The highly successful developer, Ubisoft, known for creating video game series such as Assassin's Creed, Watch Dogs, and the Tom Clancy games, announced earlier this week that it'll be adding crossplay to all of its pvp games. The company's CEO, Yves Guillemont, made the announcement during the FY2020 half-year earnings call, saying that work on crossplay is well underway and that every multiplayer Ubisoft game will carry the feature "over time".
To the delight of gamers all over the world, the video game industry has been slowly moving towards cross platform multiplayer, with popular titles such as Fortnite, Rocket League, Dauntless, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare all allowing players to play online with their friends who own the game on a different platform. Ubisoft hopes to hop on the trend as well, which will certainly be a huge step for cross platform and will hopefully influence other developers to do the same.
Ubisoft's decision most likely stems from the company's large financial loss this year following the commercial failure of Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Due to the game's lack of sales, the developer has decided to delay three of its upcoming games until the next fiscal year, beginning in April of 2020, in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes made with Breakpoint. Those titles include Watch Dogs: Legion, Gods & Monsters, and Rainbow Six Quarantine.
Ubisoft saw a fairly successful year in 2018, however, with the massively popular Assassin's Creed Odyssey and the continued success and growing player base of Rainbow Six Siege. As you might have suspected, the company is far from going bankrupt, but the addition of crossplay has Ubisoft hoping for a return to form.
Although Ubisoft might be best known for their single player franchises in Far Cry and Assassin's Creed, the addition of cross platform multiplayer may lead to more online-focused games in the near future. Upcoming titles such as Watch Dogs: Legion, which will have a large focus on single player, is also expected to include an entertaining multiplayer feature and might serve as one step in a slightly new direction for Ubisoft. Either way, crossplay is a great thing for the world of video games, and every large developer that moves in that direction is something to celebrate.