I never thought I’d get to say something like this, but Microsoft have revealed plans to allow cross-platform play between the Xbox One, other consoles and PC, provided that developers choose to include the option.

“in addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we’re enabling developers to support cross-network play as well. This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks.” wrote Chris Charla in an open letter.

He went on to confirm that the first game to support this will be Rocket League, which is set to allow cross-platform play between Xbox One and PC, “with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.”

Now, aside from Rocket League there’s been no confirmation of any other developers actively working on this, so don’t expect to be playing The Division with PS4 owners anytime soon, but it seems likely that we’ll begin seeing titles pop up supporting cross-platform play. The details, though, are beyond my own realm of knowledge; sure, the developers can include cross-platform play in theory, but will Sony have to be willing to allow it on the PS4? Presumably so. Perhaps people with better knowledge than I can confirm or deny this.

Either way, it’s still a very exciting step toward a much more cohesive community.