Halo Infinite will incorporate cross-play and cross-input in their esport
This story about competitive freedom, boiled down, in 1:45 minutes.
What's the fuss?
Pro Halo Infinite players will have the freedom to compete using different peripherals and hardware in official online tournaments - a very rare sight in esports.
The situation
The critically and commercially successful Halo franchise is steeped in historical esports supremacy.
- Originating with 2004's Halo: Combat Evolved, this first entry in the mega franchise was crucial in establishing what modern esports looks like today.
- Despite its innovations, the franchise fell out of favour within the esports scene as its later releases failed to capture sustainable viewership compared to the classic games.
The upcoming Halo game will be an esport in and of itself, with many hoping that it will be a return to form for the series.
- In an official announcement, the developer of Halo Infinite announced that official online tournaments will support cross-play and cross-input, meaning that literally anyone who owns the game on any platform has the potential to compete on the highest level.
- This move is to "lower the barrier to entry everywhere" by improving player choice, however this choice won't be applicable for physical LAN (offline) tournaments.
Boiling it down
Having cross-play and cross-input in competitive play is controversial because it essentially puts players on an uneven playing ground.
- For example, today's gaming PCs allows for better performance than a last generation Xbox console, meaning that PC players will have the advantage of higher frames per second during gameplay, among others.
- In addition, gaming with a PC's keyboard and mouse is widely considered to be advantageous over the use of a controller when it comes to being pinpoint accurate in a virtual gunfight.
- Although few other competitive games have adopted this methodology, having an open format such as this may bring official tournament results into question.
Lowering these barriers to entry is consistent with Xbox's mandate of supporting an open ecosystem for their games, stressing that Xbox fans can play their games on a levy of different devices.
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