The Nintendo Switch version of Minecraft is getting a big update today, bringing the Bedrock Engine to Nintendo’s portable console. The update enables cross-play with PC, Xbox One, and smartphones — but notably not the PlayStation 4. Sony is blocking cross-play for Fortnite, Rocket League, and Minecraft so PS4 players can’t play against Xbox One or Nintendo Switch owners. Meanwhile, Nintendo and Microsoft are partnering to utilize cross-play as a marketing weapon today.
The Minecraft cross-play trailer specifically focuses on the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch being able to play together. It also includes the rare sight of an Xbox One controller in a Switch commercial. If that’s not enough of a partnership, the ad even encourages players to create, explore, and survive together in Minecraft on Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
It’s clear that Nintendo and Microsoft have signed a marketing deal to highlight cross-play for Minecraft, a game that Microsoft publishes itself. It’s unusual to see such a partnership between console rivals, and it once again leaves Sony as the odd one out that’s refusing to enable cross-play between consoles and staying silent.
Fortnite fans still aren’t happy that Sony is effectively holding their accounts hostage over its cross-play block, and the company has only issued a weak response to the controversy. It’s clear that Microsoft and Nintendo see the advantages of cross-play, and they’re more than happy to use it as marketing leverage.
cloud_cleaver on June 21st, 2018 at 17:07 UTC »
It makes a lot of sense for them to start collaborating like this. Sony is the major competitor for Nintendo in Japan, and the major competitor for the Xbox in the west. Moreover Nintendo's increasingly got a mobile-focused product line, with the Switch covering such a different set of bases from the Xbox that even ignoring market differences they inherently compete less with each other than they used to.
And of course, crossplay makes multiplayer servers that much more populated, which makes the community livelier, which makes it easier to sell games and consoles. It seems like a gentleman's agreement to let the consoles compete on their own merits while overall trying to increase the size of the total market. Theoretically both companies can make more money than they would otherwise without necessarily needing to steal market share from each other in the process.
SharksFan1 on June 21st, 2018 at 16:50 UTC »
Does this mean the switch version also supports cross-play with PC?
redgyarados21 on June 21st, 2018 at 16:28 UTC »
Just consummate this thing by putting Banjo in Smash already. Do it for family.