Developers Can Utilize Cross-Play Technology From Fortnite With Newly Launched Epic Online Service

The discussion of players interacting in online lobbies with players from different platforms has become a primary pursuit for countless studios that offer matchmaking for their respected titles. However, this new initiative to integrate systems with cross-platform play has been an obstacle fairly difficult to achieve. Even after the fact that Sony officially opened the gates previously in October, teams still run into a wall to properly introduce the implementation to their title.

Howbeit, now it looks that this hurdle might finally be able to overcome for any studios as Epic Games announced to officially be releasing its self-named Online Service today. Although the company is recognized for its top of the line Unreal Engine, Epic Games shares that the service is compatible with all engines to properly execute cross-platform play.

Our mission is to enable developers to achieve the quality and depth of cross-platform experiences that we’ve built for Fortnite, and to make the services available for free for use with all engines, all stores, and all account services.

Epic Games goes to elaborate that the service will be available to support the current lineup of console hardware alongside PC & Mac as well. But, Android alongside iOS is currently on the way as the platforms are told to be “coming soon.”

The firm goes on to disclose that Epic Online Services is divided into two categories: Game Services and Epic Account Services. The first is presented to be able to implement conjure primitive game elements such as matchmaking, leaderboards and player data storage. The services is expected to expand with in-game voice chat and other additions in later updates.

The latter Epic Account Services is told to be where other desirable features previously troubling to reach are. Elements such as friends lists, cross-play support, and “interoperable with console account systems” are what developers can now integrate into their own respected projects now thanks to the opening for Epic Online Services.

In a conjoined announcement made today, Epic Games also revealed that the next iteration of Unreal Engine will be shipping in 2021. The firm shared the first look at Unreal Engine 5 with a tech demo performing on PlayStation 5; which you can view by heading here.

What games do you hope to see interpret cross-platform play into their multiplayer?

Source: Epic Games