The Struggle To Coincide

Console wars are as old as the dawn of time...just take my word for it. I can still remember the Mortal Kombat conflict. One system, which dealt with hardware constraints, versus another system that struggled to maintain its "family" appeal.

Now a days, exclusivity plays a more heavier role in battle.  Long gone are the days where you could easily distinguish the system that "did a better job".  The war still rages on but when it comes to games that share multiple platform ports, there seems to be a bit of concession brewing for gaming online.

PC has fast become the neutral ground of choice when it comes to cross-network play. If there was ever a time to play nice between warring consoles, now is definitely that time. 

Xbox has, in a way, extended the olive branch when they launched a new initiative for developers interested in having cross-network accessibility for their titles. They have gone on record saying their open to working with other consoles.

While it would seem that ball is now in the other consoles courts, I can not completely trust that Microsoft is as open to this idea as they are professing to be. The Playstation 4 is certainly in a strong position and having a large percent of exclusive fighting game titles on their system has definitely hurt Microsoft's chances of competing in the market. 

With that being said, having cross-network for fighting games would change the game drastically. One could imagine what this would have meant for street fighter x tekken's community. 

An increased player base insures the games longevity, yes, but in a time where consoles have now become the official sponsor for online and offline tournaments, there is still so much that creates a divide between companies. 

 The fighting game community could certainly use this boost. While it may be of greater benefit to the developers then to the console manufacturers, cross-network compatiblity may do more good then competing companies fail to realize. 

We as players tend to migrate where the action is. Imagine if that was no longer necessary...does not sound so bad now doesn't it?