Anthem Won't Support Cross-Platform Play At Launch

Bad news for Anthem fans who bounce around between PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. According to DualShockers, which caught a glimpse of a tweet from BioWare's Ben Irving, Anthem will not support cross-platform play when it releases next month.

"Not at launch," Irving replied to a fan who tweeted asking about the potential for cross-play.

This is not a wholly surprising revelation, given that cross-play was likely not a feature BioWare and EA hoped to support when development of Anthem began. Adding cross-play isn't always a trivial task, either. Depending on what the back-end infrastructure looks like for Anthem's online services, BioWare might have to make some substantial changes in order to let PC, PS4, and Xbox One players party up and matchmake together without Origin, PSN, and Xbox Live connecting in some way.

At this point, the chances are good that BioWare and EA just want to get Anthem out the door and see how players take to it before drastically changing the way the game works.

The "not at launch" line does leave the door open for cross-play in the future, though. And that is certainly good news for those who've become used to the feature in Fortnite. Rocket League also flipped the switch on cross-play, becoming just the second game in the PlayStation cross-play beta alongside Fortnite. There is a movement afoot, to be sure, and as more games support the ability for players on one platform to play with those elsewhere, the pressure will ramp up for all other game developers to explore the opportunity, as well.

 One day, hopefully, cross-play will become the default in online multiplayer games. But it'll take big titles like Anthem, Destiny, and other walled-garden games to join in, too. And once we get there — how about a real push for cross-progression, too?

Anthem releases on Feb. 22, 2019. A VIP demo for the game arrives this Friday, Jan. 25.