Super Animal Royale‘s most recent patch not only added the Xbox One version of the game but also crossplay capability between Xbox and PC. However, players are upset because Super Animal Royale cross-platform play works the opposite of how most people would expect, as it’s only possible to fight players on other systems, with party support currently not available.
Super Animal Royale crossplay doesn’t let you team up with friends
The Xbox Live Preview version of Super Animal Royale went live last Tuesday, June 1, and at the same time, both the Xbox and PC versions were brought to version 0.97 and given crossplay support. It was welcome news, but developer Pixile did not sufficiently convey that this was only “cross-play matchmaking support,” which means that while PC and Xbox players can fight against each other, it’s impossible to join a cross-platform team. Likewise, if friends want to join a team and fight together but they’re not on the same platform, they won’t be able to. They won’t even be able to consciously fight against each other, since the matchmaking is random.
This has led to a number of disappointed players on both platforms, including a few negative reviews such as this review from AnAwkwardCuddle on Steam:
“In literally every game that’s ever been cross-play (that I can remember at least), that means you and your console peasant friends on different systems can finally play a game together. But that’s not the case here… This is confusing at best, misleading at worst, and regardless of where your personal thoughts fall on this scale, ultimately disappointing.”
Given how many users responded to the tweet about crossplay by saying they were excited to play with their friends on other platforms, they’re likely to be just as disappointed as AnAwkwardCuddle.
https://twitter.com/RollieGames/status/1392917395329601538
Coop with pc?!!
— Black furry (@black_huynh655) May 6, 2021
However, developer Michael from Pixile responded to the above Steam review with an explanation and an apology, suggesting that the developer hasn’t implemented cross-platform parties due to how difficult this is to implement. However, Michael also says that the developer is “looking into solutions” to bring in team crossplay as soon as possible.
“Sorry about that, we’ve been trying to specify each time that it’s only “cross-play matchmaking” but I totally get why that might not have been clear enough on what it means. Not having cross-play parties yet is only because of the technical complexity / time to develop it, but it’s something we absolutely want to support since we know how great it would be for friends who are on different platforms. We’re looking into solutions and assuming we find some good ones, we want to get it in as quickly as we can!”
With the new patch and the Xbox release, there have been a few problems with Super Animal Royale this week, including a lot of issues with game servers. Here’s how to sort the ‘Game server could not authorize you‘ error, and here’s what to do if you’re getting the ‘Failed to reach servers. Retrying‘ issue. Beyond that, here’s a list of all redeemable codes for the game so far.
