Even though it is not official, the Digital Extremes logo shows upfront and center on the Xbox Series X First Look at Gameplay event. It the past Digital Extremes has had a few other games like The Amazing Eternals, Dark Sector, Bioshock, and Unreal, but we all know Warframe is their bread and butter right now. It was confirmed at around the 11-minute mark that, “companies have already started developing for the Xbox Series X”, so it is safe to say Warframe is in development for the new Xbox. The main question is, is it going to be a launch release title?
In the past we saw Warframe as a launch title for the Playstation 4, but not for the Xbox One. With Warframe being more popular now than it was in 2013, I would guess that Warframe will be a launch title for both Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. What I am hoping is that with the next generation of consoles comes a direct port from PC. A direct port from PC would mean the updates would no longer be staggered like they are now. We would get a new update on PC, Xbox, and PS5 all at the same time. If that happens, technically, we could see the birth of Warframe crossplay.
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Of course, this is all speculation, but we can all hope to see the Warframe world merged to get a better experience. What was the most frustrating time I had while playing Warframe on Xbox One was the lack of people to group within a mission. Missions that were normally easily filled by a full squad on the PC, were empty on Xbox. Most of my game time on Xbox was me soloing missions that a new player might struggle with. Crossplay on the next generation consoles should be a top priority for DE. Even though the game is doing great, it is over 6 years old. Young console blood with a healthy PC player base would breathe new life into Warframe.
With what we know about the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5, it is possible to bring updates to all three platforms at once. The problem is the difference in architecture and the political red tape. Both the Xbox Series X and PS5 have AMD architecture, but the operating systems could pose as certification roadblocks for Warframe. What we don’t know is, how different is Warframe on PC from next-generation consoles? Without knowing this, we do not know how much different the development process is between the three Warframe versions. If they are as different as Nintendo Switch is from the PC version, there is no way crossplay would be possible. We can only hope there are minor differences. There is a second option for crossplay that DE could take into consideration, delaying PC updates. I know the PC community would not like it, but if it made crossplay possible with the delay of PC ports that might be the best option for the health of Warframe.
It is a no-brainer that Warframe is coming to next-generation consoles. The only factor is when. Crossplay might never happen, but it should. What do you think? Should DE think hard and long about make sure crossplay is a day 1 feature of the next generation consoles? Do you expect Warframe to be launch titles on booth the Xbox Series X and PS5? Where will you be playing Warframe if it is crossplay or cross-save?
