With the recent announcement that Overwatch is coming to Nintendo Switch, Blizzard took the opportunity to comment on the possibility of cross-platform play. Unfortunately, while the prospect is something the company continues to look into, don’t expect to see it any time soon.
As of October 15, the colourful team-based shooter will be on Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. This enormous, widespread community of players is just begging for crossplay as a way to really bridge the divide between systems and bring the Overwatch player-base together.
Sadly, for the near future at least, it won’t be happening. In a statement sent to Engadget, Blizzard explained that research is ongoing, and there’s a lot to weigh up before making it happen. “We’ve seen how compelling cross-system play can be for our community, and we’re excited about the potential,” the publisher wrote. “There’s still a lot of work to do on both our side and the platforms’ side to determine whether this is something that makes sense for Overwatch, and we’re keeping an eye on how cross-play systems and technology develop.”
Other popular games such as Fortnite and Rocket League have enjoyed crossplay for sometime now. Regardless of whether you own them on PC, Switch, Xbox One or PS4, you can play with whomever also has a copy. The technology and the capability is there.
That said, getting everything stable when dealing with different technological constraints isn’t always so simple. The Switch version will be capped to 900p and 30fps, which could place players there at a disadvantage to their team-mates and opponents on other systems with high frame-rates and resolution.
In any case, it’s nice to know it’s still on Blizzard’s mind, and we’ll keep practicing on PC for when the time comes.