Technical challenges in implementing cross-platform play in battle royale games

Cross-platform play or crossplay refers to the ability of a game to be played on multiple gaming platforms by multiple gamers; obviously, this chiefly applies to multi-player games like MOBA and battle royale games. A set of friends with different gaming platforms, like say, Xbox, PC, PlayStation, and so on, are able to play the same multiplayer game, at the same time. This eliminates the need for gamer friends to go find the same type of hardware to enjoy a few hours of exciting gaming.

Crossplay is becoming more popular as many battle royale PC games and MOBA PC games like these increase in popularity by the day. Now, gamers can explore virtual battlefields, fight, and win battles, without anyone switching their gaming platforms. Gamers can team up and compete against players from all supported platforms, and this delivers an inclusive, engaging, and interconnected gaming experience for all.

Greater player base

By making battle royale games compatible across platforms, you can substantially increase the number of players available for matchmaking and playing games competitively. Gamers don’t have to wait to find other gamers, creating a more active, inclusive, and vibrant community.

Diverse competitive landscape

When players are from different platforms, they are likely to have unique skills and strategies. When they get together to play, crossplay creates enhanced competition, challenging gameplay, and heightened excitement all round.

Easier Maintenance and Updates

When the same battle royale game is released on several platforms, rolling out new features and releasing bug fixes becomes quick and easy for developers.

Longer lifespan

Cross-platform games have larger player bases, which means gamers can have new teammates and new opponents every time. This can create new gaming experiences, prompting them to play the game more. Battle royale game developers can release new features, expansions, and updates as well, causing gamers to sustain their interest in the games for longer periods.

Economical

Gamers need not purchase many consoles or devices to enjoy battle royale games with friends. This works out to be very cost-effective for gamers, especially those with limited resources.

Competitive advantage

As gamers can collaborate with friends and play the same game regardless of their platforms, cross-platform games have a competitive edge over other games.

More lucrative

Having a larger pool of gamers can generate higher revenues and consistent monetization, especially with in-app purchases (IAP). These purchases, also called microtransactions, are where gaming companies can make a windfall. This is where cross-platform play makes it so much more lucrative for game developers. Incorporating crossplay in battle royale games with in-app purchases offers huge monetary benefits as gamers have to spend actual money for accumulating game resources, tools, features, and more.

Development cost

Cross-platform game development can be expensive and time-consuming, as developers have to ensure compatibility across multiple devices, and the process is very complex. Adjustments have to be made for differing hardware capabilities of the various platforms to ensure optimal performance.

Security

Some platforms may be less secure than others, leading to the possibilities of hacking and cheating. Developers will need to incorporate stringent anti-hacking and anti-cheating measures to ensure minimal incidents.

Fortnite

There’s a reason why Fortnite is one of the most popular battle royale mobile games. About a hundred players collect resources, hunt for items, build structures, and fight one another to the end. It also features some pretty far-out collaborations, like playing a My Hero Academia character who attacks Titan’s Thunder Spears.

Developer: Epic Games
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Compatible Platforms: Mobile devices, Desktop, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

Rocket League

Soccer meets rocket-powered cars in this unique battle royale game, where players form teams of three to compete against one another. They control custom vehicles to score goals using teamwork, skill, and tactics.

Developer: Psyonix
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Compatible Platforms: Desktop, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

Minecraft

Minecraft is one of the most popular games the world over; an open-world adventure game, minecraft makes players navigate and exploit the procedurally generated worlds as they want, build huge structures, and fight to stay alive.

Developer: Mojang
Engine: LWJGL
Compatible Platforms: Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux, )mobile devices, Xbox, Nintendo Switch

Technical difficulties

As we mentioned at the outset, ensuring that different hardware and software systems are compatible can be a thorny path. Developers have to resolve challenges like control schemes, network protocols, and different frame rates. Let’s examine them in more detail:

1. Network compatibility

It is critical to ensure effective communication between the various platforms, as each gaming system has its own network protocol. This means variance in speed, features, and stability.

Solution: Developers need to build a robust server infrastructure capable of handling dissimilar network requirements to make sure that gameplay is seamless across platforms.

2. Performance variability

Each type of hardware is likely to have varying capabilities and performance levels. This can make it difficult to ensure a seamless experience.

Solution: Developers have to optimize the game so that it runs smoothly on any device.

3. Input lag and synchronization

Managing input lag can be a tough nut to crack. Each platform is likely to have its own response time. For instance, a mouse versus a game controller are likely to respond differently.

Solution: It is essential that you fine-tune the game mechanics if you want to deliver a fair gameplay experience regardless of the platform.

4. Updates and compatibility

Uniformity must be maintained in game features and updates, so that every player can access the exact same version of the game along with its features. If an Xbox gamer has features that a PC or mobile gamer does not, it can create disparity, and they can lose interest in the game.

Solution: Developers need to take the effort to align all platforms and ensure that there are no discrepancies that can impact gameplay negatively. Uniformly rolling out updates ensures that the game stays fair and reliable, and makes the gaming experience enjoyable for all players.

Overall solution for technical challenges: Developers need to create standardized APIs and optimize game engines.

Balance and fairness

It is critical that developers achieve balance and fairness when developing cross-platform battle royale games. For example, certain input methods may be better for specific tasks – say precise control of a character with the thumb-stick, which may not be available in all platforms.

This can affect the fairness of gameplay due to the disparity; obviously, a PC will not have this input method. Similarly, where a mouse click is more apt, an Xbox is disadvantaged. Maintaining a level playing field is a major challenge, especially for MOBA mobile games.

Solution: Developers need to consider offering matchmaking based on inputs, matching players on input devices rather than other considerations, as well as offer options to disable crossplay.

Security concerns

As we saw earlier, crossplay in battle royale games can lead to heightened security risks like cheating and hacking.

Solution: Developers need to deploy ironclad security controls like anti-cheat software and release regular updates, hardening server-side security.

Platform policies

Each gaming platform is likely to have its own restrictions and policies, further complicating implementation of crossplay. Due to concerns regarding quality and security, Sony was at first reluctant to enable cross-platform play.

Obviously, developers cannot find a solution for this; pressure from gamers is what prompted companies to accept this trend and be more flexible.

To understand the solutions developers can follow to effectively tackle the above-mentioned challenges, let’s look at this infographic:

The future of cross-platform play in MOBA and battle royale games certainly looks bright. We can expect to see the following:

• Greater collaboration among the big names in the gaming industry will accelerate crossplay adoption, and even more platforms are likely to embrace this trend.
• 5G connectivity and cloud gaming developments will further enhance cross-platform play, eliminating the need for top-of-the-line hardware. Expect minimal latency, thanks to faster and more dependable internet connections.
• In addition to battle royale games, more game genres may adopt crossplay, including role-playing games.
• Greater cross-platform interoperability may well be one of the innovations we see in the near future. This is likely to include more sophisticated matchmaking algorithms and optimization of performance to enjoy seamless experiences regardless of hardware.
• Feedback from industry leaders, influencers, and players will push innovations and improvements in crossplay gaming. Developers prioritizing crossplay and engaging with gaming communities are more likely to be successful and build brand loyalty.
• Social gaming will become more exciting and engaging with the incorporation of advanced social features like unified friend lists and enhanced in-game communication.

As a leading game studio, Juego Studios has the resources and expertise to develop cross-platform games, whether MOBA or battle royale. You can deliver a seamless experience to gamers and elevate device-agnostic competitive gameplay like never before. Enjoy continuous monetization for longer periods and build loyalty within the gaming community with a cross-platform game. Tell us your idea, and we’ll make it happen!