Valve, Blizzard Want Single Online Platform for Consoles

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
17,672
0
0
Valve, Blizzard Want Single Online Platform for Consoles


Fenced off online services for consoles are a "dead end," says Valve.

PC gaming giants Valve and Blizzard both think that the gaming industry would benefit if platform holders stopped making single platform services like Xbox Live and PSN, and instead worked to create a single online platform that everyone would use.

Valve's Gabe Newell said that keeping those walls around online services was a "dead end," and that the industry should be working on making the internet better, rather than trying to keep customers off it. This isn't especially new ground for Newell; he's said in the past that he wished that Xbox Live was a more open service, and expressed a desire to see Sony's decision to allow Steam on PSN pay off.

Blizzard's Frank Pearce said that he could see a lot of games becoming platform agnostic in the future, as players increasingly wanted to play games on their own terms, wherever and with whoever they pleased. Pearce wasn't convinced that the online space for consoles would ever be entirely open, but said that he hoped to see more deals like the ones that Sony had struck with CCP and Valve.

But Pearce also pointed out that cross-platform gaming was not without its challenges. "If you have a gaming experience on the PC that you want people to enjoy on the console, you may have to adapt components of that experience to different platforms," he said. "So maybe that isn't a level playing field. Maybe some games are best as a shared community rather than a shared gameplay experience. It really is completely dependent on the game itself."

There's little consensus between the console manufacturers regarding openness on their respective networks at the moment. Sony seems to be very keen on it, as its deals with Valve and CCP would indicate, Nintendo says that it will be a big feature of its next console, and Microsoft seems to be dead against it. These positions aren't set in stone though, and each company will go where the money is.

If Sony generates a massive amount of revenue from its network deals, then Microsoft will almost certainly sit up and take notice. Whether that will evolve into a single online platform is anyone's guess, but if there's money to be made, which there undoubtedly is, then it's not an impossibilty.

Source: Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/38574/Blizzard-and-Valve-want-consoles-to-unite-online]



Permalink
 

mad825

New member
Mar 28, 2010
3,379
0
0
Fuck Blizzard.

It's more reason for XBL and PSN to exist as this keeps the tyrants at bay.
 

NLS

Norwegian Llama Stylist
Jan 7, 2010
1,594
0
0
This reminds me of an article I read many years ago, which proposed a future where all console games are compatible with all consoles. The only difference would be the specs of said consoles and certain features, but the games themselves would run without problems switching from a PS or Xbox. Just like you don't need a Sony DVD player to watch Disney movies.
 

Vohn_exel

Residential Idiot
Oct 24, 2008
1,357
0
0
I'm sure Steam would love to see itself as one huge service that works for all consoles cause it'd mean more money for them...but I do have to agree I wish there were some kind of multi-user thing for everyone to download from. I'm sure exclusives though have an impact on the lack of combined services, though.
 

Smooth Operator

New member
Oct 5, 2010
8,162
0
0
Yes in a perfect world we would all work together, however we ain't there yet.
These online services are a huge cash cow and noone will be giving up their share to others.
 

skorpion352

New member
Apr 6, 2008
135
0
0
micro$oft makes far too much from xbl subs to be open to allowing other services on its consoles. untill they remove the need to pay a sub for online play from the xbox, we will never see a truely multiplatform online service.

of course blizzard and valve want a multiplatform online service, its in thier best interests as bussinesses as it increases thier potential customer bases. valve will want to be the one providing that servie, or at least the storefront part. blizzards motives beyond more customers arent as clear, not to me at least, but maybe they have something they are working on that would greatly benefit from a single multiplatfrom service. time will tell.
 

Ruairi iliffe

New member
Sep 13, 2010
258
0
0
I'd Be alot happier if Microsoft took note, and slightly less poor too instead of forking out for a PS3 now....
 

General Vagueness

New member
Feb 24, 2009
677
0
0
They have a point about playing with people on PCs, but I think the consoles should be able to play together-- able as in technology and able as in allowed.
 

Saltyk

Sane among the insane.
Sep 12, 2010
16,755
0
0
Actually, I'd like this. Being able to play with PS3 and 360 owners would be cool. Too bad it'll never happen. At least, not anytime, soon. It's kinda like the idea that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo would collaborate on a single "console to rule them all". In some ways, it would be awesome (in others it would probably suck), but I don't see it happening.
 

theriddlen

New member
Apr 6, 2010
897
0
0
That's an absolutely awesome and fully possible idea. Unluckily console market is filled with hate towards competitors and lack of common sense - and every brand is stupid in their own, unique way, whether it's Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. To make this happen in console market, another brand would have to join the fight and get about 50% market share, and allow others to use their own system - they'd be happy to jump on the bandwagon. And who knows, if Valve and Blizzard (after quitting Acti) would team up, they can achieve anything.
 

UnravThreads

New member
Aug 10, 2009
809
0
0
I think it's a ridiculous idea.

We need competition. There's two consoles (I'm ignoring Nintendo because they're Nintendo), and they need to compete with each other. If they share an online service, where's the competition? How can Microsoft try to one-up Sony? How can Sony try to offer something that MS can't? Sony has free online play, right? Microsoft doesn't. That's something they both compete over.
 

CrazyMedic

New member
Jun 1, 2010
407
0
0
now these people know a lot more about this than me but this just seems like it will turn into a clusterfuck look at pc games where things are mostly the same but games still get screwed up every once in while when a gamed made with AMD graphics cards gets used on an intel card.
 

thest3alth

New member
Aug 31, 2008
117
0
0
coldalarm said:
I think it's a ridiculous idea.

We need competition. There's two consoles (I'm ignoring Nintendo because they're Nintendo), and they need to compete with each other. If they share an online service, where's the competition? How can Microsoft try to one-up Sony? How can Sony try to offer something that MS can't? Sony has free online play, right? Microsoft doesn't. That's something they both compete over.
Perhaps it'd harm competition, but it would boost innovation. If all online services were the same, the companies would need to branch out, explore other features to sell their consoles.
 

kebab4you

New member
Jan 3, 2010
1,451
0
0
TKIR said:
Steam and Battle net are as walled off as Xbox Live.
I can agree with battle net but how is steam? Sure it got it´s limitations but nowhere the ones of xbox live.
 

CrystalShadow

don't upset the insane catgirl
Apr 11, 2009
3,829
0
0
NLS said:
This reminds me of an article I read many years ago, which proposed a future where all console games are compatible with all consoles. The only difference would be the specs of said consoles and certain features, but the games themselves would run without problems switching from a PS or Xbox. Just like you don't need a Sony DVD player to watch Disney movies.
Must have been a pretty optimistic article. Because this would turn the console space into the equivalent of the PC space.

And as any PC game developer will tell you, it is a royal pain in the ass to deal with the fact that you have no idea what the system specs of your players might be.

(Not to mention that even then you're still assuming the same OS is in use. You can't really run windows games on Linux for instance. - not without some heavy-duty hacks at least.)
 

saregos

the undying
Jul 7, 2009
89
0
0
Money, mouth. Merge Steam and Bnet and 1) I'll love both companies forever, and 2) they'll have the moral high ground on this debate.