PS4 vs Xbox One News, Games, and Sales: War Thunder Limited To PS4; Xbox One Is Not Allowing Full Cross-Play
Fans of the PC game War Thunder, developed by Gaijan Entertainment, and Xbox One gamers won't be able to play the multiplayer combat game on Microsoft's newest-gen console.
Gaijin Chief Executive Officer Anton Yudinstev told GameSpot at the Game Developers Confernce in San Franciso last week that Microsoft is currently not allowing cross-platform play.
"Microsoft is not allowing cross-play completely," he said. "Which means (War Thunder) cannot be on Xbox One."
Yudinstev said that Microsoft has to certify game servers so players can have a "good experience" but given the current circumstances, that just isn't possible.
In the past, Microsoft Studios Executive Vice President Phil Spencer has teased that cross-play between Xbox One and PC makes sense but he's "not allowed to leak things."
Microsoft released a statement to GameSpot regarding the current condition of cross-play, which stated that the company works with PC game developers in the developmental stages.
"For developers interested in enabling cross-platform game play between Xbox One and PC," the statement read, adding, "we work with them closely to meet their development needs and ensure a great user experience."
Yudinstev said that a game like War Thunder needs cross-platform play because Xbox One and PlayStation 4's install base is too small for players to enjoy the experience.
He also said that the game, which is only available in Europe on the PS4, will begin to support cross-play as early as next month.
Sony engineers are currently working to fix an updating issue before the feature goes live, Yudinstev said.
Gaijin Entertainment chose to work with Sony instead of Microsoft because Sony has been considerably more accommodating to indie developers Yudinstev said.
"Sony is much more open to indie developers and free-to-play games in general. So Sony has been in the free-to-play market for a few years already, they started on the PlayStation 3," he said. "Not only that, but Microsoft has a lot of unspoken limitations like if you want to make a free-to-play game you have to talk to an account manager and there are no set of rules ... If he likes your game you get approval, if he doesn't you don't get approval."