'Warframe' Devs Open Up About Cross-Platform Play And Its Risks

Cross-platform play has been a huge topic of discussion in recent months. Though it's been a hot commodity for years, it was in the last 12 months that games like Fortnite and Rocket League really put the pressure on for more game accessibility. While more and more developers are hopping onto this bandwagon, the team over at Warframe still have a few reservations based upon the risks.

The team behind Warframe are no stranger to doing livestreams with their fans - answering questions and just overall enjoying the game. During a recent gaming session, the topic of cross-play did come up since the MMO-like game released on Nintendo's hybrid platform with the Switch.

"As a player I would love it," said creative director Steve Sinclair. "As a developer, it's one of the highest-risk things we can do. Because a lot of the games that are doing it—it's still very early days for this—A lot of those games came late to the platforms and had different negotiating environments to establish their contracts. On top of that, we are a game that is constantly changing. We change the game modes, we change the gameplay. We do huge, huge swings constantly, so, it is something that we're all interested in and we do discuss it."

One thing that sets apart the Warframe community from others is how involved they are with the process and how dedicated this team is to constant updates and constant community involvement. That being said, if they say that cross-play isn't something they can do at this time, it's hard not to take them for their word. They are known for their transparency and they wouldn't block something like that unless there was a good reason.

That being said, they did also mention that though they can't do full on cross-play at this time, they are looking into ways for players to "share" progress between platofms. "Those things are a lot more doable than getting everything in sync and doing complete cross-play," Sinclair says. "Maybe it's more of a gradual step for us than an overnight switch."

We shall see but at least the conversation is happening and they know there is interest. You can check out the full livestream for yourself in the video below:

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