Elite Dangerous cross-play, don't blame Sony?

I wonder does the Xbox and PC exclusivity of the Cobra IV have anything to do with Frontier's seeming reluctance to support crossplay?...

As many new Playstation Elite players might not even be aware that it was even available to unlock as a flyable ship, "back in the day".

Those that see NPCs on Playstation flying them, can dismiss it as a non player ship, but as soon as they'd see certain PC and Xbox players flying it, they'd flood Frontier's support pages asking, "Hey, why can't i get that?!" 🤔🤔🎏 ....
Of all the things that the Cobra MkIV debacle can be blamed for, I don't see how it is blocking platform cross-play.
Frontier already have commanders on both PC and Xbox who cannot see / access Cobra MkIVs.

I suspect that it is one of those things that Frontier have de-prioritised because PC commanders are not clamouring for it.
 
Loving the language gymnastics that Frontier community management are having to jump through because of the forum(s)


Console Launch Onwards:
In line with the console launch, we plan to update Elite Dangerous on all platforms (PC/PlayStation/Xbox) to allow Odyssey and Horizons players to reunite and play together with other users on their respective platform.

Card marked by Frontier - it ain't coming anytime soon...
 
While i don't know for certain, i reckon Need for Speed: Heat is a peer to peer game (surely any game with passive connection to players, where they just "show up" in your vicinity is using it, which they do in Heat).
P2P vs Client-Server considerations are mainly around cost and performance, not functionality.
 
from reading their Compatibility posting, it looks like Odyssey is on a different 'platform' to PC so even they can't instance together within PC.
i.e. Xbox, Playstation, PC-Horizons, PC-Odyssey. - Only linked by the BGS.

even more things for them to work on as part of the Console release drop.
 
Cheating does exist on console, especially in FPS games that are already Cross Play. @console players shouldn't be given the option of Cross Play to protect them from cheaters" is a bit of a moot point, then. (e.g. ref:
Source: https://youtu.be/4h4h31W3GKY?t=125
)

Frontier's P2P networking already caters for online session state mismatch via STUN servers. I doubt adding Cross Play is a technical impossibility, but this is why I specifically asked if they could get Dav to explain this on the stream. They ignored the question.

There will always be technical barriers, but IMO the will to overcome them simply isn't there from Frontier.
 
P2P vs Client-Server considerations are mainly around cost and performance, not functionality.
Ok, but is there any way for us to tell which a particular game is using?...

I assumed only games which you select seperate matches, rooms, modes to join like Battlefield etc are using dedicated servers but if players connect automatically they're using P to P 🤔 ...
 
from reading their Compatibility posting, it looks like Odyssey is on a different 'platform' to PC so even they can't instance together within PC.
i.e. Xbox, Playstation, PC-Horizons, PC-Odyssey. - Only linked by the BGS.

even more things for them to work on as part of the Console release drop.
I take it more as they need more time to optimise the Oddessey's code before letting everybody connect to it.

Many people were already calling the PC launch of the expansion a Beta test, but even more are calling it such now 🤔🎏 .

I think PC players with or without Oddessey will still be on the same server, just some with some getting a slightly upgraded experience .
 
For those who haven't seen the news. Bungie accidentally enabled full Cross Play for their space-based full fat FPS Destiny 2 yesterday.

They had previously introduced Cross Save in 2019, and a 4K native current-gen version of the game in 2020.


👀
 

stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
For those who haven't seen the news. Bungie accidentally enabled full Cross Play for their space-based full fat FPS Destiny 2 yesterday.

They had previously introduced Cross Save in 2019, and a 4K native current-gen version of the game in 2020.


👀
What you mean that game which uses p2p? 😂
 
What the case and article makes it clear this affects F2P games. Obviously Elite Dangerous isn't F2P.
Neither is Red Dead Online, yet I desperately await the day that my wife and I can posse up between my PC and her PS4 account. Point being that this can't just be a Frontier issue, because Rockstar isn't supporting cross-platform either (unless someone knows something I don't).
 

stormyuk

Volunteer Moderator
Neither is Red Dead Online, yet I desperately await the day that my wife and I can posse up between my PC and her PS4 account. Point being that this can't just be a Frontier issue, because Rockstar isn't supporting cross-platform either (unless someone knows something I don't).
Rockstar are not really developing RDR2 anymore. It's just a cash cow now.

Note, it's not getting a current generation console patch either. (that we know of).
 
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Rockstar are not really developing RDR2 anymore. It's just a cash cow now.
Opinions about RDO (which is now separate from RDR2) are as varied and heated as the debates in DD, but as a regular RDO player, I disagree with your assessment. We continue to get new content, new roles, new stories. That's not to say I don't have serious issues with the game (Rockstar's blatant ignoring of AFKers in matches ruins many of the best game modes IMO). Nor am I holding up Rockstar as the gold standard of cross-platform potential, it's just the #1 game that I personally would like to play with my wife.

