The multiplayer feature on most games today connect users who play the same game on the same platform. The exact opposite is true for cross-platform multiplayer, which connects users who are playing the same game on a different platform.
This is extremely helpful because not everyone owns the same system, but the point is cross-platform widens the scope of a game's given community online because no walls hinder interaction between players, each of whom might own a different system.
Tekken 7, the newest entry in Bandai Namco's longest-running arcade series, is veering away from that direction. Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken 7's project lead and director, said via a tweet that the decision to exclude cross-platform for Tekken 7 isn't a matter of technological restraint, but the number of PC gamers who could potentially ruin the experience because of cheating and hacking activities.
"It's not a matter of the technology for getting the PS4/XB1/PC players to match up against each other being the issue," he said. "[It's] first party company policies and potential security risks alongside the community perceived reputation of PC gamers being cheaters that is hindering the decision to allow cross platform play."
The original tweet was translated by Flying Wonkey on Avoiding the Puddle.
Many gamers, particularly PC gamers, went after Harada, calling him out for implying that PC gamers are cheaters or hackers. He clarified that he did not think of PC gamers as cheaters since he is a PC gamer himself. He simply noted that among the gaming community, there are many who hold PC gamers in high suspicion of using cheats and hacks to progress through their games, and this is primarily why he decided against cross-platform functionality for Tekken 7.
The PC has long been a direct rival for Xbox and PlayStation consoles, hailed by its loyalists as more powerful and less expensive to build than an Xbox or a PlayStation unit. A colloquial name for this phenomenon online is called the PC Master Race with supporters of the PC platform quick to issue counterarguments whenever the issue springs up.
Despite the love PC gets, it has also become an ill-vaunted centerpiece for activities with regard to online gaming such as hacking, data-mining and many more to mention. These activities disrupt the gameplay experience for gamers who try achieve a genuine play-through of a given game without usage of cheats.
Tekken 7 isn't due for release until early 2017, and it's still possible that Harada could change his leading up to the release date. Microsoft is certainly supportive of cross-platform, so it's basically up to Harada if he really wants the feature absent on the latest Tekken entry.
