PUBG,_ Black Desert_ add new PS4 and Xbox One cross-play features

Two major online games announced developments in their cross-console play offerings this week, continuing console games’ slow march toward a more platform agnostic future.

For instance, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is expanding its previous cross-console play to allow players across PlayStation 4 and Xbox One lines to team up with one another. Existing cross-platform options only let players on different consoles compete against one another in the game’s last-man-standing matches, but choosing to party up with a friend on the opposing platform wasn’t possible until the 6.2 update.

That version is currently live on the PUBG test servers, and will likely roll out to the full game down the road. In a similar vein, the MMORPG Black Desert announced today that it’ll start to allow cross-play between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 as soon as March 4.

Both additions seem like they’ve been a long time coming, but that’s the case for many online games with a presence on both major consoles. For much of the current cycle only a few select titles were able to boast cross-platform play across the console lines, a result of PlayStation’s reluctance to open those floodgates.

Over the last year or so PlayStation labeled its cross-play as a beta, but moved to bring the offering out of beta last October. Since that change of heart, games like Minecraft, Mortal Kombat 11, and both of the above have moved to allow players on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One play with and compete against one another.