Disadvantages of Crossplay are Related To the Inclusion of PC

Disadvantages of crossplay and the advantages of crossplay is now a point of debate. Crossplay was celebrated as the new era for gaming that was going to change the way we play games. Now that it is finally happening many have a resent towards it. Players have no problem playing with other consoles but the inclusion of PC is making matters complicated. PC players have many advantages over console players that give them dominance over other platforms. High frame rate, graphical control, keyboard, and mouse give them advantages. All these issues are not as big as the issue of cheating which is damaging the concept of crossplay. There are lots of PC cheaters in competitive games which result in player resentment towards PC players. Disadvantages of crossplay are making PC gaming problem consoles problem.

There are also advantages of crossplay with the inclusion of PCs. It makes matchmaking easier and giving more freedom to developers in terms of game modes. Crossplay is also putting an end to console wars to some extent. It, not all bad news due to all the benefits that it offers. However, for many the disadvantages of crossplay are more than advantages due to the involvement of PC in it.

Disadvantages of Crossplay For Consoles Due to the Inclusion of PC

PC gamers have many advantages over console gamers due to PC’s better hardware and customizable nature. Higher frame rates are one of the major advantages that PC gamers have over console gamers. In the 8^th gen consoles, there is not a single console that can go beyond 60fps. That is not the case for PC, a PC can take frame rates beyond 220 fps. Players on PC can reduce graphics to achieve better fps which is not the case for console players. Higher frame rate provides more data per second to PC players which helps them a lot in a competitive game. Of course, not all PC gamers have high-end PC but even then getting a higher frame rate than 60 is easy. On top of that, PC players can control the graphical setting which helps them see clearly by eliminating shadows and darkness.

Keyboard and mouse provide another advantage to PC gamers in crossplay. Most of the crossplay games offer Keyboard and Mouse support for consoles. Even with such support, using a keyboard and mouse with consoles is not viable. Most players connect their consoles to TV with no desk where they can put their keyboard and mouse. Console players rarely use a keyboard and mouse with their console because a controller is the identity of a console. Even if they do use it then FPS and graphics customization advantages are still there for PC players.

Mouse can helps a lot in controlling recoil better than a controller and aiming with the mouse is also easier. A keyboard helps players to switch weapons and use items with a single shortcut button. In intense fight keyboard and mouse player will have the advantage. For consoles players, the disadvantages of crossplay can be more than advantages.

Cheaters Are The Biggest Disadvantage of Crossplay

Let’s be honest nearly all cheaters use PC in competitive games. Most of the input devices are compatible with PC. Even if a device is not compatible, players can use third-party software to make them compatible. Such flexibility gives PC players access to different opportunities that are not available for console players. Unfortunately, most of these opportunities open doors for shady practices such as cheats and hacks.

PC players can even cheat without the use of specific hardware just by using third party cheat services. You cannot easily find a trainer for every game on a console which is not the case for PC games. Trainers are available for every single player game on PC. Call of Duty Warzone is suffering from PC cheaters forcing many console players to turn off the crossplay. Infinity Ward is banning lots of players but there are still way more cheaters. All a player needs to do is create a new account and they are good to go. Console players are now resenting PC players even though not all PC players are cheaters. PC cheaters are ruining Call of Duty Warzone and many other crossplay competitive games. Cheating is one of the major disadvantages of crossplay.

Inclusion of PC in Crossplay Is not All Bad News, There Are Advantages of Crossplay Too

PC community is big, it is even bigger than the Xbox community making it a key platform in the industry. More players mean easy matchmaking with can lead to a wide range of possibilities. Struggling games such as Anthem suffers from matchmaking problems. The player base of such games is small which can lead to a lack of players. Such a situation is even direr on platforms with a small community. Depending on time even most populated games can struggle in matchmaking. The problem is evident in pay-to-play games such as The Division 2, Anthem, Fallout 76, etc. In most multiplayer games, players can only matchmake with players of the same platform. Such matchmaking can lead to problems that can be solved through crossplay. Crossplay would provide a large community for each game regardless of the platform.

Free-to-play games can also suffer from matchmaking problems if they are not crossplay. One such example is the Crucible and Gambit modes of Destiny 2. Large players base can make matchmaking easy and it will help to keep servers alive for a longer period. Crossplay will also give developers more freedom to include multiple game modes. Multiplayer games need a large player count to make matchmaking easier for different game modes. Most of the time developers have to give up on game modes due to the low player base. Crossplay can fill parties quickly so that developers don’t have to worry about matchmaking while including new modes. Even competitive free-to-play games suffer from this problem. Apex Legends is one such example. The advantages that the inclusion of PC in crossplay provides can solve more problems.

There are Solutions For All These Problems

The disadvantages of crossplay can be reduced to a great degree or eliminated. There are solutions for every problem that crossplay is presenting. One of the major advantages that PC have over consoles is higher frame rates. Locking frame rates for PC gamers can solve this issue. It is not possible with 8^th gen consoles but 9^th gen consoles is supposed to provide up to 120FPS. PC players should not be able to go above 120FPS in crossplay mode. Such a tactic will give equal freedom to everyone.

Console players cannot customize the graphical setting of a game which provides them with more shadows and natural darkness. In a competitive game knowing the enemy location is important. PC players can turn off shadows and reduce natural darkness through graphical settings. This put console player at a huge disadvantage. Basically, PC players can see console players even in pitch dark which is not the case for console players. There should pre-determined setting for both PC and console players in crossplay. Shadows and lighting should be the same for all players. PC players should have the freedom to only customize other settings.

Keyboard and mouse give PC players an advantage but there is still a way to solve this problem. Players using keyboard and mouse should matchmake with players using the same input devices. Players using controller should matchmake with players using controllers. Controller players should only be matched with players using keyboard and mouse if there are no controller users for matchmaking. Any non-vanilla code that changes the base functionality such as FPS, Graphics, and Controller should be considered cheat by the game.

Even PC Cheaters Can Be Eliminated

Many games have taken initiative to ensure the elimination of cheaters. Most would just ban the account but some have gone as far as banning hardware. Apex Legends is eliminating cheaters by banning their hardware ID. Call of Duty Warzone is suffering from cheating and they have taken the initiative to ban many accounts. Now they are matchmaking cheaters against cheaters. Cheaters can’t be stopped without a hardware ban because it does not cost cheaters money. With the account ban, players can just create another account and start playing again. That won’t be the case with a hardware ban.

There are ways around hardware bans but its time consuming and require a lot more effort. Fixing a hardware ban is equal to fixing a damaged computer. You might even have to change some parts which can cost. The process is time consuming even without part changing. Cheaters always look for a short way out that’s the reason they cheat. They would not want to spend hours or days fixing a PC for each ban. Eventually, cheaters will give up on cheating which is good for everyone. There is concern regarding privacy when it comes to hardware ban. Only suspected players should be investigated and their hardware should be banned. It will save the concern of privacy for non-cheaters.

Verdict

Crossplay was the next big thing that many saw as the best thing for video games. Now that it is part of online games, people are seeing not only its positive effects but its negative effects as well. During the initial days of crossplay, it was offering advantages but now the disadvantages of crossplay are also a focus. Crossplay offers solutions to many of the problems for multiplayer games but it’s also creating new problems. Most of these problems have solutions and these problems are not that big of a deal. Cheating is the biggest problem that the inclusion of PC is introducing in crossplay. There are no problems when it comes to crossplay between consoles. The involvement of PC in the system is making matters more complicated. If this keeps going it won’t be long before players start to demand the removal of PC from crossplay.