User talk:Noahstuart12/Cross-platform play

History Generally, cross-platform play between personal computers of different operating systems is readily enabled using standard communication protocols, and only requires the game to be appropriately ported to these other systems; the computer platform is considered to be very open due to this. Though digital online services that operate on the computer have become popular since around 2010, these systems typically remain open, providing the developer with tools to take advantage of cross-platform play. For example, Valve's online game service, Steam was initially built for Windows computers, but in 2010 expanded to OS X systems, and in 2013 to Linux (including Valve's customized SteamOS). The Steamworks API offered to developers through the service enables cross-platform play to uses on these different operating systems while taking advantage of the friends, communication, and matchmaking features offered by Steam.[9]

I would like to insert a section addressing mainly "Game History", speaking on how the idea came up for certain developers, and how it was executed in the first games.

One technical challenge that faces console-based cross-platform play is the network communication between platforms, managing the different protocols used by each service.[12] However, the technical limitations can be overcome, with at least three developers stating they could enable cross-platform play within a day once they were allowed to do so.[13][14] '''Games in the past released on Xbox and PC allowed Microsoft users to play cross-platform easier than those on Playstation, but cross-platform play hadn't been established as the new wave of gaming until early 2018. ''' A "configuration issue" briefly allowed computer, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One players to play alongside each other in the online cooperative game Fortnite in mid-September 2017. This had not been an expected feature of the game, as cited by the game's current specifications. While Epic Games corrected the configuration and stated this was a mistake, the brief situations demonstrated that technical barriers to cross-platform play can be met.[15] Later in March 2018, Epic announced plans to take the spinoff title, Fortnite Battle Royale Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and mobile devices, with cross-platform play enabled between computer, PlayStation 4 and mobile, and computer, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile.[16]

'''New changes in games allowed Sony's Playstation users to compete with Microsoft's Xbox users, and PC users as well, there was significant separation. Microsoft users on Xbox and Windows were able to compete side by side in certain scenarios, and that left Sony Playstation users the odd man out. This all came to an end with Fortnite. Games in the past had touched on the concept of cross-platform gaming, but Fortnite executed a Beta version of their infamous Battle Royale, available to not only PC, Xbox, and Playstation players, but mobile players as well. This allowed players to compete alongside eachother, no matter what system they owned.'''