MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is set to release on Steam, GOG, and Xbox consoles soon, but players won't have to worry about finding partners for co-op play. Developer Piranha Games has confirmed that the robot battling title will be receiving a cross-play update on May 27, 2021, alongside its debut on other platforms. If that wasn't enough, the base game is receiving a price reduction to $30 to get as many people playing as possible.
Piranha Games president Russ Bullock said in a press release, "We've strived to meet fan expectations for what a MechWarrior experience is with this release - including a new co-op cross-platform experience, base game price drop, and downloadable content with the ability to join a friend for free - and look forward to hearing from them on May 27."
That extra DLC will be in the form of a new mech, called the "Kobold Hero Mech," and an extra campaign titled "Heroes of the Inner Sphere." That additional campaign will be playable entirely in co-op, meaning you can team up with Xbox players or anyone that currently owns the game on the Epic Games Store or through the Windows Store. You won't be lacking options on acquiring MechWarrior 5.
It sounds like a pretty substantial update and it should help increase the longevity of this title for years to come. With cross-play becoming the norm in the industry, the hope is that more and more games will treat this as a standard feature when releasing. It certainly would help fighting games stave off a slow, painful death.
Source: Gematsu