Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is now even easier to play on multiple devices. It was just announced that the game supports cross-cloud saves on Steam and Nintendo Switch, as long as you link your 2K account.
Players need to visit the link https://accounts.2k.com/signup, then go in the options area and tick the multi-platform cloud save box. And that, the developers promise, should be enough to keep your game linked.
However, there is a drawback -- Civilization VI on Switch is missing expansions as well as any mods. So this will only work with the vanilla version of the games on both platforms. Otherwise, your linking likely isn't going to work due to cross-compatibility issues.
Cross-platform is an excellent option for players who have multiple people in the household, who may want to play games on the owned consoles. With consoles costing several hundred dollars each, it isn't exactly affordable for many families to invest in multiple consoles.
So having the ability to play games in multiple ways is helpful, especially when it comes to Nintendo Switch -- a very popular platform with kids. It's hard to explain to your six-year-old that she's going to have to wait on playing Pokémon because you want to keep fighting to save the fate of the world in Civilization VI.
Notably, Microsoft does have the same kind of deal across Xbox and PC, so it's not as though this is a new innovation. But what is interesting is that Microsoft has a legacy of working in PCs, whereas Nintendo doesn't have the same multi-decade experience. This makes the Switch/PC combination sound very intriguing.
It sounds like the cross-platform market is targeting people who have Civilization VI on Switch already and are intrigued to try it on PC or on a high-powered laptop, if they can't be bothered to try out the console. It's a little early to say just how well players are reacting to the Switch/PC combination, but we'll let you know in the coming weeks if there are any issues with switching back and forth. For now, we can't wait to conquer the world in two platforms simultaneously.