Microsoft announces cross-network play with PC, PS4

Coming from the ‘we did not see this coming’ neck of the gaming woods, Microsoft has announced cross-network compatibility. Yep, that means all of you playing a multiplayer game on PC or PS4 may soon be playing against people on Xbox One.

In an announcement from Xbox.com, Director of ID @ Xbox Chris Charla made it known that Xbox One would be opening up their servers to allow players to play with people on other multiplayer networks. By other multiplayer networks, they mean PC and PS4.

While Xbox One servers being opened up to PC servers is no big surprise, the PS4 announcement is rather shocking. What does this mean for Xbox One? Is this some sort of ‘can’t we all just get along’ type of gesture, or is it the proverbial waving of the white flag? Also, what does Sony have to say about this?

While you may be initially excited about the prospect of cross-network play, there are still hurdles to be overcome. The biggest hurdle being that game developers must support the cross-network feature in order to allow players from both consoles to join up. Whether it blossoms into something big or never comes to fruition, this is quite a curve ball from Microsoft. We’ll see where this takes is in the ongoing Xbox vs. PlayStation saga.