Microsoft has announced intentions to bring Xbox Live and its new cross-platform development platform to Nintendo Switch.
Hmmm what does that mean?
If Microsoft succeeds in doing that, Nintendo Switch users could access Xbox Live achievements, social features, and cross-platform play features. This will require Nintendo’s stamp of approval though.
PlayFab, a suite of backend tools, will also be leveraged as part of this package to help developers streamline making games for different platforms.
GDC information
Xbox Live is one of the largest, most engaged gaming communities on the planet with decades of experience providing managed game services to developers that save you time and unlock all of the social and engagement features that players love.
Now Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger. Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK.
Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.
Takeaway
Xbox Live players are highly engaged and active on Xbox and PC, but now they can take their gaming achievement history, their friends list, their clubs, and more with them to almost every screen.
This will break down barriers for developers that want their communities to mingle more freely across platforms. Combined with PlayFab gaming services, this means less work for game developers and more time to focus on making games fun.
Would you like to see this happen? What would you look most forward too?
