Breaking Barriers — The Rise of Cross-Platform Gaming

Games are increasingly featuring cross-platform and multiplayer capabilities, breaking the barriers between devices and serving as virtual platforms for socialisation.

— Caleon Kimberley, 29 May 2021

Sleek black technology forming an elaborate setup — just what you would expect to see from a gamer’s desktop set-up. Image Credit: Razer Press

When it comes to gaming, you’d most likely think of those elaborate PC set-ups with solid black technology back-lit by colourful lights as someone heads the beast of a machine, furiously clicking away at moving figures on the screen.

However, that is changing. Being able to access your favourite games wherever and whenever you want has become almost a necessity rather than just an added bonus for a game to reach international levels of popularity. The reason behind this lies in accessibility. And it is because of this need for accessibility that mobile gaming has been on the rise in Singapore.

“Cross platform is key. As a dev you want to maximise the amount of time people spend playing your game and you want to reduce the amount of time people spend playing your game and you want to reduce the amount of friction involved in getting people to play wherever they are. Cross platform enables that.” says Simon Davis, Co-Founder and CEO of Mighty Bear Games — a Singapore-based studio which rose with the aim to break the barriers in the gaming world and create “the next generation of multi-platform games”.

Over the years, gaming has shifted from focusing on console and pc releases to even being available on mobile. The best part? Your data can be transferred from platform to platform. Image Credit: Apple Newsroom

In a survey directed at gamers in Singapore, accessibility ranks just behind cross-platform capabilities in importance, with almost 80 per cent of them gaming across 2 or more platforms.

Dilys Tay, 18, says that what makes cross-platform play so attractive is the ability for people to “pick what device they want to play on because”. Adding to this, she also says comfort in using the device and budget play a large part in her decision making — since most games nowadays can even be played on mobile devices without requiring intensive hardware.

The benefits of cross-platform play and reasons behind its increasing popularity don’t just stop at accessibility, however.

In 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons was one of the most popular games at a time when most people were isolated both physically and socially due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Image Credit: Nintendo

In the past year alone, gaming as a platform for socialisation has risen in popularity — and part of this has to do with the period last year in 2020 when people were left stuck at home with their only contact with the outside world being through technology as a result of COVID-19 lockdowns worldwide. Naturally, games became a part of this.

“Considering how now you cannot meet up with people, and it sometimes can be hard to reach out, so games have been one way to really connect people over the pandemic because they present a shared interest for people to bond over.” says Maryse, 18, who got into gaming over the past year after discovering many of her current favourites through YouTube and currently enjoys top hits such as Genshin Impact, a game set in the fantasy world of ‘Teyvat’, which allows players to join each other on adventures.

“‘Social gaming’ has been a huge thing since the very first browser and Facebook games since the 2000s. Games driven by social interactions, virtual worlds, and online hangout spaces are only going to get increasingly important.” says Mr Simon Davis on the growth of gaming as a platform for socialisation, bringing up the prime examples of “Epic’s [Epic Games] focus on the Metaverse, Hearthstone’s battlegrounds, and VR Chat” all being examples of this trend.

Not only has cross-platform gaming enabled gamers to have control over what devices they wish to play on, but this accessibility and shared network has been one of the driving forces in allowing games as a platform for socialisation to rise to popularity the way it did.

“It’s [cross-platform gaming] tremendously exciting for developers and consumers alike.” Mr Davis adds, “As a consumer I can start a session on my console, continue on my laptop on my lunch break at work, and manage my inventory on my phone while I’m queueing for my latte. As a developer I can create experiences which people can engage with wherever they are.”

The Founders: ‘Arty Bear’ Benjamin Chavelier (Art Director), ‘Papa bear’ Simon Davis (CEO), and ‘Techy Bear’ Fadzuli Said (CTO) (from left to right) — all games industry veterans — set out to form Mighty Bear Games through a shared passion to make players across the world smile.

Image Source: Mighty Bear Games