified settings ruleset.
The hope is crossplay encourages a spirit of inclusion in esports, rather than segmenting competition. But debates will continue around balance and input parity. Time will tell how successfully crossplay governs competitive gaming.
How to Optimize Your Crossplay Experience
Here are a few tips to make the most of crossplatform play:
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Communication is key – having mics to talk cross-platform ensures coordination.
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Experiment with crossplay on/off to see what plays best.
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Group similarly – squad up with platforms using the same inputs.
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Update settings – disable crossplay for ranked competitive modes but enable it for casual.
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Link accounts – be sure to connect your profiles to carry progression across devices.
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Have fun – don‘t obsess over platform differences, just enjoy playing together!
All Aboard the Crossplay Train
Cross platform multiplayer represents an exciting future where games connect people, not divide them by platform allegiance.
As developers increasingly adopt crossplay into marquee franchises once confined to single systems, it cements an expectation of open and inclusive online communities.
Sure there are still kinks around skill gaps and hardware advantages to sort out. But the trajectory points toward a gaming landscape where WHO we play with takes priority over WHERE we play.
So if you see an annoying "Crossplay Disabled" message today, take heart – tomorrow that barrier will crumble and we‘ll be one step closer to a platform-agnostic gaming utopia. Game on!