Xbox One and PC cross-platform play a possibility?

The possibility of having cross-platform play between Microsoft’s Xbox One console and PC is something that “makes sense” to Microsoft Studios corporate vice-president Phil Spencer who believes the concept is where the gaming industry is heading.

“I’m not allowed to leak things, but I think what you’re talking about makes a lot of sense,” said Spencer when asked about the hope of cross-play between Windows 8 and Xbox One.

Spencer did add that the cross-platform play idea has been done before, with the Xbox 360 and PC for the FPS Shadowrun.

“Now you have differences in Windows gaming and console gaming around control and input… in fact if you go back to Shadow Run on Xbox 360, something I worked on, we had PC players playing against Xbox 360 customers. We didn’t have tremendous success with that, but we learnt a lot from it.

“Then earlier this year we released Skulls of the Shogun, which was a game we launched on all three platforms on the same day, and you could start on one platform and then save the game to the Cloud and play across any of the screens and progress. And then Halo: Spartan Assault has some links between Halo 4 and Spartan Assault, even though they’re very different games.”

Spencer further added that the concept of cross-platform play is something that the industry is aspiring to and that it would make a great gaming ecosystem for everyone, regardless of platform.

“This connected ecosystem across all the different devices is definitely where I think the future of gaming is going; you don’t have to do it as a developer, but you have the capability and I think a system like Xbox Live across all those screens where you know who someone is and who their friends are, what their Achievements are and their progression is really critical to that.”

Microsoft’s Xbox One is on track to launch in thirteen countries around the world (22 November in the UK) and will be debuting at a price of $499 in the US and Canada.

In other news, PS4 already has some games confirmed for cross-platform features between PC: Warframe; Planetside 2; War Thunder; Blacklight Retribution; and DC Universe Online.