Counter-Strike: Global Offensive loses cross-platform multiplayer

Unfortunately, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won't continue Valve's cross-platform experiment. While PS3-PC-Mac cross-play was promised, the feature is no being removed from the game.

29

Portal 2 gave us an exciting sneak peek into a cross-platform future where gamers could play multiplayer, regardless of what machine they were on. PS3 players were able to play with Mac and PC players across in glorious Steam-powered harmony.

Unfortunately, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won't continue Valve's cross-platform experiment. While PS3-PC-Mac cross-play was promised, the feature is no being removed from the game.

"The beta has proved we want to update not just the beta, but the game itself post-launch frequently on the PC," Valve's Chet Faliszek told Joystiq. "To do that we need to separate the platforms so one doesn't hamstring the other. So for that, we have removed the idea of cross-platform play -- essentially make all platforms stronger by not mixing them."

Counter-Strike: Go will be available "when it's ready."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 5, 2012 2:30 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive loses cross-platform multiplayer.

    Unfortunately, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive won't continue Valve's cross-platform experiment. While PS3-PC-Mac cross-play was promised, the feature is no being removed from the game.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 2:39 PM

      because PC players would eat the PS3 players ALIVE

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 2:40 PM

        Seriously, I don't see why it was even added to the feature list.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 2:42 PM

        Sounds like it's more to do with the ability to release and QA patches without having to make sure they work on multiple platforms.

        • reply
          March 5, 2012 5:29 PM

          probably. PS3 can use USB keyboards and mice

          • reply
            March 5, 2012 5:48 PM

            They can be used in the PS3 GUI but for games the developer makes the call. Most have opted not to.

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 5:51 PM

              When Valve announced GS:GO would have cross platform play they also said it would support mice and keyboards. I wonder if that'll change now that they dropped the cross play.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 3:19 PM

        That's it in a nutshell.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 4:34 PM

        ding ding ding

        • reply
          March 6, 2012 5:03 AM

          You guys are idiots. They can support mouse/keyboard on the PS3

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 2:44 PM

      Much less interested in this now. Too bad.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 2:46 PM

        why? cross platform play is a gimmick..it offers no benefit other than being able to play with a friend who doesn't own a pc, but at this point, who doesn't own a pc that can't play counterstrike?

        • reply
          March 5, 2012 2:56 PM

          It means I won't pick up the console version like I thought I would, because segmented player bases are lame. It also really diminishes the appeal for me on PC, since there won't be a huge pool of scrubs to maybe get matched up with.

          • reply
            March 5, 2012 2:58 PM

            Why would you want one platform to dominate? Based on controls alone, console players would be at a massive disadvantage.

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 3:02 PM

              I'm sure I wouldn't dominate. My hope was that a big, diverse community would leave plenty of room for matches of all levels. My worry is that the CS superfans are going to turn it into a big no-fun zone.

              • reply
                March 5, 2012 5:17 PM

                They will have ELO matchmaking, so if you suck, you will face other sucky players.

              • reply
                March 5, 2012 5:20 PM

                If you're really that bad, there's always iceworld. :(

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 4:26 PM

              The PS3 does and this game was supported to support mouse and keyboard. I wonder how much of a pain in the ass it was filtering players properly by control method.

              • reply
                March 5, 2012 4:26 PM

                *supposed. I wonder if it still does? And holy shit I cannot type or think today.

              • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
                reply
                March 6, 2012 6:17 AM

                They didn't filter by anything at all. Everyone simply played in the same pool and they trusted the matchmaking system to work it out.

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 5:53 PM

              PS3 devs have the option of adding mouse/keyboard to their game (something MS should've done). In the end its all about what the player is most comfortable with.

              Personally I think the industry has been pretty lackluster in coming up with a gaming controller that has much better accuracy while being more intuitive. I truly believe that a gamepad could be made that would compete with M/K players. It just needs some solid R&D

        • reply
          March 5, 2012 3:03 PM

          Also, everything I like in games, people call a gimmick. I need to start actively seeking out gimmicks, they're obviously what I prefer.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 2:59 PM

      Good move Valve :) It was a bad idea from the start.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 3:15 PM

      This is a smart decision.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 3:20 PM

      "While PS3-PC-Mac cross-play was promised, the feature is now being removed from the game."

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 3:21 PM

      Until Valve can patch on their own (controlled) schedule, cross platform won't exist.

      Portal2 is a very simple game, that's why cross platform works very well.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 4:11 PM

      Aww, console players are the only players I'd be able to beat!

      I'm going to have to find a 'special needs' server now to inflate my sense of self esteem.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 4:19 PM

      why did they announce it then?

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 4:32 PM

        I don't know. Chet also claims wanting to update the PC version frequently would be the big issue, yet I thought the whole reason Valve did all the work to get "Steam" on the PS3 in the first place was so they could do the same with consoles in addition to cross platform play. Guess not!

        • reply
          March 5, 2012 4:36 PM

          Maybe it's a platform culture thing. Updates here on PC are pretty common but would console players tolerate it if there was a changelog for their game every third time they started it up? How often does COD get patched?

          • reply
            March 5, 2012 4:48 PM

            Could be. I know a lot of people wouldn't tolerate it on PS3 because of how slow updating can be, but at the same time frequent updates are usually tiny and aren't that big of a deal. It must really be hard for Valve to do multiple patches for multiple platforms and get them out there simultaneously. I'm sure people who played TF2 on the console and missed out on all the post release content would have appreciated some parity at the cost of some waiting before it loaded. Again, that was the big promise of Steam on PS3 after Portal 2. Without cross platform play, there's not much point in having multiple friends lists and all that other junk stuffed in there on top of it. Will it even have "Steam" support at all now? If so, why?

