Recently, Microsoft announced that Halo Infinite will feature both cross-play and cross-saves across each version of the game. While it's no surprise given Microsoft's focus on PC gaming through the Xbox App alongside Xbox Series X|S, it is a sign of changing times as more companies add cross-play to their games. Outriders and Fortnite are two of the strongest examples of this as of recent, with Fortnite even supporting cross-play between all three main competitors in the console wars.
Halo Infinite will be releasing on both the PC and on the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, allowing players on any of those versions of the game to play with each other. Players will also be able to transfer their multiplayer progress between versions of the game. This highlights an interesting step forward that Microsoft is making in order to try and bring gaming together with the next generation of systems.
Halo Infinite has been declared by Microsoft to be an accessible soft-reboot of the Halo series, with tons of changes to try and take the sci-fi FPS away into the future. Cross-play between the Xbox and PC versions of the game is a great step forward that should only serve to expand on the player base for the game, perhaps even turning it into the next classic entry in the series. However, cross-play hasn't always worked on recent titles.
Outriders is a game that many reviews compared to Bungie's attempt to move on from Halo, Destiny. Outriders featured cross-play between every version of the game and ended up being a far more universal title due to it being available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and even the Google Stadia service. However, the focus on cross-play ended up being more of a detriment to the game due to a wide amount of reported bugs crippling the feature at launch.
Good cross-play can be an amazing breath of fresh air for gaming, allowing players who own different consoles to play together. Bad cross-play, however, can hurt the game's experience as a whole and even keep players from checking out the multiplayer aspect. Outriders is a game built around its co-op RPG gameplay, which made it's buggy cross-play an unfortunate drain on the game's longevity.
There's plenty of instances of cross-play done well though. As mentioned earlier, Fortnite was one of the first titles to really show cross-play's potential for next-gen gaming and was able to bring together PlayStation, Xbox and even Nintendo Switch users together. When cross-play is done right it can not only boost a game's player base but also let players using the older generation of consoles play with those on newer systems.
Fall Guys is another title that will feature cross-play on the Xbox Series X|S and on the Switch, though this announcement was also coupled with the port's delay. A game like Fall Guys is the perfect multiplayer party title for good cross-play so as long as the team has the time to implement it, it should help keep the game alive for a long time. More multiplayer titles seem to be prioritizing cross-play as gaming moves ahead into the next generation, which is something that can only be beneficial for gaming as a whole.