PC players just got called out by Katsuhiro Harada, the man behind the Tekken series of fighting games. According to him, Tekken 7 cross-platform play will not be happening, but it won’t be because of any sort of technical trouble: instead, it’s because PC players have a reputation for cheating in those sorts of games.
PC gaming, while it is seen as “better” by many people due to the increased reaction times, graphics, and framerates offered by better PC technology, also has a dark side. Aimbots, hacking, data-mining, and other sorts of programs often ruin multiplayer games for gamers that want to just sit down and enjoy a nice game with their friends. That also would not be tolerated in competitive and esports circles.
While other games have taken steps to stop these sorts of incidents (Blizzard’s Overwatch game has such a good anti-cheat software that it’s nearly non-existent and what does get through is taken care of very quickly), Harada and Bandai-Namco have decided to cut the possibility of cheating off at the pass by not working on Tekken 7 cross-platform play.
While it would be possible for Tekken 7 cross-platform play to just be limited to the Xbox One and Playstation 4, Harada and Bandai-Namco don’t seem to want to be taking any chances period. Tekken 7 has previously only been limited to Japanese arcade machines, but will be coming to the West and to consoles and PC sometime next year.
Cross-platform play is becoming more and more prevalent in an increasingly interconnected gaming world, and while most games haven’t begun to seize the opportunity yet, it seems like Tekken is doing theirs more for security reasons than anything else.
If you’re a PC player that was wanting to buy Tekken to play with your console-owning friends, sorry, but you’re going to be out of luck there. But don’t blame Tekken or Namco-Bandai, instead blame those idiots elsewhere in the PC gaming community that just want to ruin everyone else’s fun.
