Home > Software > Android Development > Xbox Live cross-platform play may be coming to Android, iOS, Nintendo – Rappler

Xbox Live cross-platform play may be coming to Android, iOS, Nintendo – Rappler

Android Development By Staff

Microsoft’s releasing a software development kit at GDC 2019 which would allow game developers to ‘connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs’

Published 7:31 PM, February 04, 2019

Updated 7:36 PM, February 04, 2019

EXPANDING YOUR GAMING. Microsoft aims to bring a new software development kit that will connect gamers across multiple platforms. Screen shot from YouTube livestream.

EXPANDING YOUR GAMING. Microsoft aims to bring a new software development kit that will connect gamers across multiple platforms. Screen shot from YouTube livestream.

MANILA, Philippines – Microsoft is set to reveal a new software development kit at the 2019 Game Developer’s Conference (GDC 2019) which would presumably allow video game developers to set up cross-platform play using Xbox Live across the Xbox, Windows PC, Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch platforms.

The information comes straight from the GDC 2019 schedule, which has a program called “Xbox Live: Growing & Engaging Your Gaming Community Across iOS, Android, Switch, Xbox, and PC”

In its description, the program reveals it will be releasing a cross-platform development kit which will allow Xbox Live to expand from 400 million gaming devices to potentially over two billion devices. The description added, “Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.”

The schedule page also noted this SDK would let Xbox Live players “take their gaming achievement history, their friends list, their clubs, and more with them to almost every screen.” For developers who want to attend, Microsoft says this development “will break down barriers for developers that want their communities to mingle more freely across platforms. Combined with PlayFab gaming services, this means less work for game developers and more time to focus on making games fun.”

Microsoft has a system in place at present for some of its own titles such as Minecraft, which has an Xbox Live sign-in requirement on the mobile (iOS and Android) and Nintendo Switch versions of the title.

The SDK may make it easier for games to be made and played on multiple platforms, which in some respects is a parry against Sony’s own general stodginess toward cross-play – one it has recently been able to go past on certain games, such as Fortnite.

GDC will run from March 18 to 22 in San Francisco. – Rappler.com