What does cross-platform mean in gaming?
What does cross-platform mean?
When people talk about cross-platform support, the component they mainly focus on is crossplay. Crossplay means exactly what it sounds like: games that can be played online between different platforms, aka consoles and PC. Odds are any current multiplayer game you're playing today is a cross-platform game since it has become standard practice for all major releases. Up until the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch generations, there was no option for someone on a PlayStation to play with or against an Xbox player, even if they were playing the same game, with rare exception. While there were some murmurings about crossplay being possible, it wasn't until September 2017 when Fortnite suddenly allowed players on PS4 and Xbox One to play together after a 'configuration issue.' However, this opened the doors for Fortnite to officially launch crossplay as a permanent feature in March 2018. After that, more and more games followed suit and began implementing or launching with full crossplay support to allow players to join up with their friends regardless of platform.
Recommended Videos
The other aspect to know about cross-platform is cross-progression. This is still less common than crossplay, but is very common among free-to-play games. Cross-progression allows you to start playing a game on one platform, say the PS5, and then continue from where you left off on PC, Xbox, or any other platform the game is on.
Why are cross-platform games important?
Before cross-platform support became the standard, multiplayer games died off much more quickly with segmented audiences. Instead of having a player base of everyone who purchased the game to find matches with, you would only be able to play with those on your console. Now that games are trying to be live services and host massive servers full of players, segmenting the community by platform would make the experience worse for everyone.
The one potential downside to cross-platform support is when one platform, typically PC, has an advantage over the others. This isn't common, but it can impact certain games. Thankfully, nearly all cross-platform games include the option to disable crossplay if you wish.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
PS6 just tipped for huge specs upgrade to take on gaming PCs
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The PS6 could utilize 24GB of RAM, according to our friends at Digital Foundry (via Wccftech). That's speculation on their part, given how Sony hasn't officially announced the PS5's successor. However, PlayStation President Hideaki Nishino did say the company is thinking about its next-gen console during a June 13 fireside chat (via Dexerto). With that in mind, it's fair to speculate on how much memory the PS6 could have. The PS5 packs 16GB of RAM, so it's reasonable to assume the PS6 will utilize more RAM. That's because the PS5 is already hitting its limits when it comes to textures and art assets. 32GB of RAM would be nice, and comparable to the best gaming laptops currently available. However, to keep costs down, Sony might opt for 24GB of RAM instead. While that's lower than 32GB, it's still more than the PS5's 16GB. Also, DRAM is still relatively expensive, which could also limit the PS6's RAM. That said, there are a good number of gaming PCs and laptops with 24GB of RAM, so the PS6 could be a potential rival to those platforms. Additionally, Digital Foundry anticipates that the rumored PlayStation handheld will feature 16GB of RAM. If that happens, then it would make sense for the PS6 console to have at least 24GB of RAM. This is especially true if developers want to make games for both platforms. What about the next-gen Xbox? Rumors suggest Microsoft's system could more closely resemble a pre-built PC than a traditional video game console. If that's the case, the next Xbox could potentially utilize more RAM than the PS6. This next Xbox could be more expensive than the PS6, but this might not be detrimental if this platform's main competition is the best gaming PCs. The PS6 hasn't been announced, so take everything here as idle speculation from tech experts and enthusiasts. Regardless, it's a safe bet that Sony will eventually release a PS5 successor, given how the PlayStation division is the main revenue driver for the company. How much RAM will PS6 use? We'll just have to wait and see! Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. More from Tom's Guide Nintendo Switch 2 restocks — live updates Death Stranding 2 review Best gaming monitors in 2025
Digital Trends
8 hours ago
- Digital Trends
GPUs with 8GB VRAM are 2025's real budget trap
