Bungie explains why Destiny does not allow cross-platform play

Bungie has explained that Destiny doesn’t allow cross-platform play as the developer does not want to give an advantage to players on next generation consoles. Speaking to PlayStation Lifestyle engineer Roger Wolfson stated that the increased graphical performance of Destiny in the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 could give players an unfair advantage over those on older consoles. “Regardless of where the reality is, there’s definitely a perception among gamers that better hardware means you have an advantage,” said Wolfson. “We don’t want to have to enter that fray, so to create the best, most level playing field, both actually and perceptually, we separated it by platform.

This does seem somewhat at odds with previous statements made by Bungie. In an interview with VentureBeat, Jason Sussman explained that the developer had purposely limited the performance of Destiny on next generation consoles in order to provide all players the same experience. This is most evident in the fact that Destiny runs at 30 frames per second, rather than 60, even though the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 could possibly handle the increased performance. This was further confirmed yesterday, with community manager David Dague revealing that the developer is trying to get the resolution to 1080p on all versions of the game when it releases. This includes the Xbox One, due in part to the fact that developers now have more power available as Kinect is no longer required to be plugged in.

The Destiny beta launched yesterday, giving players the chance to play the game. It will run until July 27 although Xbox users will only be able to get their hands on it from July 23. Those with beta keys are able to redeem up to three download codes, allowing players to play with friends who haven’t pre-ordered the games. Bungie has already revealed that they aren’t sure if characters and progress in the beta will carry over to the full retail game when it launches September 9.