Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan Wants to See More Cross-Platform Opportunities

Cross-platform play has seen much more attention as of late thanks to the implementation of the system by Epic Games for its highly popular title Fortnite Battle Royale. While not allowing Playstation 4 and Xbox One players play with or against each other, Fortnite's cross-platform play has allowed console, PC and mobile players to all chase after Fortnite Victory Royales together. 

With this recent success of cross-platform play in one of the most popular video games in the world, people began to question whether or not Blizzard Entertainment's successful first person shooter and esport Overwatch would ever allow cross-platform play between the multiple platforms that Overwatch players play on. 

Back in 2016, Blizzard seemed to have nixed the idea of allowing PC and console players to play together, as they stated that "mixing mouse/keyboard and controller can have balance and competitive issues."

We have no plans for that. Mixing mouse/keyboard and controller can have balance and competitive issues.

— Overwatch (@PlayOverwatch) June 4, 2016

However, there has been a resurgence of hope for cross-platform play in Overwatch, as Overwatch Game Director Jeff Kaplan stated in a recent interview with magazine games™ that he hopes to see more opportunities for cross-platform play arise in Overwatch in the future.

Fortnite and PUBG recently made a huge impact on gaming by having cross-platform experiences that spanned the PC, consoles and mobile. Cross-platform experiences, especially in social games or games with persistent progression, are very exciting," said Jeff Kaplan."I hope to see platforms open up and embrace the way players want to play more. The technology and the desire exist. I believe it would be beneficial to everyone to open platforms up more to bring players together. So I’m definitely hoping for more cross-platform opportunities." 

In an interview with PCGamesN back in early April, Jeff Kaplan explained that Blizzard had discussed cross-platform progress being able to be shared across console and PC, but knows that it would not be an easy system to implement. 

"It's something we would very [much] like to explore. It's very challenging for many reasons, and I won't get into all the details as to why, but I think it's a very valid desire that our players have and it's something that the Overwatch team would love to figure out," Jeff Kaplan continued. "We will continue to work hard on it to make it happen someday, if we can get around some of the challenges that we're faced with." 

While there has been indication by Blizzard that it is looking to allow Overwatch players across console and PC to play with one another, it is a promising sign that who many consider to be the face of Overwatch for Blizzard in Jeff Kaplan is openly supportive of the idea. However, for the time being players will only be able to compete against players on the same platform as them in the world of Overwatch.

Source: wccftech

(cover photo courtesy of Blizzard)