It has become increasingly hard to justify buying a graphics card with only 8GB of VRAM. Once the standard for midrange GPUs, it is now a hard bottleneck in modern games and the cracks are showing more than ever. Whether you're planning to upgrade or building a new budget PC, it's time to reconsider what you actually get with that 8GB label. Let's be clear, this isn't about raw performance alone. As we pointed out during the launch of the RTX 5060, the problem lies less in core count or clock speeds, and more in how 8GB of VRAM caps your long-term usability. Even if the card is decent at 1080p right now, it's the kind of hardware decision you'll regret two years from now. Recommended Videos Take Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a 2024 release that made headlines for its high system requirements. As per testing done by Computer Base, the game chews through VRAM at 1080p using ultra textures, forcing cards like the RTX 4060 and 4060 Ti 8GB to drop frames or crash entirely. That's not just limited to a particular title, it's becoming the new norm. Games like The Last of Us Part I, Hogwarts Legacy, and Alan Wake 2 are similarly harsh on VRAM, especially at higher settings. And no, simply lowering textures doesn't always 'fix' the problem as it can still result in texture pop-in, long asset loading, and a generally compromised experience. VRAM is the real limiting factor The conversation around GPU performance often fixates on frames per second, but in 2025, VRAM capacity is increasingly the thing separating playable experiences from broken ones. When modern game engines request more than your card can handle, it results in poor performance including stutters and crashes. It doesn't matter if your 8GB GPU technically has enough shader power, it becomes a glorified bottleneck. Worse still, newer cards with 8GB are often misleadingly marketed. Nvidia's RTX 5060 and 5060 Ti (8GB variants) look appealing on paper, with Blackwell efficiency and support for DLSS 4 with multi-frame generation. But when they choke on big textures or fail to keep up in open-world games, the real-world experience often falls short. AMD hasn't been much better. Recent cards like the RX 9070 XT and 9060 XT do bump up to 16GB, but the 8GB RX 9060 XT and even older options like the RX 7600, 6600 XT, and 6650 XT still populate store shelves with 8GB VRAM and tempting discounts. False economy in 2025 It's easy to think you're saving money by buying an 8GB card, but that short-term gain quickly erodes. As games become more demanding and AI workloads become more memory-intensive, you'll end up running into performance walls sooner than you'd expect. That leads to either compromises like dropping settings or resolution, or spending more to replace your GPU sooner than planned. If you're buying a card in 2025, aim for at least 12GB of VRAM, preferably 16GB if you want the system to stay relevant for 3–4 years. Cards like the RTX 5060 Ti (16GB), RTX 5070 (12GB), RX 9060 XT (16GB), and even some budget 7700 XT (12GB) models offer a far better long-term experience, even if they're a bit more expensive. Exceptions to the rule? Despite the growing irrelevance of 8GB GPUs in modern AAA gaming, there are still select scenarios where these cards make sense, provided the buyer understands their limitations. Esports titles like Valorant, League of Legends, and Counter-Strike 2 remain light on VRAM requirements and are designed to run at high frame rates even on modest hardware. For gamers who stick to 1080p resolution and play older or well-optimized games, 8GB cards can still deliver decent results. Similarly, budget-constrained builders, those with less than $300 to spend on a GPU, may find that 8GB cards are their only option unless they opt for second-hand GPUs with higher VRAM but lower efficiency and weaker features. There are also workloads where VRAM isn't the primary bottleneck. Media-centric systems, such as HTPCs or dedicated streaming rigs, can benefit from the video encode/decode capabilities of modern 8GB cards, especially if AV1 support or low power draw is a priority. Small form factor (SFF) builds or compact office PCs often can't accommodate large or high-wattage GPUs, and in such contexts, a compact 8GB card may be the most practical choice. Some users also rely on cloud services like GeForce Now or Adobe's AI-based rendering tools, where the heavy lifting is offloaded to remote servers. In these hybrid workflows, the local GPU serves more as a bridge than a workhorse, making an 8GB card a tolerable, if not an ideal solution. These use cases won't apply to everyone, but they do highlight that there's still a narrow but valid market where 8GB GPUs haven't been completely left behind. Final thoughts The writing is on the wall: 8GB GPUs are no longer a smart buy in 2025. Between games that already exceed that memory envelope and hardware cycles moving quickly toward more demanding workloads, buying an 8GB card today is like buying a smartphone with 64GB of storage. It technically works, but you'll regret it the moment you use it in the real world. If you want to build a PC that lasts, gives consistent performance, and doesn't force you to dial back settings in every new game, skip the 8GB options. It's no longer enough.
