One of the best things about the Xbox One and Xbox 360 is the ability to create a Party Chat where gamers can talk to a group of specified friends. This works even if all parties are playing different games.
The downside so far is the fact that Party Chat support does not operate across the Xbox One and Xbox 360. It means that friends who have upgraded to the Xbox One are unable to communicate with friends on the Xbox 360, unless they do it by text chat.
But who wants to communicate by text when voice is so much better? Not many.
Well, it seems as if Microsoft head Phil Spencer has realized this and is planning to get his team working on the feature in the future. It won't happen soon due to other priorities.
We know this because a gamer on Twitter asked Phil Spencer if Microsoft will ever support Party Chat across the Xbox One and Xbox 360. Spencer said not yet because the team is working on this feature for Xbox One and Windows 10 cross-platform.
@Blackers722 Not right now. Working on this across XB1 and Win10.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 10, 2015
We like what Spencer and the team at Microsoft are doing here, but we also hope the company addresses another huge concern that gamers have been talking about recently.
Right now, backward compatibility is a big deal, it seems. If that is the case, then Microsoft should consider supporting backward compatibility where multiplayer is concerned. Xbox One players playing the same game should be able to play with those on the Xbox 360.
It's a big ask, but Microsoft opened Pandora's box when it announced backward compatibility, so there's no turning back now.
We do not support Microsoft going half-and-half with this. Either do it the right way or do not do it at all. That's our motto, and we are standing firmly by it.
After Windows 10 is released to the public, it should be interesting to see what the Xbox team focuses on. A lot of work on the road ahead, and some features will take prominence over others.
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