'Anthem' Won't Have Cross-Play At Launch, But Could In the Future

Electronic Arts mentioned earlier this year that they were strongly pushing cross-platform play [...]

Electronic Arts mentioned earlier this year that they were strongly pushing cross-platform play for all of their games in the future, and though BioWare has mentioned no crossplay in the past it looks like that doesn't necessarily mean forever.

One thing that Anthem's Mark Darrah is known for is his total transparency with fans. He's been very open with interested gamers over on Twitter when asked about certain aspects of the game. Of course, he can't reveal everything but he has been forecoming thus far with what the team can reveal before launch.

He's not shy about giving a hard "no" regarding certain questions, so the launch detail spoke volumes to many.

When one Twitter user asked about crossplay for the highly anticipated new IP, Darrah answered "Not at launch." Games have proven in the past that crossplay can come even post-launch with the necessary tweaks - that much is evident with Fortnite's continued growth over the year - so the specified answer does offer hope for the future.

He's not shy about giving a hard "no" regarding certain questions, so the launch detail spoke volumes to many.

With EA being the publisher attached to this project, their willingness to expand cross-platform play is huge. EA CEO Andrew Wilson explained earlier this year during an investor's call , "In terms of cross-platform play, again, we are seeing the same thing, [that games with cross-play are popular]. And remember, we have a vision on a 3-to 5-year time horizon where a great portion of game experiences will exist in the cloud and be pushed to every device you own.… I think we are to deliver very different types of experiences as a result of a cloud gaming offering."

Having a game that appeals across a number of devices and consoles is a big plus in sales -- just look at Fortnite and the billion dollars it cleaned up in its year of Battle Royale competition. "Households typically have one console, so the ability to bring PC to console and console to mobile into that play experience can bring families together, can bring friends together," Wilson said. "And we think it's an important part of our future development profile, both in terms of mobile games that we have today moving up per se to console and PC, and console and PC games being playable in mobile. And I expect more from us on that front in the future," Wilson noted.

This sounds quite similar to what Vice President of Investor Relations Chris Evenden noted previously as well, "We're looking at key franchises in terms of how we can deliver cross-platform play in a similar way that Fortnite has, especially some of our titles that have a broad and diverse player base. The ability to bring PC to mobile or mobile to console can bring family and friends together, and we think that's an important part of our future development profile. Expect more from us on that front in the future," he said.

It will be interesting to see if this interest in crossplay merges with that of Anthem. With the game coming soon to Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, the ability to play with other platforms could be huge.

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