Digital Trends
11 hours ago
- Digital Trends
Donkey Kong Bananza speedruns are going to go bananas and I can't wait to see them
A few layers into Donkey Kong Bananza, I came across an objective that left me stumped. I was to reach a platform and slam a button — a common task in the game — but with the problem being its placement. This specific button was on a small, floating island high above any other natural land formation in the level. There was no vantage point I could climb and leap from, and I had yet to learn the Ostrich Bananza at this point, so flying there was out of the question. This was a perplexing puzzle because nearly all other challenges up to that point could be solved via destruction. I could dig under or break through obstacles, but I couldn't dig up. Or could I? A memory of one of the later trailers for Bananza came to mind, where we saw DK on a beach throwing clumps of sand to create a makeshift land bridge reaching out over the water. Curious, I scooped up a clump of material from the ground, aimed, and attempted to stick it to the bottom of the platform. It worked. I repeated the process, slowly but steadily sculpting a crude and jagged stalagmite of sorts that I could eventually climb up and reach my objective. Despite the tedium, the rush of creating my own solution was euphoric. Recommended Videos Only when I came back down did I realize the 'intended' way to reach the platform. Off to one side was a platform that would extend as you ran across it in Zebra form through the air and eventually end at the platform. I liked my solution better. What I came up with was infinitely slower than the way most people will likely approach this specific challenge, but it made one thing very clear to me: speedruns of this game are going to be insane. Breaking a game that wants to be broken Speedrunning has been gaining a ton of traction over the past two decades. While it is still somewhat niche in the grand scheme of things, most gamers are at least familiar with the concept, if they don't tune in for one of the big annual speedrunning charity events. The majority of them focus on, you guessed it, beating games as fast as possible, but there are a ton of other styles and categories to make things more fun, challenging, or strange. Not all games are built for speedrunning, however. The games that draw the most attention from runners and viewers have a blend of mechanical depth in controls and movement options, plus fun tricks to bypass and 'break' the game to beat it faster. Most Mario games are a perfect example of this, with Mario 64 being one of the most popular speedrunning games of all time thanks to the skill ceiling in movement, challenging routes to complete, and various categories and ways to beat the game quickly. In short, it is as fun to play as it is to watch. Donkey Kong Bananza has all the ingredients it needs to spawn a huge speedrunning scene. DK's base moveset isn't quite on the same level as Mario's, but is incredibly versatile. He can obviously run and jump, but rolling lets him move faster, he can roll in mid-air for a small double jump, plus all the ways you can use chunks to augment your movement. And that's just what I've noticed as a casual player. Once someone who is trying to break the game open has time to master DK's moveset, I have no doubt I'll see the game being played in ways I never would've thought possible. (Between the time I wrote this article and it was set to publish, a speedrunner has already found a way to skip the entirety of the last layer of the Canyon layer, including the boss fight less than 24 hours after the game came out) The Bananza transformations each add new ways to enhance DK's movement and destructive powers that are primed for speedrunning. I don't need to explain how being able to break concrete, dash, or fly for a duration of time can be exploited to reach areas early and out of order, but what I do know is that there's one very important feature of the Bananza system that speedrunners will love: you can change Banaza forms on the fly without reverting back to normal or going into a menu. If there's some strange interaction that can happen where you phase through the floor or get rocketed across the map by changing form in just the right spot or in a specific circumstance, someone is going to find it. And how could I not mention the most obvious aspect of Donkey Kong Bananza that make it a speedrunner's dream; the fully destructive environments. Sure, we can all imagine how digging through a level in the just the right way could bypass a ton of stuff, but speedrunners won't stop there. Just like with Bananza forms, a lot of crazy things could be possible with that much freedom. I almost don't even want to guess how glitching into the walls or clipping will be used here and just want to wait to see it for myself. Every speedrun has some roadblocks that slow things down. These are typically things like cutscenes or unskippable animations. In Mario games, a lot of time is spent watching animations after collecting Stars, Moons, or whatever else, which is why there are categories for beating the game with as few collectibles as possible. Donkey Kong Bananza has hundreds upon hundreds of collectibles, including bananas, and each one you collect stops the game for a moment to watch DK munch it down. The more bananas in the bunch you're collecting, the longer the animation takes for him to eat them all. But here's the thing: you don't need to collect any bananas in Donkey Kong Bananza as far as I can tell. Maybe there's one as part of the tutorial or something, but no part of the game is gated off by an arbitrary banana requirement. They only serve to give you skill points to level up, but speedrunners won't need that. Unless there's a trick that saves time in the long run that requires leveling up, I doubt anyone will bother collecting a single one. The speedrunning community is such a fantastic group working together to crack games wide open and see who can master them. It isn't done out of malice, but as a celebration of our favorite games and wanting to show what's possible within them. Nintendo games have always been big hits within the speedrunning community. Now that I've finished my playthrough of Donkey Kong Bananza, I can't wait to see what the pros do with it.
