"Overwatch," which was previously confirmed to have Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions as well, will not have support for cross-platform play. It was initially announced as a PC-only title.
As previously reported by Polygon, when the upcoming multiplayer first-person shooter from Blizzard "Overwatch" launches next Spring it will be playable on consoles, too. Moreover, during the 2015 BlizzCon game director Jeff Kaplan has announced it was planned since day one. He said, "When we started to make Overwatch ... it was our goal from day one to have this game playable on console."
But along with such announcement he noted that, "They're their own ecosystems." Which means that "Overwatch" PC players will not be able to defeat the Xbox One or PS 4 players, because they won't be able to play with them at all.
According to GameSpot, Part of the reason why PC players can only play "Overwatch" with fellow PC players is to maintain a game fair and balanced game. During 2015 Blizzcon, Blizzard senior designer Jeremy Craig explains, "It's really difficult. From a gameplay standpoint, mouse and keyboard has a little bit of an advantage in terms of being able to spin really quickly. And our game is pretty fast-paced. It just felt like there was a little bit too much of an advantage.
He added, "It just seems like the console crowd is going to love playing against the console people; the PC people will love playing against PC people." But Craig has assured that with respect to content, PC and console versions are exactly the same.
At the same event, Jeff Kaplan has announced that there will be no Mac version for "Overwatch" because the developers found it too challenging. Moreover, the characters of the game will be announced very soon.
"Overwatch" won't be free-to-play contrary to what was rumored. It will be released in Spring next year.
