According to the schedule for this years GDC (Game Developers Conference), Microsoft is planning to unveil Xbox Live Support for iOS, Android, and the Nintendo Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store. The segment, “Xbox Live: Growing & Engaging Your Gaming Community Across Platforms” will be presented by Microsoft, with Jeffrey Shi and Ramsey Khadder apparently headlining the talk.
Windows Central caught wind of this via a tip from Avers, and it seems that at the time of their reporting, the information they provide in their article was live. However, since checking the GDC website myself, it appears as if the ‘Takeaway’ and ‘Intended Audience’ sections have had the information removed.
However, what is available is that we can expect to “Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players across platforms.”. Windows Central did grab the information that listed that “Xbox Live is one of the largest, most engaged gaming communities on the planet with decades of experience providing managed game services to developers that save you time and unlock all of the social and engagement features that players love.”
“Now Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger. Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK.”
We’ve recently learned of figures behind the Xbox Live monthly users, with said figure seeing up to 64 million monthly active users. An 8% growth over the previous year.
Currently, certain Microsoft titles, Minecraft for example, allows you to sign in on mobile devices and Nintendo Switch using an Xbox Live account. However, this event will see Xbox Live players being able to take their Xbox “gaming achievement history, their friends list, their clubs, and more with them to almost every screen.”
“This will break down barriers for developers that want their communities to mingle more freely across platforms. Combined with PlayFab gaming services, this means less work for game developers and more time to focus on making games fun.”
This seems to be hinting at the fact that you’ll be able to play cross-platform titles designed for mobile play and the Switch and earn Xbox achievements while playing them on another platform. Imagine playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on an Android and earning an Xbox Achievement.
While Microsoft is bringing more gamers together, there’s no mention of Sony joining the plan (for obvious reasons, you’d assume). Despite Fortnite and Rocket League being given the green-light from Sony for cross-platform play, it seems they won’t take extra steps to get Xbox Live on their platform.
It’s unclear if this support will allow voice and text chat support using the Xbox Live chat systems, but we’ll learn more next month. We’ll have to keep you updated on this when the GDC event takes place from March 18 to March 22.
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