The console wars have waged on for decades; not to mention the discourse surrounding the fiery topic of gaming consoles in general, versus gaming on the PC. However, if there’s one thing that most gamers would love to see, it’s the desire for having the ability of cross-platform play, no matter the system. It also happens to be a focus that Nintendo appears to be taking very seriously.

In a recent investor call during Nintendo’s 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Senior Executive Officer, Susumu Tanaka, made a statement confirming Nintendo’s commitment to providing cross-platform play for Switch games.

"Cross-play basically comes about from conversations between publishers and platform holders," Tanaka stated. "We are inclined to do what we can to help publishers incorporate cross-play when that is what they want. The other parties involved also have a say in whether we are able to reach this outcome or not, so we will continue to discuss it with them."

Tanaka’s statement reaffirms Nintendo’s commitment to cross-play, which became one of the hottest topics to come out of this year’s E3 Expo. Both Nintendo and Microsoft extended an invitation for working towards cross-platform play, while Sony failed to commit to providing such a feature.

It’s likely only a matter of time before Sony joins in on fun, but that won’t come before being the object of some lighthearted jokes. While Fortnite is arguably the current most popular cross-play title available on the Switch, Minecraft has also been the subject of choice in tweets between Microsoft and Nintendo, even receiving a commercial focusing on the cross-play ability more than the game itself.

For publishers looking to release a game on the Switch, it would be a huge missed opportunity to not take Nintendo up on their offer to assist in making games cross-play compatible. Why limit game sales to a single console when you could expand to additional consumers within the video game market?

While we may not have any insight into Sony’s plans for cross-platform play yet, we can at least take solace in Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s commitments to providing the long-awaited ability. It may not be an ideal situation just yet, but at least the gaming industry is moving in the right direction.