How did this slip trough the cracks?
Im playing on the same platform as my friends but we cant play together because i use a different launcher? What?
This is absolutely outrageous and outright unacceptable. If i knew this beforehand i wouldnt have supported the game in the first place and if this isnt fixed soon, i will simply stop playing.
What a joke…
As players we need to boycott stuff like this as soon as it arises. No one wants this to become the norm. We all know how this works.
It starts as a little whoopsie and soon enough they all do it.
Honestly so angry about this
Hopefully, they come up with a solution soon. Segmenting your player base is bad for any multiplayer game’s longevity, especially in 2022 where every major multiplayer game is cross-play.
ITT: People who don’t realize the complications that arise when you combine two different network types and patch processes, generally forcing you to host everything on your own back end, which comes with other problems as well.
It comes with other things like causing patches for Steam to be significantly delayed as well due to having to wait on Microsoft’s patch approval process. Also requires you to figure out an entirely new way of connecting different players.
I agree it sucks that it’s not a thing but I can also understand why they didn’t.
Also because I’m completely over Gamepass and its crappy over protective garbage.
Different network types? Huh?
Makes no sense at all dude. And no you dont have to use your own back end to integrate being able to add people in game. Theres 0 need to make xbox and steam compatible here.
Just have an ingame database of user data which you can let players search trough and boom ur basically done.
Its not like were playing different games on different servers.
We just cant specifically target each other
Theres a difference between software and hardware my dude.
You dont have to have own hardware to host a database. You dont even necessarily need another virtual machine for that.
I… literally said nothing about hardware or software? What are you on about?
It’s easier to use pre-existing software infrastructure to support connecting players over having to design your own from the ground up, particularly when players are running completely different versions of the game. (Gamepass/Microsoft packages the game differently)
It leads to other issues such as removing the ability to invite players via Steam (most likely, unless you add another level on top of that that supports both in game social features and integrates both Xbox and Steam, without breaking something for either).
I’m not saying it’s impossible but it’s a hell of a lot more work. There’s a reason many online games use Steam’s integrated online features rather than designing their own from the ground up.
Hell, right now I don’t even think the two versions of the game have patch parity with each other.
Hosting your own backend obviously implies having hardware to do so. Which you dont need for a simple user database.
Its not easier. As you just explained. Theres plenty of games out there that wont ever let you connect xbox and steam id’s but you can invite other players simply by their ingame tag.
No handy social features or anything.
A simple search function in game does the trick. With respective data of course.
Patch parity is an issue but they already are on par now.
…No, hosting the backend is purely referring to the fact that they’d have to completely redesign the social features of the game including creating a new “Fatshark” account or some such to use for connecting. (At least if you wanted to friend anything other than one specific character)
So they’d have to remove the current Steam/Xbox integration/invites/account system/parties.
Implement their own form of player IDs.
Change the way the game connects players.
Change the matchmaking.
Change invites.
Change partying up.
Ensure patch parity at all times, possibly delaying patches on Steam due to Xbox.
Etc.
It’s not ‘easy’/something they could just whip up on a whim like you’re acting like they just chose to not do it because “Lol screw dem rite?”
And I don’t want to have to clutter my friend’s list on every single character with every single character of every friend I have that owns/plays the game.
That’s already become a massive headache and took all of 0.5 seconds to think of a massive flaw with what you want.
You’re free to want it all you want. That doesn’t mean it’s simple or intelligent to design it that way. What you just said is massively more flawed than the current system already.
Ah yes, the glorious world of the future where you can friend Xbox accounts on Steam. The game still uses your Steam/Xbox account for most things. Which goes right back to what I said, they’d have to implement their own account service and would likely involve completely redoing everything remotely related to social features.
Such an unreasonable request for a small mom and pop 500 million dollar indie company like fatshart. Expecting multiplayer features in a multiplayer game, how dare I?
I said nothing about not making requests. I’m just saying it’s not as simple as flipping a switch and turning on crossplay. Not to mention other downsides such as the forced patch parity and whatnot.
tl;dr for my overarching point: Curb thy outrage. Calling for boycotts over it is ridiculous.
Sorry you had to find out like this. I know I’m being sarcastic as hell at this point but getting yourself all worked up over something like this when it’s not simple and has more nuance than just “Fatshark bad” is silly.
Would I like crossplay? Yes.
Would I like delayed patches? No.
Would I like more players overall? Yes.
Would I like potentially longer load times due to Gamepass packaging games horribly? No.