But I could list any number of games that do NOT have cross-play support. Cross-play is available on only two games that I occasional play on PS4, and I don't even bother jumping through all the hoops needed to enable this.

Meanwhile over on XBox, Space Engineers makes it easy to cross-play between these two platforms, but Space Engineers is written specifically for a Windows platform (C#), and it will likely never be available for Playstation. If cross-play does come to more games, then I expect it to happen between PC and XBox first. Personally, I do blame Sony, to the point where I sometimes think my next console (assuming I get one) will be an XBox rather than a PS5. I love my PS4, but Sony as a company is no saint or hero.

I do confess I'm very surprised that RDR2 isn't getting a PS5 update, especially since they already have the high-definition assets made for the PC. And yes, RDO is a cash cow, which is why I would expect Rockstar to implement "easy" enhancements like PS5 and cross-play support, but that assumes these things are easy. Maybe they are not.
 
Opinions about RDO (which is now separate from RDR2) are as varied and heated as the debates in DD, but as a regular RDO player, I disagree with your assessment. We continue to get new content, new roles, new stories. That's not to say I don't have serious issues with the game (Rockstar's blatant ignoring of AFKers in matches ruins many of the best game modes IMO). Nor am I holding up Rockstar as the gold standard of cross-platform potential, it's just the #1 game that I personally would like to play with my wife.

But I could list any number of games that do NOT have cross-play support. Cross-play is available on only two games that I occasional play on PS4, and I don't even bother jumping through all the hoops needed to enable this.

Meanwhile over on XBox, Space Engineers makes it easy to cross-play between these two platforms, but Space Engineers is written specifically for a Windows platform (C#), and it will likely never be available for Playstation. If cross-play does come to more games, then I expect it to happen between PC and XBox first. Personally, I do blame Sony, to the point where I sometimes think my next console (assuming I get one) will be an XBox rather than a PS5. I love my PS4, but Sony as a company is no saint or hero.

I do confess I'm very surprised that RDR2 isn't getting a PS5 update, especially since they already have the high-definition assets made for the PC. And yes, RDO is a cash cow, which is why I would expect Rockstar to implement "easy" enhancements like PS5 and cross-play support, but that assumes these things are easy. Maybe they are not.

They're working on an enhanced version of GTA Online though, and it will be F2P for PlayStation-ites. I wonder if it will finally also herald the arrival of Cross Play on R* games?
The reticence from R* as I understand it comes from the GTA money hacks that originally killed their micro-transaction financial stream on PC, hence the introduction of "gold" in RDO.

I'm trying to stay on topic here cos I could talk all day about all the things that baffle and frustrate me about RDO...
 
They're working on an enhanced version of GTA Online though, and it will be F2P for PlayStation-ites.
I have heard plenty of people complain that GTA is R* "favorite child" and one of the reasons RDO gets less attention. While RDO wasn't F2P on PC, it was on sale for just $5 for the longest time. That's how I got it. And unlike many of the complaints I've read, I've not had a single PC-exclusive bug that I can recall. It runs wonderfully and looks amazing.

I wonder if it will finally also herald the arrival of Cross Play on R* games? The reticence from R* as I understand it comes from the GTA money hacks that originally killed their micro-transaction financial stream on PC, hence the introduction of "gold" in RDO.
Oh wait, I take it back - there is a bug that made it impossible for me to buy gold on PC, but that's okay as I earned enough gold just playing the game to unlock everything I wanted.

One thing RDO and Elite have in common is that they both require external accounts to play, and as I understand it, these external accounts are necessary for cross-play. That's why I don't cross-play Minecraft or Fortnite, because I don't want an Epic or Microsoft account to do this. In fact, the only two games I want cross-play for personally is RDO and ED - the former to play with my wife, the latter to play with all you guys!
 
I have heard plenty of people complain that GTA is R* "favorite child" and one of the reasons RDO gets less attention. While RDO wasn't F2P on PC, it was on sale for just $5 for the longest time. That's how I got it. And unlike many of the complaints I've read, I've not had a single PC-exclusive bug that I can recall. It runs wonderfully and looks amazing.


Oh wait, I take it back - there is a bug that made it impossible for me to buy gold on PC, but that's okay as I earned enough gold just playing the game to unlock everything I wanted.

One thing RDO and Elite have in common is that they both require external accounts to play, and as I understand it, these external accounts are necessary for cross-play. That's why I don't cross-play Minecraft or Fortnite, because I don't want an Epic or Microsoft account to do this. In fact, the only two games I want cross-play for personally is RDO and ED - the former to play with my wife, the latter to play with all you guys!

Yeah I did a lot of RDO on PS4, then bought it on PC just to play the Story Mode in 4K. I'd play more now if RDO had a 4K option on PS5, or a Cross Play option so I could play my PS4 account on PC in 4K. There's no way I'm starting a whole new online account just to play on PC though. Which is kinda where I am with Elite at the moment...

It's almost as if these companies get together and conspire with ways to stop me from playing their games!
 
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