Microsoft is planning to bring Xbox Live to Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android, with the company looking to drastically expand its online service’s userbase across platforms. This reveal comes during Microsoft’s increased efforts to allow Xbox games to be playable across devices, including a push to bring console-quality games to mobile via game streaming.
Microsoft announced that it was increasing the number of platforms on which Xbox Live would be available, with its new cross-platform XDK expanding its reach from 400 million devices to 6 billion. This includes the Nintendo Switch, further extending Microsoft’s efforts to bridge the gap between Xbox and its competing consoles.
The reveal was made in a post on the GDC 2019 scheduling website (via Windows Central), describing how the social features of Xbox Live would now be employed across a variety of platforms:
“Xbox Live is one of the largest, most engaged gaming communities on the planet with decades of experience providing managed game services to developers that save you time and unlock all of the social and engagement features that players love.
Now Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger. Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK.
Get a first look at the SDK to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs.”
Microsoft has been a strong advocate of cross-platform play, with the company building a relationship with Nintendo that includes a collaborative commercial advertising cross-play on Minecraft. Sony was widely criticized for not allowing cross-platform play between the PS4 and its competing consoles, with the company eventually back-tracking and making it available in Fortnite.
Xbox Live becoming available on other devices will allow Xbox owners to access their friends lists across devices, allowing online gaming communities across platforms to communicate with one another. This is another step in Microsoft’s plan to blur the lines between gaming platforms, with the company seeking more collaborative relationships with its competitors.
