With the announcement of Destiny 2 coming to Google’s Stadia, fans may be wondering if there is going to be Destiny 2 Stadia cross-play. The Destiny 2 developers had recently revealed that they are going to be stepping up their cross-play capabilities (and eventually going free-to-play in September), so mixing things up with Google’s new platform seems like a natural fit. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely to happen — at least for the near future.
Oh I asked them this yesterday. They said they want it to happen but technical challenges/resources/etc. Maybe at some point. But Stadia makes it tough too
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) June 11, 2019
“Is cross-play in the cards?” asked Twitter user @Nibellion when prompted by a tweet from Geoff Keighley to post any questions for Bungie. According to Kotaku’s Jason Schreier, it doesn’t seem all that likely.
“Oh, I asked them this yesterday,” Mr. Schreir said on Twitter. “They said they want it to happen but technical challenges/resources/etc. Maybe at some point. But Stadia makes it tough too.” Another Twitter user asked a follow-up question: why would Stadia “make it tough” for Destiny 2 Stadia Cross-Play?
“When Stadia players are going against each other in PVP, whatever milliseconds of latency they’re facing are kinda canceled out because they’re all on the same playing field,” Mr. Schreir responded on Twitter. “But if it’s Stadia versus PC that might be a real problem.”
The concerns about Destiny 2 Stadia cross-play are certainly something that Bungie would be worrying about. As an example, anecdotal evidence suggests that mouse and keyboard is a superior control method for first-person shooters as compared to controllers. Put people on an uneven playing field, and you’ll have a situation like where Overwatch console players were getting destroyed by opponents that had plugged in a mouse and keyboard into their console.
Concerns about latency are certainly a hurdle that will have to be overcome if we want to see Destiny 2 Stadia cross-play at some point in the future. Bungie is filled with a bunch of smart dudes, though; hopefully, they’ll be able to work this problem out sooner rather than later.
