Cross-platform "non-negotiable" for Elder Scrolls: Legends

A lot of news has come out of Bethesda's QuakeCon event this past weekend, and when Game Informer spoke to senior vice president of global marketing and communications Pete Hines about The Elder Scrolls: Legends specifically, he revealed that cross-platform play is pretty important for their strategy regarding the game.

"It is both cross-platform play and cross-platform progress," he began. "It is our intention in order for the game to come out, it has to be those things on any system. We cannot have a game that works one way across everywhere else except for on this one thing. The way the game works right now on Apple, Google, Steam, and Bethesda.net, it doesn't matter where you buy your stuff, if you play it on another platform that stuff is there. It doesn't matter what platform you play on, you play against everyone else who is playing at that moment. There's no 'Oh, it's easier to control, or it has a better framerate on this system.' It's a strategy card game. It doesn't matter."

When pressed on how this will affect a PlayStation 4 release (which has previously been absent from cross-platform play with games like Rocket League, Minecraft and - more infamously - Fortnite), Hines said:

"We continue to talk to all of our platform partners. But those [terms] are essentially non-negotiable. We can't be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version where you stay within that ecosystem or its walled off from everything else. That is counter to what the game has been about."

"That is our intent. And that is our message. Not specific to anyone in particular, but to everyone we are talking about. This is 100 percent clear. This is what we are doing, what we need, and what we intend."

What is your view on cross-platform play? Is it a priority for you?