Destiny 2 Might Not Get Cross-Play Support

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Image: Bungie

Cross play support is feature increasingly more talked about in recent years. At each hardware, or game, release this topic comes up. Bungie had updated Destiny 2 in August to include a cross save feature to help bridge platforms but cross-play is still in progress.

Trying to bring various platforms together for cross play is no easy task but Bungie is working on it. VGC spoke with Bungie communications director David “Deej” Dague about their ongoing efforts. He explained that it is a goal to bring players together but they cannot make promises about the future. He continued to say that they’re keen on this feature but allocation of resources is always a challenge.

 

[Brian_B]

I don’t understand how crossplay is so hard?

The most difficult thing I could think of is making sure the various naming conventions and chat/friend APIs don’t crap on each other... and D2 is pretty bare boned in those respects as it is.

 

[Dan_D]

Well, in Destiny's case it uses a hybrid server / P2P network setup that while fast, isn't terribly reliable. It has virtually zero resilience. Cross play isn't likely something they can pull off easily, if ever.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Well, in Destiny's case it uses a hybrid server / P2P network setup that while fast, isn't terribly reliable. It has virtually zero resilience. Cross play isn't likely something they can pull off easily, if ever.

Thanks for the info as I know virtually nothing on this front. I have guesses but that's about it.

 

[Dan_D]

Thanks for the info as I know virtually nothing on this front. I have guesses but that's about it.

Thier hybrid P2P/Server networking isn't well documented, but its a known quantity. Bungie made the decision to create a networking model which is extremely fast that causes them minimal infrastructure headaches while avoiding host migration issues common to P2P networking. It also combats the latency issues that go along with it. Unfortunately, it isn't robust. The slightest things cause disconnects.

I play a lot, and the network issues are far more prevalent than they should be. However, they are by in large very short lived. You'll get kicked back to orbit during a raid, or thrown to the title screen and you can just pop back in. During PvP its the worst. There are also tons of people who DDOS other players in it. Its the most common exploit and there is nothing Bungie can do about it. If you get evidence of it on video, you can report that player and get them banned but that's it.

The worst part is that during competitive matches, you'll be doing well and then get kicked from the game and get temporary bans placed against you from entering matches because of their network issues or some asshat DDOS'ing.