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Rare studio head responds to Sea of Thieves crossplay & pc userbase discussion

SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490


Wanted to address a few concerns we see some folks have about our future #SeaOfThieves plans. Rest assured our goals are ALWAYS to do the right thing by our players and community; there broadly seems to be 4 key points that needed clarity:
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1/ We aren't removing crossplay; we are adding an option for console players using controller to opt out of crossplay if they choose. We expect most players, especially in Adventure, to still play using crossplay, but this is important option to add with The Arena coming
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2/ The crossplay option is not coming in the February update, see Joe's last dev update for more info, the team is working now on implementation of the option settings & our goal is to have this in & tested prior to The Arena
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3/ Servers will still have the same density they do today as we spin up Azure servers as players join & backfill new crews into live servers. Our server density is architected to not be affected by the size of our player pop, but to vary the player encounter frequency & stories
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4/ Our player population is super healthy on both PC and Xbox & has been since launch. While we don't tweet usage data reactively, we will figure out how we share more stats on this soon to give context why players don't need to worry about our live player or platform populations
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As I said at the top, we have always strived for everyone to enjoy #SeaOfThieves whether you are a brand-new player or someone that has been with us from the start, we prioritise all players & all platforms together – thanks!
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It's a response to a community discussion about a developer update from last week. In this update Joe Neate explained why they are adding a switch to turn crossplay off for both Adventure and Arena mode.

Summit and many community members have responded to that:



 

Karax9699

Banned
Jan 29, 2018
84
I see where rare are coming from and somewhat agree. If it cuts back on Xbox being at a disadvantage if they so desire, I see no issue with it
 

Startropper

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,005
What happens if you join an xbox only server then an xbox player on another ship tries inviting one of his friends on pc?
 
JayBee

JayBee

Alt-account
Banned
Dec 6, 2018
1,332
They're very proffesional. 3 days left. Wonder what the surprise is that they were talking about. I'm hoping some more enemy types
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,028
Overreaction first as usual from a playerbase.
Clear talk from the studio head.
 
Acorn

Acorn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,972
Scotland
I'm guessing 'arena' is some PvP mode? Makes sense in that case to allow Xbox users to play with only other controller users instead of just letting pc dudes roll over everyone.
 
Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,028
Also i think if the default option is crossplay on, that you wont see alot of people changing it. The "casual" crowd wont bother or even know its there or know what it means at the end.
 
LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,099
Maybe they could boost PC numbers by releasing outside the Windows App Store.
 
Jobbs

Jobbs

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,639
Rare is 1000 percent making the right decision. In a first person pvp game a PC user is at such a blatant and extreme advantage over console I'm kind of shocked and amused that anyone is against this option being in place.
 
Gowans

Gowans

Moderator
Oct 27, 2017
5,523
North East, UK
After checking the vod and clips I think Summit has some good points and ideas on what they should put in the game.

As long as it's opt out then it's ok but I'd be fine if it was only for arena.

 
GoaThief

GoaThief

Member
Oct 25, 2017
309
Great and long overdue news.

I've been saying it needed a disable crossplay option like Rocket League since the closed test days pre-launch. I actually stopped playing for a while in part to this. Some games you can compete with no aim assist and a pad but this really isn't one, mouse and keyboard users have a large advantage and it becomes problematic in PvP situations.

Now if they "fix" the post-launch X patch which made it extra shiny for X yet tanked the frame rate the moment you go above the standard FOV...
 
SuperPac

SuperPac

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,327
Seattle, WA
Important to note that Xbox players believing they were dominated or sunk by a player on PC has been a thing for a long time. Of course, whether or not it was true is sort of unknowable - just being on PC doesn't immediately make you better at all the mechanics in the game.

I think the twitter outcry sparked by Summit is way overblown. As long as the default is still crossplay, it'll be fine. I sail with a crew of mixed players so this changes nothing for me. And I'm on PC but I use a controller. So...
 
JayBee

JayBee

Alt-account
Banned
Dec 6, 2018
1,332
GoaThief said:
Great and long overdue news.

I've been saying it needed a disable crossplay option like Rocket League since the closed test days pre-launch. I actually stopped playing for a while in part to this. Some games you can compete with no aim assist and a pad but this really isn't one, mouse and keyboard users have a large advantage and it becomes problematic in PvP situations.

Now if they "fix" the post-launch X patch which made it extra shiny for X yet tanked the frame rate the moment you go above the standard FOV...
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What's the issue in crossplaying in rocket league anyway?
 
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SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490
If Rare believes there are enough PC players around, then I guess it's not a big issue.

I do think it'll make stream sniping much easier. Server hopping to find a popular streamer will be much more effective, you'll probably have to hop servers way less.

It's important to note that a Sea of Thieves server has a maximum of 6 ships (so 6 - 24 players), but servers are not always full.
 
GoaThief

GoaThief

Member
Oct 25, 2017
309
JayBee said:
What's the issue in crossplaying in rocket league anyway?
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Not many for me, aside from the inability to communicate anything more than quick chat commands or group or trade. Plus petformance advantage as Psyonix dropped the ball on PS4 in particular as the years went on. It was 60ish at launch and deteriorated.

I was talking about Sea of Thieves anyway and Rocket League always had the option to disable crossplay as should most games that offer the feature. I'm glad Rare are catching up, shame it's so late.
 

Deleted member 2652

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,434
This sounds fine. More than fine, it sounds good. PC players are just throwing a tantrum because they can't feed on console players any more.
 
Overture

Overture

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,595
Portugal
PC players might be worried about population and that's it. For all I care as a PC player they could put insane aim assist for console players, I don't give a shit personally, but unless they show the numbers, players will be worried about the population. Also, they could very well implement this for the arena only.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,364
Overture said:
PC players might be worried about population and that's it. For all I care as a PC player they could put insane aim assist for console players, I don't give a shit personally, but unless they show the numbers, players will be worried about the population. Also, they could very well implement this for the arena only.
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I just don't see the population concerns being a reality. Cross play will be on by default so the vast amount of players will be playing with cross play. And the servers allow, what, 20 players in them or something? It's not like it needs to be filling up 100 player instances every time. The game is selling well and being played by a lot of people. I don't imagine Rare would split the servers if there was any danger of one community getting shafted.
 
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SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490
PC players do have some valid concerns to be honest. They are going to split the userbase by introducing Arena soon. And before that they are going to split the userbase again by introducing an opt-out of crossplay.

Meanwhile. this whole game was built without progression and with crossplay because ''Everyone can play together''
 
elzeus

elzeus

Member
Oct 30, 2017
2,887
I don't see a lot of people opting out as you'd have to be in the know to even opt out as well as being against crossplay. It's a shame people jump to conclusions and start the gloom and doom, but it is on Rare and every other crossplay game developer to send a clear and concise message when making these type of changes from the start so it doesn't become a PR nightmare. Who knows they could have internal numbers on Arena where PC crews won 80%+ of the matches in their test realms so they're getting out ahead of it.
 
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