            I wonder if they'll go a bit more in depth on all of it and why it didn't work out for them. This makes it seem like Steam on the console was a failure. I mean the Mac version will likely support cross platform play and same day updates, and there's a lot less Mac users than PS3, so why support one secondary platform over the other?

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 4:55 PM

              The simple explanation is that they're still at the mercy of Sony for updates while on PC & Mac they own the content delivery method and can push the updates out the second they want to. That would be disastrous for cross platform play if the PS3 was constantly lagging behind.

              Still seems to put a huge damper in all their grand plans to get Steam on there in the first place. It's not Steam. Never will be. For a while they made it seem like they could bypass the console certification processes and do what they wanted with their titles. Turns out for the PS3 it's just an overlay with a useless friends list after all.

          • reply
            March 5, 2012 4:54 PM

            I think it's more about the expense and cert delay inherent in 360 and PS3 titles. There have been plenty of complaints from developers about how long and expensive it is to create title updates, and how they can't do it as frequently because it takes almost a month to get an update certified by Microsoft and Sony.

            • reply
              March 5, 2012 5:00 PM

              Well I imagine the whole point of Steam was that they get to use their own infrastructure and don't have to do cert or pay the platform holder.

              • reply
                March 5, 2012 5:11 PM

                I don't think you can release a console game without the platform holder's approval anyway, whether it's retail or digital download. It's not like the wild west days of non-certified Nintendo cartridges.

                • reply
                  March 5, 2012 5:18 PM

                  I'm talking about the updates not the game.

                  • reply
                    March 5, 2012 5:28 PM

                    Unless I'm mistaken, that comes along with the game, and the only way you can update a game is through XBox Live (for 360) and Sony's servers (not necessarily PSN; I know this because I can plug in my PS3 without having a PSN account, and it will update games).

                    I don't know if Sony was going to allow Steam to update PS3 games, but I highly doubt it, since they would want to control that through cert. Was there a press release from Sony stating that they would allow PS3 games to be updated via Steam?

                    • reply
                      March 5, 2012 5:36 PM

                      i thought valve and sony figured all that shit out before, you know, announcing shit. what changed to cause this sudden feature cut?

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 4:33 PM

      Haha well no shit, I didn't really take it seriously when they announced it in the first place.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 5:29 PM

      This makes sense. Does this mean we get an updated graphics engine?

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 5:49 PM

      hopefully they remove the shitty circle buy UI then

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 5:59 PM

      Even most shitty computer players would stomp PS3 players. There's simply no way to compete with a keyboard + mouse, especially in a twitch game like CS.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 6:00 PM

        i thought it was a stupid idea to begin with. i dont know why anyone tries

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 6:04 PM

        As has already been mentioned multiple times, they were including mouse & keyboard support in PS3 version. That might change now. If they don't drop mouse and keyboard support, they'll still have to filter the games and players on the PS3 itself because gamepad vs mouse there would be a bloodbath.

        • Zek legacy 10 years legacy 20 years
          reply
          March 6, 2012 6:23 AM

          I don't know why people keep latching on to this, playing a console game with mouse & keyboard sounds terrible. Most PS3 players would have no interest in that.

          • reply
            March 6, 2012 6:38 AM

            Because it is the only way to make cross platform play viable, that's why Valve had it in there. But now it doesn't matter. Probably would hurt the game more than help if it's segmenting the PS3 users at all or giving a minority a drastic advantage.

          • reply
            March 6, 2012 6:49 AM

            why would it be terrible? assuming its designed right and the aim assist and other traits that are associated with a controller get removed, it should be just fine

            • reply
              March 6, 2012 6:59 AM

              I think he means the act of using those peripherals at all on a console. It doesn't make a lot sense if you don't game at a desk or don't have or want a wireless mouse & keyboard.

              I personally would have bought a lot more console shooters if it were an option and done right as you suggest. But I hate that gamepad button layouts aren't configurable in most games more than I hate the actual device in an FPS. Been turned off more by that than not having mouse controls.

          • reply
            March 6, 2012 8:35 AM

            Speak for your self. The console community has been complaining about FPS games lacking keyboard/mouse support for a decade.
            Main reason developers haven't done this seems to be that don't want to take time away from development from the controller based command structure of the game.
            Also, that console lacked the support. But this excuse is a little thin because the PlayStation 3 has had native keyboard/mouse driver/controller support sense the original Dev-kits and first consoles launched.

            Its issue is more about the developers see things as PC and Consoles are different. But falling to see that the Game a users is plaything maybe the same and users want that same controls regardless of the device there using.

      • reply
        March 6, 2012 6:43 AM

        not to mention FOV=60 :(

        • reply
          March 6, 2012 6:47 AM

          Portal 2 was 90 on console, which is incredibly rare these days. I wonder what CS:GO ends up at.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 6:01 PM

      You mother$%&#ers.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 6:38 PM

      Will I be able to play this on Xbox against other xbox people? I used to actually like Counter-Strike on Xbox. It was fun.

      • reply
        March 5, 2012 10:25 PM

        It'll be out for the XBox as well, but for that there never was an announcement for interoperability with other platforms.

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 6:56 PM

      BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

    • reply
      March 5, 2012 10:25 PM

      Sounds like a segmented offensive now hahahahaha what a topical joke!

    • reply
      March 6, 2012 8:24 AM

      Oh great!
      Another PC game with frequent updates and still no cross-platform FPS.

      All this means is that the game is going to be released before it's truly finished and will need a bitch-load of patches in order to function properly. What an awful excuse.
      This deception has cost Valve a customer in an overcrowded market.

    • reply
      March 6, 2012 8:27 AM

      so much for joining -=PS3 N00bs only Server 24/7 dust=- for a killing spree :(

Hello, Meet Lola