colorfuldescent: It makes Epic look good to offer, and makes the other companies look bad if they refuse, but will this really amount to anything tangible for the end user? I can't see any large sized company caring about cross-play with Epic users.
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A further read suggests it's actually games running on Epic's engine, not necessarily games sold on their store. I suppose that's better, since it means games not sold on the Epic storefront but using Unreal can still have cross-play.
adaliabooks: I think your missing the point. It's not down to Steam, or GOG, it will be down to the developers.
If this works and is as all encompassing as Epic claims then you don't have to maintain a GOG Galaxy build and a Steam build and an Epic build, you just have one game with multiplayer, achievements and everything else that works with all of them.
And when you look at it like that then it is very valuable to developers, more people playing together on different platforms means multiplayer is more active for longer (and presumably whatever income you make from that lasts longer too, or the positive buzz around your game lasts longer and long tail sales increase)
Also they specifically state it's not tied to any store or engine, so anyone could use it. Not just Epic store games or Unreal engine games.
They state that it will start with games running on their own engine
The service launch will begin with a C SDK encapsulating our online services, together with Unreal Engine and Unity integrations.
And that it will expand over time. For at least Steam and Xbox (I'm not clear on how Sony handles online) the servers are not owned by the developer, and they won't be able (either technically or contractually) to allow access to those servers without the permission of the company running them. That means no matchmaking, achievement or save synchronization, etc. unless the company hosting the multiplayer agrees to allow API access to Epic, which they ultimately have no reason to do (especially Steam, for whom the Epic store is a direct competitor.)
Even Epic acknowledges this in their own post
This will support all 7 major platforms (PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch) to the full extent each platform allows per-title.
Note the wording: not each developer allows, each platform allows. The person who owns the servers decides who can connect to them, and if they say no to cross-play, it won't happen.
adaliabooks: I think your missing the point. It's not down to Steam, or GOG, it will be down to the developers.
If this works and is as all encompassing as Epic claims then you don't have to maintain a GOG Galaxy build and a Steam build and an Epic build, you just have one game with multiplayer, achievements and everything else that works with all of them.
And when you look at it like that then it is very valuable to developers, more people playing together on different platforms means multiplayer is more active for longer (and presumably whatever income you make from that lasts longer too, or the positive buzz around your game lasts longer and long tail sales increase)
Also they specifically state it's not tied to any store or engine, so anyone could use it. Not just Epic store games or Unreal engine games.
Apologies if this ends up double posted, but my last attempt at responding did not show up.
At launch the service will only support Epic's own engines, and games launched on their store, as mentioned in the linked article
The service launch will begin with a C SDK encapsulating our online services, together with Unreal Engine and Unity integrations. We’ll start with a core set of features and expand over time.
Regarding the developer having the say regarding cross-play, for Xbox and Steam at least (I'm not familiar with how Sony handles online), the servers are not owned by the developer. For anything like matchmaking, achievements and save synchronization, etc. they will require the platform's permission to access the API. The person who owns the server ultimately decides who can connect to it, if they say no to cross-play, then there won't be any cross-play. For Steam the Epic store is direct competition, there isn't much benefit to enabling cross-play with their platform.
