Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds Ultimate has gotten another delay. Originally planned to release some time last year, Rocket Panda Games has pushed things back toApril 17th of this year.
This isn’t the first time this game has been delayed - people were expecting the game to launch on February 13th - andthe game’s producer has released a statement on the matter.
“Unforseen delays"came up when the dev team was working withonline modes, andthe console versions of the game seem to be to blame. They want the game to featurecrossplay, and a mysterious unstated force is making that difficult.
“While the single-player experience is nearly complete, we encountered unforeseen delays with the implementation and testing of the online modes.”
While the exact cause of the delay isn’t known, the statement leaves room for speculation - the absence of one platform in the following list makes one theory seem far more likely than the rest.
“Enabling online cross-play multiplayer across all platforms (Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch) is an incredibly challenging feature, but we’re committed to our mission of letting our awesome fans play together at launch.”
Crossplay Proves To Be A Challenge for Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds Ultimate
Rocket Panda Games is not the first studio to have issues with getting crossplay up and running.
The system allows games on different platforms to connect, letting friend groups play together without needing to be on the same console. One can play onPlayStation, another on PC, and so on - players would pick whatever works best for them.
For games with an online multiplayer focus, it’s a great tool for increasing player counts. No need to have different queues for each platform, everyone gets to play in the same pool.
But there’s often issues with implementation, and Phantom Breaker: Battlegrounds Ultimate is likely stuck on one of these.
Either: one of the console rights holders is making this difficult (say,Sonynot wanting to be on metaphorical speaking terms withNintendo), or there’s some gameplay challenge involved, like what’scommonly experienced in shooterslikeCall of Duty.
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But that last one seems unlikely - issues like that are often an issue with keyboard/mouse inputs being more accurate than gamepad ones. The PC platform, the typical problem-child here, is absent from the list in the statement.
So instead, Rocket Panda Games likely needs the extra time to navigate a corporate minefield. Which… isn’t especially fun, but certainly explains the delay.
Why Can’t All Games Do Crossplay As Well As Diablo 4?
Please, sir, may I have some more?
